An Episcopal Church bishop directly addressed President Donald Trump at a worship service held at Washington National Cathedral Tuesday, where she pleaded with him to “have mercy” on LGBT individuals and illegal immigrants.
The Right Rev. Mariann Edgar Budde, bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Washington, delivered the sermon at the Service of Prayer for the Nation at the cathedral.
Near the end of her sermon, Budde directly addressed Trump, who was seated in the front row alongside his wife, first lady Melania Trump, and Vice President J.D. Vance and his wife, second lady Usha Vance.
“In the Name of our God, I ask you to have mercy upon the people in our country who are scared now,” Budde stated. “There are gay, lesbian, and transgender children in Democratic, Republican and independent families. Some who fear for their lives.”
“The people who pick our crops and clean our office buildings, who labor in poultry farms and meat-packing plants, who wash the dishes after we eat in restaurants and work the night shifts in hospitals. They may not be citizens, or have the proper documentation, but the vast majority of immigrants are not criminals.”
Budde asked Trump “to have mercy” on people “in our communities whose children fear that their parents will be taken away and that you help those who are fleeing warzones and persecution in their own lands to find compassion and welcome here.”
“Our God teaches us that we are to be merciful to the stranger, for we were all once strangers in this land,” she continued. “May God grant us the strength and courage to honor the dignity of every human being, to speak the truth to one another in love, and walk humbly with each other and our God.”
Earlier in her message, Budde stressed the importance of unity, of respectfully disagreeing with one another, but also expressed concern over what she called “the culture of contempt” and feared “the loss of equality” for some who lose in political debates.
Budde had been critical of Trump in 2020, when the president held a photo-op just outside of St. John’s Episcopal Church near the White House the day after protesters set fire to part of the church.
“The President just used a Bible and one of the churches of my diocese as a backdrop for a message antithetical to the teachings of Jesus and everything that our church stands for,” stated Budde at the time.
Budde’s sermon on Tuesday, in which she spoke of Jesus' Sermon on the Mount, was part of a large worship service held at the National Cathedral that served as a time for prayer for the country, its newly elected leaders, and the world at large.
In addition to the Christian music and liturgy, the service also featured music from a Jewish cantor, a Muslim call to prayer, and readings by representatives of other religions.
Prayers were given by various clergy for the president and vice president, as well as other elected officials, the justices of the U.S. Supreme Court, those in the armed forces and first responders, and others.
The National Cathedral has held an interfaith prayer service the day after the Inauguration since 1933, in which the newly sworn-in president and vice president traditionally attend.
In 2021, due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent lockdowns, the cathedral held a mostly virtual service, with diverse speakers giving remarks from different locations.
Last November, the National Cathedral hosted an Election Day prayer vigil as part of an effort to promote unity and hope amid the divisive partisanship of the election season.
“We have a breach in our public life, a brokenness that requires us to take on the work of reconciliation,” said the Very Rev. Randolph Marshall Hollerith, dean of the National Cathedral, in a statement last year.
“Jesus’ command is very clear: 'love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you.' That is a tall order, and it requires us to pray for God’s grace, to pray for healing."
