Angry Nun Leaves Card Maker Shuffling for Excuses

--The greeting card distributed by California Dreamers Inc. of Chicago bears a formal black and white photograph of a nun seated in a chair. The caption reads: “It’s all right if you kiss me.” Inside the card, it adds: “So long as you don’t get in the habit.” Jim Lienhart, creative director of the company, said he assumed the photo “was of a model in a nun’s costume.” Not so. It is Sister Candida Lund, a real Roman Catholic nun, and she has sued to prevent distribution of the card. She contends that the photograph, acquired from the portfolio of a deceased photographer, was used without her knowledge, and she describes the words on the card as a “filthy, seamy and degrading verse, appealing to prurient interests.” Sister Candida, chancellor of Rosary College in suburban River Forest, Ill., “is very upset,” said her attorney, William Linklater. “She’s very embarrassed.” So is the greeting card firm. Lienhart said the card has been withdrawn from sale, and he apologized to Sister Candida. However, Linklater said the nun will continue her suit and is “entitled to a substantial monetary award.”

--Surgeons in London performed a heart-lung transplant on 3-year-old Jamie Gavin of Dublin, making him the world’s youngest heart-lung recipient. Hospital officials said the boy was in satisfactory condition. He was born with several heart defects, and his health had been deteriorating. Doctors said the transplants were his only hope for survival.

--Talk-show host Johnny Carson took a dive off Key West, Fla., to see the 17th-Century Spanish shipwreck that is yielding a fortune in gold and silver. “He said it looked like Disney World down there,” said Bleth McHaley, senior vice president of Treasure Salvors Inc. Mel Fisher, head of Treasure Salvors, which found the ship, invited Carson to Florida after an appearance on his television show.

--The years pass but still the fans of Elvis Presley flock to Memphis, Tenn., to mark the anniversary of his death on Aug. 16, 1977. “The people who are not a fan can’t understand,” said Yoko Minami of Japan as she chose Elvis artifacts from one of the myriad souvenir stores near Graceland, Presley’s Memphis home and the site of his grave. Why did she make the long journey? “There is no reason,” she said. “Just for love.” Ken Brixey, director of marketing for Graceland, said he expects 40,000 visitors this week--the most ever.