A sermon was spoken at The Inaugural Prayer Service in Washington D.C. that has sparked some conversation. It presented several Catholic Political Issues that are worth examining. Here is what was said, the response and Catholic teaching on the issues at hand.
Bishop Mariann Edgar Budde
Ailia Zehra: Bishop Mariann Edgar Budde currently serves as the spiritual leader of the Episcopal Diocese of Washington, the first woman to hold this position. She has led the diocese since 2011.Explaining why she was speaking out, Budde wrote,
“There are times when taking a side, and a stand, is precisely what’s needed from people of faith.”
Budde told CNN’s Erin Burnett Tuesday that she wanted her plea to remind Trump and her audience that “frightened” transgender people and immigrants are “our fellow human beings”
“I wanted to counter, as gently as I could, with a reminder of their humanity and their place in our wider community,” she said. “I was speaking to the president because I felt that he has this moment now where he feels charged and empowered to do what he feels called to do. And I wanted to say there is room for mercy.”
Who is Rev. Mariann Budde, bishop who drew Trump’s ire at prayer service?
The Whole Sermon
Michael Lofton: Now a whole lot can be said here whether or not the Episcopal Church is an actual Church whether or not women can be
Bishops , whether or not her message was actually accurate and also whether or not it was orthodox or heretical. I’m sure in the days to come people are going to be addressing those questions and so rather go down the very predictable route here let me try a new angle. I find it fascinating so-called Bishop of the so-called Episcopal Church on the first day that President Trump was president called out Trump to his face because she was convicted enough about her beliefs whether they’re right or wrong to the point that she would call out Trump to his face.
Now contrast that with four years of the Catholic Bishops of the United United States failing to rebuke Biden to his face for supporting all sorts of things contrary to the very faith that Biden proclaims to believe in the Catholic faith. Most notably his support of the murder of many innocent infants. And so here’s my question why is it that a woman who isn’t a bishop , Who belongs to a church that doesn’t go back to Jesus Christ had the coones to call out Trump regardless of whether she’s right or wrong and yet the Catholic Bishops who go back in succession to the Apostles didn’t call out Biden to his face in four entire years. Instead they gave him a pass and allowed him to receive communion every Sunday.
Episcopal and Catholic Dialogue
USCCB: Since 1965 the Episcopal Church and the Roman Catholic Church have been in officially sponsored dialogue. At the request of these Churches, these meetings have been conducted in this country by the Anglican-Roman Catholic Consultation in the USA (ARC), whose members have been jointly appointed by the authorities in both Churches. The purpose of these official consultations has been to aid both Churches in realizing together that unity for which Christ prayed.
Ordination of Women
In view of the growing claims of women to express their Christian callings in the world and the Church in full participation and partnership with men, a fact of contemporary life, we now recommend a study of the new and perplexing questions which arise for both our Churches. Behind the issues of changing sex roles in family and work and the still deeply divisive questions raised around the ordination of women to the presbyteral and episcopal ministries, lie fundamental theological issues.
Where We Are: A Challenge for the Future. A Twelve-Year Report | USCCB
Henry Matthew Alt: Bishop Mariann Budde is a validly ordained bishop within the religious tradition she professes, and therefore she is a bishop.
St. Pope John Paul II: The presence and the role of women in the life and mission of the Church, although not linked to the ministerial priesthood, remain absolutely necessary and irreplaceable. As the Declaration Inter Insigniores points out, “the Church desires that Christian women should become fully aware of the greatness of their mission: today their role is of capital importance both for the renewal and humanization of society and for the rediscovery by believers of the true face of the Church.”
Although the teaching that priestly ordination is to be reserved to men alone has been preserved by the constant and universal Tradition of the Church and firmly taught by the Magisterium in its more recent documents, at the present time in some places it is nonetheless considered still open to debate, or the Church’s judgment that women are not to be admitted to ordination is considered to have a merely disciplinary force.
Wherefore, in order that all doubt may be removed regarding a matter of great importance, a matter which pertains to the Church’s divine constitution itself, in virtue of my ministry of confirming the brethren (cf. Lk 22:32)
I declare that the Church has no authority
whatsoever to confer priestly ordination on women
and that this judgment is to be definitively held
by all the Church’s faithful.
