Some churches: We've already prayed, Mr. President
"Not to be critical, but the president is a little late," Reginald Jackson, president of the Black Ministers Council of New Jersey, says in an Associated Press story about today's National Day of Prayer and Remembrance for the Victims of Hurricane Katrina.

"While many houses of worship planned to participate, several others around the country said they had already held such services and would not join the president. Some said they were so angry over the government's sluggish response to blacks and poor people in New Orleans, who waited days for rescue, that they would not heed Bush's request," Associated Press religion writer Rachel Zoll reports.

Bush took part in a memorial service at the National Cathedral in Washington.

"Through prayer we look for ways to understand the arbitrary harm left by this storm and the mystery of undeserved suffering," he says. "And in our search we're reminded that God's purposes are sometimes impossible to know here on Earth. Yet even as we're humbled by forces we cannot explain, we take comfort in the knowledge that no one is ever stranded beyond God's care. The Creator of wind and water is also the source of even a greater power —a love that can redeem the worst tragedy, a love that is stronger than death."

More than 300 people gathered at St. Paul's Cathedral in London for a memorial service there, too.

U.S. House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi also issued a statement on the National Day of Prayer and Remembrance, quoting Amos: "Let justice roll down like waters, and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream."

"It is also through our prayers today that we are renewed and reminded of the work ahead," Pelosi said. "Our actions must reflect our ...