Ann Rodgers reads the tea leaves from the Catholic bishops’ meeting this week and finds that “the majority of bishops favor tact and diplomacy over confrontation and condemnation when they address difficult issues.” Speaking of confrontation, some 145 conservative religious types will release their “Manhattan Declaration” today pledging civil disobedience at laws aimed at abortion or same-sex marriage. AP says the bishops are on a “collision course” with the White House over health care reform.

Both sides in the DC/Catholic fight over gay marriage say they’re looking for common ground, while Orthodox Jewish leaders have come rushing to the Catholics’ defense. Still on the gay marriage front, New York’s top court said the state is authorized to recognize gay marriages from other states, and pushed the lawmakers to make up their minds, one way or the other.

Immigration charges have been dropped against the owner of a notorious kosher slaughterhouse in Iowa, and an Episcopal priest who stole nearly $85,000 for plastic surgery has been ordered to repay the cash.

Hawaii officials danced a celebratory hula around the Capitol statue of the newly sainted Father Damien, and Jonah Goldberg says devotees and critics of Sarah Palin both have it wrong. Meanwhile, a woman left $40,000 in rare coins for safe-keeping at a Maryland shrine, and the money was still there when she returned.

Holy hip-hop is trying to go mainstream, and the Archbishop of Canterbury is Rome making a strong defense of women’s ordination. A California city finds itself caught between evangelical churches and tolerance for the local gay community.

An Iraqi archbishop says local Christians’ plight is due to the Quran, not the civil government, as Islamic nations are mounting a campaign for blasphemy laws.