mariann budde democratic convention

DC Episcopal Bishop Critical of Trump to Pray at Democratic Convention

on August 17, 2020

A bishop who criticized U.S. President Donald Trump for using St. John’s Episcopal Church in Washington, D.C. as a photo backdrop in June has been tapped to offer a prayer at the Democratic National Convention.

The Associated Press reported Sunday that Episcopal Diocese of Washington Bishop Mariann Budde will offer the closing benediction on the night of Tuesday, August 18. The convention, which will mostly occur virtually, begins today in Milwaukee, Wisconsin and will conclude on Thursday as former Vice President Joe Biden is expected to receive the Democratic nomination for president.

Episcopalians have a long history of offering prayers at both party conventions. In 2012, the Rev. Russell Levenson, rector of St. Martin’s Episcopal Church in Houston, Texas, offered an opening invocation at the Republican National Convention in Tampa, Florida. St. Martin’s is the largest parish in the Episcopal Church by membership, and counted former President George H.W. Bush and former U.S. Secretary of State James Baker and their families as members.

The announcement of Budde will likely be seen as an acknowledgment of her raised public profile due to her criticism of the President. That criticism brought her appearances on CNN and ABC’s Good Morning America program, along with coverage in the Washington Post. In June, Budde told ABC News “I’ve given up speaking to Pres. Trump. We need to replace President Trump.”

Geographic territory served by Budde’s diocese, which covers both the District of Columbia and several southern Maryland counties, is not considered politically competitive on the federal level.

The Washington, D.C.-based bishop has a long history of political engagement, advocating to restrict firearms and more recently to publicly side with the Black Lives Matter movement. Theologically, she presided over a diocesan convention calling “to avoid the use of gendered pronouns for God” and consecrated a chapel at St. Thomas’ Episcopal Parish named for gay retired Episcopal Bishop of New Hampshire Gene Robinson.

Budde appears to be the only Mainline Protestant listed in the DNC program, which also includes progressive Roman Catholic figures including Jesuit Fr. James Martin and Sr. Simone Campbell of the liberal social justice lobby NETWORK. National Latino Evangelical Coalition founder the Rev. Gabriel Salguero will also speak.

“I am outraged,” Budde told the Washington Post in June about Trump’s posturing before St. John’s parish with bible in hand. “Everything he has said and done is to inflame violence. We need moral leadership, and he’s done everything to divide us.”

Parish officials reported that St. John’s Church incurred approximately $20,000 of damage following the parish house set afire as protesters rallied on Lafayette Square in support of the Black Lives Matter movement. White House officials stated that Trump’s appearance at the Lafayette Square church across from the White House was to communicate his support for law and order following a night of riots and looting in downtown Washington. Monuments in the park were defaced with graffiti and windows were broken at the neighboring U.S. Department of Veterans’ Affairs building.

Federal law enforcement officers were criticized for clearing the park prior to the President’s appearance, with some reports stating that tear gas was used, while others described smoke canisters. Congressional testimony by the acting chief of the U.S. Park Police stated that tear gas was not used, but that officers did deploy pepper balls containing capsicum, an irritant derived from pepper plants.

UPDATE: Request for comment sent to the Diocese of Washington press office on Monday has yet to be returned. Here is Budde’s prayer, concluding the DNC Tuesday program:

“Hello, I’m Mariann Budde, bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Washington, D.C., and I am honored to offer the benediction tonight. Hear these words from pastor, civil rights leader and peace activist William Sloan Coffin: ‘May God give you the grace never to sell yourself short, grace to do something big for something good, grace to remember that the world is too dangerous now for anything but truth and too small for anything but love.’ And now may the blessing of God, the source of all goodness, truth and love inspire you, inspire us all to realize Dr. King’s dream of the beloved community, Congressman Lewis’ dream of a just society, President Lincoln’s dream of a more perfect union in this country, in our time. Amen.”

  1. Comment by Rev. Dr. Lee D Cary (ret. UM clergy) on August 17, 2020 at 5:55 pm

    “Geographic territory served by Budde’s diocese, which covers both the District of Columbia and several southern Maryland counties, is not considered politically competitive on the federal level.” Isn’t that special.

    Of the top 10 U.S. counties with the highest median household incomes, Washington D.C. is surrounded by numbers 1-5, 7 & 9. So the Reverend Bishop is pastor to all the poor, destitute, homeless federal employees, lobbyists, government contractors, and partisan hacks – who overwhelming vote Democrat.

    What better equipped cleric to offer-up prayers to The Almighty on behalf of the people, and perhaps even take the opportunity to condemn the Orange Man.

    (data source: https://tinyurl.com/yydqndpb )

  2. Comment by Steve S. on August 17, 2020 at 10:46 pm

    You would think a Bishop could afford sleeves….or a etiquette lessons

  3. Comment by Dan W on August 18, 2020 at 6:43 am

    Bishop Budde is understandably upset. Posturing before an Episcopal Church for political reasons is clearly the job of an Episcopal Bishop. 🙂

  4. Comment by Thomas F Neagle on August 18, 2020 at 5:29 pm

    Can we wonder why the Episcopal church continues to bleed members?

  5. Comment by David Stewart on August 18, 2020 at 6:49 pm

    Only one phrase for her and every other Mainline church bureaucrat like her, including those in my own denomination, the PCUSA, “Why bless your heart.”

  6. Comment by Tom on August 19, 2020 at 5:25 pm

    On further reflection, it looks as if the Democrats have given up on the evangelical Christian vote. If they think that a Catholic priest and an Episcopal bishop are going to bring conservative Christians into their fold, then they really, really don’t understand us.

  7. Comment by George Brown on August 21, 2020 at 1:41 pm

    Satan is THE great master of deceit isn’t he? It should be no surprise when we encounter his counterfeit “chistians” dressed up to prove they are christian. I doubt any authentic Christian, EVEN ONE, would take the bait.

  8. Comment by barbara seddon on August 21, 2020 at 4:22 pm

    The Episcopal no longer has any relevance ,it has turned so far left that it is merely
    humanism. Where is the Gospel of Jesus Christ to be found among them?

  9. Comment by Joan Sibbald on August 22, 2020 at 12:49 pm

    Sadly, there are two kinds of Democrat voters: clueless and corrupt. This woman is both kinds!

  10. Comment by Paul Zesewitz on August 23, 2020 at 5:50 am

    So Budde wants the church to avoid personal pronouns for God? Wow. I certainly wouldn’t want to hear her rendition of the Lord’s Prayer.

  11. Comment by Charles Bradford on August 23, 2020 at 4:34 pm

    She is presiding over her own attrition. It is this very smug, intellectual, condescending attitude, that made us say, enough is enough. We left the Episcopal Church, my husband, cradle born, I was a member for 45 years, and our three sons and their children, we all left. We served in every capacity, Senior Warden many times, Vestry, Choir, taught Sunday School, hosted social events, arranged altar flowers for 15 years, children all acolytes. No regrets.

  12. Comment by Jim on August 28, 2020 at 5:20 pm

    So prays the bishop of an apostate church.

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