The day Donald Trump visited the National Cathedral

Bishop Mariann Edgar Budde had things to say

The day after a presidential inauguration, the National Cathedral in Washington D.C. hosts a “Service of Prayer for the Nation.” On January 21st, Donald Trump showed up.

It was advertised as a time to “offer prayers of thanksgiving for our democracy and to seek God’s guidance in the years ahead.”

The presiding cleric would be Bishop Mariann Edgar Budde.

Budde arrives as President Donald Trump looks on during the National Prayer Service at Washington National Cathedral on Jan. 21, 2025 in Washington, DC.

Budde has been the Episcopal church’s Bishop of Washington D.C. since 2011.

She is not well-known in American Christianity. As she’d put it, “when I speak or act publicly, few people outside of church circles notice or care.”

Or that was so until she began to critique Donald Trump. In 2020, amid the George Floyd riots, he made an appearance in front of Washington’s St. John’s Church, which had been damaged by fire and graffiti. He held a Bible and called for law and order.