"I tried to give him such encouragement that that was what the nation was looking for and needing," Bishop Browning said.

In his statement, Bishop Browning said that on Feb. 7 he learned from staff members in the treasurer's office of possible mismanagement.

Bishop Browning issued a statement lauding the decision not to go ahead with the ordination.

"Sitting down together and sharing our lives out of the word of God has had an immense effect," Bishop Browning said.

Bishop Browning, once one of Mrs. Cooke's most ardent supporters in the power politics at church headquarters, now says his trust was betrayed.

That fall, Presiding Bishop Browning named her the church's national treasurer and she transferred to Manhattan.

Bishop Browning was one of two ministers whom the President called on Tuesday morning.

The audience jeered and booed, and Bishop Browning had to beg for silence.

Their consent was given, Bishop Browning said to applause.

Bishop Browning criticized Congress "for not wrestling with the issues deeply enough."