“In the name of God, I ask you to have mercy on the people who are now afraid.” Mercy for homosexuals, communities, LGBTQ+, for illegal immigrants in the United States who are fleeing wars, violence, poverty. He asked the new president Trump with an open heart Episcopal Bishop Mariann Budde from the pulpit of the National Cathedral in Washington, during the prayer ceremony the day after the inauguration. The prayer service in the cathedral of the federal capital is one of the rites of passage of the inauguration and Trump, accompanied by his wife Melania, was taken by surprise, he listened to Budde’s words with a serious look, but did not at all appreciate (expressly pointing this out) the criticisms that came to him from the other prelate, one of the most authoritative and influential voices of the American Episcopal Church.
“There are gay, lesbian and transgender kids in both Democratic, Republican and independent families, some who are now afraid for their lives,” said Budde, who then addressed her thoughts to the people who “work on our farms, clean our homes and offices, work in the poultry and meat plants, who wash the dishes after we dine in restaurants and they work the night shift in hospitals: maybe they are not citizens, maybe they don’t have the right documents, but the majority of immigrants are not criminals.” He added: “I ask you to have mercy on those in our communities whose children are now afraid that their parents will be taken away.” He asked the president to help those fleeing war and persecution in their countries, to have compassion and welcome them. “God teaches us that we must be merciful to the stranger, because we were all once strangers on this earth.”
Born in 1959, married and mother of two children, in 2011 Mariann Budde was the first woman to reach the position of diocesan bishop of Washington. The prelate is well known for her commitment to social justice and the defense of human rights. Trump’s immigration policy has created dissent within the American Church. The US bishops, while ensuring that they want to work alongside the new administration, expressed strong concern for “the care for immigrants, refugees and the poor” and for what the new president defined as “the largest deportation operation in history American” with which Trump plans to track down through large-scale raids and incursions and send 11 million alleged illegal immigrants out of the country.
(Reuters photo: Bishop Mariann Budde with Donald Trump in the National Cathedral in Washington)
