DiNardo's archdiocese encompasses the district Bush represented in Congress.

"President Bush's career in the public eye - from the Lone Star State to the global stage - was marked by incredible statesmanship and honor," DiNardo said.

"His strong faith in God, devotion to his wife of 73 years, the late First Lady Barbara Bush, and his boundless love for the covenant of family served as a model for all to follow." Read more

The accused priest is from the Houston archdiocese which DiNardo leads.

DiNardo is also heading the Church's response to sexual misconduct in the US.

The intensifying investigation has raised questions about how DiNardo and his staff dealt with complaints against Fr Manuel La Rosa-Lopez.

La Rosa-Lopez is accused by two people of fondling them two decades ago when they were teenagers.

Both victims say they have met with DiNardo but felt he didn't take their complaints about La Rosa-Lopez seriously.

The County District Attorney, Brett Ligon, whose office conducted the search, says authorities were looking for employment records and disciplinary records related to La Rosa-Lopez and anything that might lead to the discovery of other potential crimes.

"This is not a search warrant against the Catholic Church," Ligon says.

"We're going to go wherever the investigation requires us to go."

The archdiocese issued a statement saying it was fully cooperating with the investigation and confirmed it holds "confidential documents kept in a secure manner for the protection of the privacy of individuals."

Prosecutors have also searched three other Catholic institutions around Houston:

• Sacred Heart Catholic Church in Conroe, where La Rosa-Lopez was assigned when the abuse allegedly occurred
• the Shalom Center in Splendora, where church officials acknowledged La Rosa-Lopez received treatment
• St John Fisher Catholic Church in Richmond, where La Rosa-Lopez was a priest until his arrest.

La Rosa-Lopez's attorney, Wendell Odom, says his client has denied the sexual abuse allegations.

He questioned why prosecutors conducted an on-site search instead of requesting documents through a subpoena, calling it "a little bit alarming."

Source

• America Magazine
• Catholic News Agency
• Image: America Magazine

The directive not to vote came from the Vatican's Congregation for Bishops, said US Conference of Catholic Bishops president Cardinal Daniel DiNardo.

DiNardo said he was told the evening before this week's US bishop's national meeting to delay action until after a Vatican-convened global meeting on sex abuse next February.

"We are not ourselves happy about this," DiNardo said.

"We are working very hard to move to action — and we'll do it. I think people in the church have a right to be skeptical. I think they also have a right to be hopeful."

Another US bishop, Christopher Coyne, said he does not know whether American members of the Congregation for Bishops - Cardinals Blase Cupich and archbishop emeritus Donald Wuerl- played a role in the Vatican directive.

However, a source close to Wuerl doubts he was involved in making the decision.

The proposed new step US bishops were about to vote on were drafted in September by the bishops' Administrative Committee.

They included developing a new code of conduct for themselves and creating a special commission, including lay experts, to review complaints against bishops.

Although they agreed not to vote on them, the bishops planned to proceed with discussing the proposals during their meeting.

Cardinal Blase J. Cupich suggested they might hold a non-binding vote on the proposals at the current conference meeting and then convene a special assembly for a formal vote after considering the results of the global meeting in February.

"I realise that another meeting will create logistical challenges for the conference staff and the bishops' schedules, but there is a grave urgency to this matter and we cannot delay," he said.

While acknowledging their disappointment in the decision from Rome, the bishops affirmed the importance of their own obedience.

DiNardo said they were responsible to be attentive to the Holy Father and his congregations, while Coyne noted bishops are by nature collegial, "so when the Holy See asks us to work in collegiality, that's what we do."

Source

• Fox News Network
• National Catholic Register
• National Catholic Reporter

Graham was a Southern Baptist evangelical preacher from the United States who was admired by many Catholics.

He died last Wednesday aged 99.

The Archbishop of New York Cardinal Timothy Dolan has paid tribute to Graham.

"As anyone growing up in the 1950s and 1960s can tell you, it was hard not to notice and be impressed by the Reverend Billy Graham," Dolan said.

Even though his family was Catholic, Dolan said they respected and admired Graham for his work in bringing people to God.

"Whether it was one of his famous Crusades, radio programs, television specials, or meeting and counseling the presidents, Billy Graham seemed to be everywhere, always with the same message:

'Jesus is your Savior, and wants you to be happy with Him forever'".

US Council of Catholic Bishops president Cardinal Daniel DiNardo praised Graham for his work spreading the gospel around the country, and said he was thankful for his ministry.

Another tribute has been made by a former Anglican priest who became a Catholic priest. Fr Dwight Longenecker says he met Graham while he was studying at Oxford.

While he can't recall exactly what Graham said, only "the hardest heart" could resist his words. The gist of what Graham said was as follows:

"My friends, I come here feeling a little bit like Paul preaching in Athens. He was surrounded by the greatest minds and philosophers of his day, and he stood up and presented the simple, life-changing gospel of Jesus Christ.

"That's what I feel like. Here you are ... and I'm just a poor country preacher.

"Nevertheless, it is my prayer that you will join me in witnessing to the love of Jesus Christ to this needy world."

In 1981, Graham had the first of several meetings with St. John Paul II, who said that the two were "brothers."

When John Paul II died in 2005, Graham said he believed that the Pope had been "the most influential voice for morality and peace in the world during the last 100 years," and praised his "strong Catholic faith" and perseverance through his illnesses.

Source

• Patheos
• Catholic Herald
• Catholic News Agency
• Image: Chattanooga Times Free Press