Ahead of the start of the special legislative session, which began on Monday, Aug. 21, at the Tennessee State Capitol, the Voices for a Safer Tennessee coalition held a Faith, Firearms, and Safer Communities Panel session on Sunday, Aug. 20, in St. Henry Church's Fellowship Hall. The panel, moderated by Steve Cavendish, editor of the Nashville Banner, included the Honorable Torry Johnson, former district attorney general for Davidson County; Father Mark Beckman, pastor of St. Henry; Erin Rogue, senior policy advisor in the office of former Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, MD; and Dr. Allen Peetz, a doctor in the Acute Care Surgery Department at Vanderbilt Medical Center. Dr. Peetz offers thoughts.

Aquinas College hosted its annual Mass of the Holy Spirit to mark the start of another academic year. Father Mark Chrismer, chaplain for the Dominican Sisters of St. Cecilia, who own and operate the college, celebrated the Mass. Father Chrismer read a blessing for the students, faculty and staff during the Mass.