NEW ORLEANS -- You've heard of jazz funerals, but jazz Communion? With President Bush and First Lady Laura Bush down front, New Orleans marked the first anniversary of Hurricane Katrina with a commemorative Mass that included a syncopated, clarinet-infused rendition of "Just a Closer Walk with Me." A balcony choir, along with a trumpet and French horn, accompanied the crucifix-led procession of altar servers, deacons and nuns as they bore the unconsecrated wine and wafers down the broad center aisle of the Cathedral-Basilica of Saint Louis, King of France, which calls itself "America's oldest cathedral."

Later, timpani rattled as the congregation rose for "The Star Spangled Banner," and the Mass ended with a choir clapping to the recessional "I Am Healed." But of course the Gulf Coast is not healed, or anywhere near it, so there was a poignancy both in the service and in the visit by the President, who pledged in a later appearance that he would keep the promises he had made in ghostly Jackson Square 11 months ago when the city was still dark, dank and locked down. Invoking Duke Ellington's "Come Sunday," Bush told the audience: "Sunday has not yet come to New Orleans, but you can see it ahead."

"It was the rare day that a Presidential event was upstaged, but the Mass was a once-in-a-lifetime experience for people of all faiths, some of whom had little idea what to do with the kneeling benches in front of them. (No, they're not footrests.) The President did not speak at the Cathedral, but he looked like he was working a rope line as he eagerly greeted the worshippers around him as everyone rose to wish each other "Peace."

Archbishop Alfred C. Hughes of the Archdiocese of New Orleans said in the homily that "the greatest human catastrophe in the history of our nation" had "tested our family profoundly." But he added: "We ask not why has God allowed this disaster, but how does God want us to respond to it?" Hughes was one of several officials who used the anniversary to tout charter schools, such as the one where Bush spoke later in the day. The archbishop spoke of a "Failing public school system" beginning to give way "to one of healthy competition."

A plaque just inside the front door of the cathedral, which is on Jackson Square, notes that "on this spot" was the first Catholic church in Louisiana, dating to 1718. Another plaque notes the rectors of St. Louis Church and Cathedral going back to Prothais Boyer, a missionary in 1720. The service lasted 100 minutes, and an unusual in-church standing ovation saluted Dr. Norman Francis, chairman of the Louisiana Recovery Authority, who said the flood had "felt like a jolt of the Old Testament," causing fellow residents "to question our leaders and our levees." He called it "the test of our lifetime," and said that "the sound of the crowbars and the hammers rang out, 'I am a New Orleanian."

An hour later at Warren Easton Senior High School, the city's oldest public high school, the President was introduced by the First Lady whose Bush Foundation had awarded grants to Easton and nine other schools in Louisiana and Mississippi so they could restock their libraries. "We know that families can't move back unless there's schools for the kids," she said. "We need more Americans, especially teachers, to move to the Gulf Coast and rebuild their lives here."

Bush played off his wife as he saluted the work of his Texas friend Don Powell, the Federal Coordinator of Gulf Coast Rebuilding, who spends 70 percent of his time in Louisiana and Mississippi as a high-level trouble shooter. The President drew laughter and applause when he joked, "To the extent there's bureaucracy standing in the way, me and Don Powell will, or Don Powell and I. Excuse me, darlin'. Don Powell and I! Don Powell and I will work to get rid of them."

The President said he takes "full responsibility for the federal government's response," and acknowledged that the government needs "to give assurance to the citizens that if there is another natural disaster, we'll respond in better fashion." But pointing to the response by faith-based organizations, he said, "It's a spectacular nation, isn't it, when compassion overflows to overwhelming." As he left the stage, the usual Sousa marches were replaced with "The Saints Go Marching In."