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The Right Rev Mariann Edgar Budde made headlines this week after she used her sermon on Tuesday at the National Cathedral prayer service for the inauguration to implore Donald Trump to “have mercy upon” immigrants and LGBTQ+ individuals.
Budde, 65, is the first woman to serve as the spiritual leader of the Episcopal Diocese of Washington. She has been leading the diocese since her election to the role in 2011. Before that, she served as the rector of St John’s Episcopal church in Minneapolis for 18 years.
On Tuesday, she made headlines for urging Trump during her sermon to show mercy to “gay, lesbian and transgender children” from all political backgrounds, some of whom, she said, “fear for their lives”.
She also used her sermon to ask that Trump grant mercy to families fearing deportation and to help those fleeing war and persecution.
She emphasized the contributions of immigrants, telling the president: “The vast majority of immigrants are not criminals,” adding that they were “good neighbors” and “faithful members of our churches, mosques and synagogues, gurdwara and temples”.
“Our God teaches us that we are to be merciful to the stranger, for we were once strangers in this land,” she said.
This is not the first time that Budde has called out and clashed with Trump.
During Trump’s first term, Budde published an opinion piece in the New York Times. In the June 2020 article, she expressed outrage over Trump’s appearance in front of St John’s Episcopal church in Washington DC, when he held up a Bible for a photo after federal officers used force to clear a crowd of peaceful protesters demonstrating against the death of George Floyd.
Budde wrote that Trump had “used sacred symbols to cloak himself in the mantle of spiritual authority, while espousing positions antithetical to the Bible that he held in his hands”.
That same month, she was interviewed by ABC News and stated that she had “given up speaking to President Trump”, adding: “We need to replace President Trump.”
“We need leadership that will lead us in the ways that this country deserves,” she said.
On her social media at the time, she also expressed her support for those seeking justice for the death of Floyd through the “sacred act of peaceful protest”.
Budde is described on the Episcopal Diocese of Washington website as “an advocate and organizer in support of justice concerns, including racial equity, gun violence prevention, immigration reform, the full inclusion of LGBTQ+ persons, and the care of creation”.
She earned a bachelor’s degree in history from the University of Rochester, graduating magna cum laude. Budde also obtained both a master of divinity and a doctor of ministry from Virginia Theological Seminary. She and her husband, Paul, have two adult sons and are also grandparents.
In addition to her ministerial duties, Budde has authored three books – How We Learn to Be Brave: Decisive Moments in Life and Faith, Receiving Jesus: The Way of Love, and Gathering Up the Fragments: Preaching as Spiritual Practice.
Just one day after she delivered her remarks in front of Trump, Budde said on The View on Wednesday morning that her responsibility on Tuesday was to reflect and “pray with the nation for unity”.
“As I was pondering what are the foundations of unity, I wanted to emphasize respecting the honor and dignity of every human being, basic honesty and humility,” she said.
“And then I also realized that in unity requires a certain degree of mercy and compassion and understanding.”
She added: “Knowing that a lot of people in our country right now are really scared, I wanted to take the opportunity in the context of that service for unity, to say we need to treat everyone with dignity, and we need to be merciful, I was trying to counter the narrative that is so so divisive and polarizing, and in which people, real people, are being are being harmed.”
