Friday’s RNS report includes a story by Adelle M. Banks about the National Day of Prayer and Remembrance for hurricane victims that took place at the Washington National Cathedral today: President Bush joined clergy from a range of faiths in a worship service Friday that featured prayers for those who died or were displaced as a result of Hurricane Katrina. Bishop T.D. Jakes, a Dallas megachurch pastor, preached a sermon at the Washington National Cathedral that tied the rebuilding of now-submerged bridges to the need for better relations among the nation’s disparate groups.

Nicole LaRosa reports from New York on the final day of the U.N. World Summit, during which religious groups urged world leaders to commit to the U.N. Millennium Development Goals of 2000, which aim to halve global poverty by 2015: Religious activists were cautiously optimistic about the response, particularly from the United States, with President Bush’s speech to the General Assembly cited as a highlight. Religious activists credited lobbying from evangelicals, a key Bush constituency, for a renewed commitment to address the anti-poverty agenda.