Parties, prayers and protests mark Bush's second inauguration

Published: 2005-01-21

WASHINGTON (CNS) -- President George W. Bush's second presidential inauguration Jan. 20 was bracketed by prayer services and formal balls on the official agenda and surrounded by the chants and banners of protesters with an unofficial agenda of their own. Bush and his family attended a private church service at St. John's Episcopal Church, across Lafayette Park from the White House, before they went up to Capitol Hill for the inauguration ceremony. The next morning, they wrapped up four days of official events at the National Cathedral, where an invited congregation of 3,200 people participated in an interfaith service with clergy of various denominations, including the Rev. Billy Graham and the Catholic archbishops of Washington and Baltimore, Cardinals Theodore E. McCarrick and William H. Keeler, respectively. After he took the oath of office on the sunny but cold steps of the U.S. Capitol, Bush emphasized his vision that the United States has a responsibility to expand freedom throughout the world.

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