Let us pause for a moment to remember the long and illustrious career of Catherine of Tarragon, the official house cat of Washington National Cathedral (that’s her on the left). She’s apparently retired to North Carolina, and will be replaced on Sunday by a young upstart named Carmina. Today’s also the anniversary of the 1907 laying of the cornerstone for the House of Prayer for All People …

Meanwhile, in actual news …

One of Bishop Eddie Long‘s accusers is calling him a “monster.”

President Obama says he’s a “Christian by choice” in part because “Jesus Christ dying for my sins spoke to the humility we all have to have as human beings — that we’re sinful and we’re flawed and we make mistakes, and that we … achieve salvation through the grace of God.”

The fight over Muslim prayer space has morphed into a fight over Muslim burial space; a town in upstate New York says the Muslim cemetery is illegal and wants the bodies moved. The Islamic Society of North America has a new head honcho, a charismatic imam from the D.C. suburbs.

A top Mormon official (there are lots of top Mormon officials, so it’s not clear how top he is) apologized for any pain caused by the church’s involvement in California’s Prop 8 that put an end to same-sex marriage.

A federal appeals court said federal funding for embryonic stem cell research can continue as the Obama administration fights a lower court ruling that declared the research illegal.

An Israeli cookbook author is introducing Jews to pork — something many of them have never cooked, or even tasted. Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams says he’d be fine with a gay bishop as long as he (and in England it’d most certainly be a he) is celibate. I’m sure some of his best friends are gay.

Vatican Bank officials, under investigation for possible money laundering, say they “have nothing to hide and we are hiding nothing.” Russian Orthodox officials say there was “no breakthrough” in recent talks with the Vatican. Filipino Catholic leaders are gearing up for battle against the government’s plans to distribute condoms; one church leader blames Washington.

Bollywood stars are appealing for calm ahead of tomorrow’s verdict on whether Muslims or Hindus own the land surrounding a mosque that was destroyed by Hindu nationalists in 1992; subsequent riots left 2,000 people dead. The NYT calls the case a test for India’s “secular soul.”