A Bishop Confronts the President

Bishop Mariann Budde and the Appeal of Mercy

Washington National Cathedral, whose official title is actually the Cathedral Church of Saint Peter and Saint Paul, is a neo-Gothic beauty in the northwest quadrant of Washington, DC, distinct from the neo-classical and brutalist landmarks elsewhere in the nation’s capital. Although the name suggests the church, affiliated with the Episcopal Church, exercises some official capacity in the nation’s religious life, in reality it serves unofficially as the national chapel for American civil religion. Intriguingly, the church took on this role as “the national house of prayer,” as it is sometimes called, somewhat late in the country’s history; construction on the church only began in 1907, and although it was functional as a worship space by the 1920s, the final stone was not put in place until 1990.

Since the 1920s, memorial services or funerals for several presidents have been held at the cathedral, most recently that for President Jimmy Carter, who passed away at the end of last year. Memorial services or funerals have also been held for other notable figures like Supreme Court Justices Thurgood Marshall and Sandra Day O’Connor, US Senators Bob Dole and John McCain, First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt, and astronaut Neil Armstrong, among others. The cathedral has also hosted prayer services marking the inauguration of every new president since Ronald Reagan, with the exception of Bill Clinton. Washington National Cathedral has also been a site of national mourning, holding a memorial service for those who died in the Vietnam War in 1982 and a service for the victims of the September 11 terrorist attacks in 2001.

These and other rituals of civil religion, at their best, seek out God’s guidance in moments of political transition or national troubles. American civil religion tends to be somewhat conservative in character, emphasizing tradition and patriotism along with republican virtues like liberty and civic duty. Only rarely has American civil religion had a prophetic edge, although more prophetic voices like Walter Rauschenbusch or Martin Luther King, Jr. have appealed to elements of American civil religion in their messages. This conservative function of civil religion sits in tension with Washington National Cathedral’s affiliation with the Episcopal Church, today one of the more progressive mainline Christian denominations in the United States. For example, on its web site, the cathedral identifies as among its congregation’s values welcoming LGBTQ members of the community, the responsible stewardship of God’s creation, and confronting the original sin of racism and slavery. To be sure, the congregation roots these commitments in their Christian faith, but they are also markers of identity in the polarized American landscape, where religion and politics are deeply intertwined.

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On January 21, the day after President Donald Trump’s inauguration, Bishop Mariann Budde, the Episcopalian bishop of Washington, DC, presided over the prayer service marking the occasion at Washington National Cathedral. The homily she gave at the service had all the hallmarks of American civil religion: 1) a supplication for God’s assistance for the nation; 2) a call for civic unity despite our differences; 3) the (sometimes risky) mixing of spiritual and civic imagery; and 4) an appeal to solid Christian and republican virtues like respect for the dignity of others, honesty, and humility as the source of unity. The homily also had a contemporary twist, noting the ways that social media sometimes works against unity by fostering polarization and discord.

It was only at the end of the homily, when she directly addressed the president, that Budde’s tone shifted:

Let me make one final plea, Mr. President. Millions have put their trust in you. As you told the nation yesterday, you have felt the providential hand of a loving God. In the name of our God, I ask you to have mercy upon the people in our country who are scared now. There are transgender children in both Republican and Democrat families who fear for their lives.

And the people who pick our crops and clean our office buildings; who labor in our poultry farms and meat-packing plants; who wash the dishes after we eat in restaurants and work the night shift in hospitals—they may not be citizens or have the proper documentation, but the vast majority of immigrants are not criminals. They pay taxes, and are good neighbors. They are faithful members of our churches, mosques and synagogues, gurdwara, and temples.

Have mercy, Mr. President, on those in our communities whose children fear that their parents will be taken away. Help those who are fleeing war zones 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 once strangers in this land.

May God grant us all the strength and courage to honor the dignity of every human being, speak the truth in love, and walk humbly with one another and our God, for the good of all the people of this nation and the world.

In these few lines, Budde implicitly challenged policies regarding transgender persons and immigrants the Trump administration had already implemented on its first day or was planning to implement in the coming days, doing so by appealing to mercy.

President Trump later responded harshly to the homily, criticizing both Budde’s tone and her bringing religion into politics in an inappropriate way. He posted on social media:

The so-called Bishop who spoke at the National Prayer Service on Tuesday morning was a Radical Left hard line Trump hater. She brought her church into the World of politics in a very ungracious way. She was nasty in tone, and not compelling or smart.

He also called on Budde to apologize. The next day, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt echoed these sentiments, claiming that Budde had “weaponize[d] the pulpit.”

For Budde and her supporters, however, she was simply preaching the Gospel.

I don’t want to re-litigate here all the issues raised by this incident, which were thoroughly discussed in the days that followed. Rather, I want to focus on whether Bishop Budde’s remarks have anything to teach Catholics, including our own bishops, about public Christian witness.