Ordinatio Sacerdotalis (May 22, 1994) | John Paul II
Plea For Mercy
Bishop Mariann Edgar Budde : “Let me make one final plea, Mr. President. Millions have put their trust in you and, 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.
Pope Francis: To Donald Trump
On the occasion of your inauguration as the forty-seventh President of the United States of America, I offer cordial greetings and the assurance of my prayers that Almighty God will grant you wisdom, strength and protection in the exercise of your high duties. Inspired by your nation’s ideals of being a land of opportunity and welcome for all, it is my hope that under your leadership the American people will prosper and always strive to build a more just society, where there is no room for hatred, discrimination or exclusion. At the same time, as our human family faces numerous challenges, not to mention the scourge of war, I also ask God to guide your efforts in promoting peace and reconciliation among peoples. With these sentiments, I invoke upon you, your family, and the beloved American people an abundance of divine blessings.
FRANCIS
Pope Francis sends message to Donald Trump, offering prayers – Deacon Kandra
Donald J. Trump@realDonaldTrump: 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.
Rev. Benjamin Cremer @brcremer.bsky.social: If your Christianity causes you to be offended by someone asking the most powerful person in the country to be merciful towards the powerless, then you have profoundly misunderstood the teachings of Jesus Christ.
LGBT+ People
Bishop Mariann Edgar Budde : There are gay, lesbian and transgender children in Democratic, Republican, and Independent families, some who fear for their lives.
Official Catholic Teaching
on LGBT+ Issues
Catechism: 2357 Homosexuality refers to relations between men or between women who experience an exclusive or predominant sexual attraction toward persons of the same sex. It has taken a great variety of forms through the centuries and in different cultures. Its psychological genesis remains largely unexplained. Basing itself on Sacred Scripture, which presents homosexual acts as acts of grave depravity, [Cf. Gen 191-29; Rom 124-27; 1 Cor 6:10; 1 Tim 1:10] tradition has always declared that “homosexual acts are intrinsically disordered.” [CDF, Persona humana 8] They are contrary to the natural law. They close the sexual act to the gift of life. They do not proceed from a genuine affective and sexual complementarity. Under no circumstances can they be approved. [2333]
How To Treat LGBT+ People
CCC 2358 The number of men and women who have deep-seated homosexual tendencies is not negligible. This inclination, which is objectively disordered, constitutes for most of them a trial. They must be accepted with respect, compassion, and sensitivity. Every sign of unjust discrimination in their regard should be avoided. These persons are called to fulfill God’s will in their lives and, if they are Christians, to unite to the sacrifice of the Lord’s Cross the difficulties they may encounter from their condition.
USCCB: All people are created in the image and likeness of God and thus possess an innate human dignity that must be acknowledged and respected.1 In keeping with this conviction, the Church teaches that persons with a homosexual inclination “must be accepted with respect, compassion, and sensitivity.”
We recognize that these persons have been, and often continue to be, objects of scorn, hatred, and even violence in some sectors of our society. Sometimes this hatred is manifested clearly; other times, it is masked and gives rise to more disguised forms of hatred. “It is deplorable that homosexual persons have been and are the object of violent malice in speech or in action. Such treatment deserves condemnation from the Church’s pastors wherever it occurs.”3 Those who would minister in the name of the Church must in no way contribute to such injustice.
They should prayerfully examine their own hearts in order to discern any thoughts or feelings that might stand in need of purification. Those who minister are also called to growth in holiness. In fact, the work of spreading the Good News involves an ever-increasing love for those to whom one is ministering by calling them to the truth of Jesus Christ.
minstry-persons-homosexual-inclination-2006.pdf
LGBT+ Christian Calling
CCC 2359 Homosexual persons are called to chastity. By the virtues of self-mastery that teach them inner freedom, at times by the support of disinterested friendship, by prayer and sacramental grace, they can and should gradually and resolutely approach Christian perfection. [2347]
Immigration
![](https://wp-media.patheos.com/blogs/sites/1316/2025/01/Immirant-Statue-194x300.jpg)
Bishop Mariann Edgar Budde: The people who pick our crops and clean our office buildings; who labor in poultry farms and meat packing plants; who wash the dishes after we eat in restaurants and work the night shifts 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 and mosques, synagogues, gurudwaras and temples. I ask you to have mercy, Mr. President, on those in our communities whose children fear that their parents will be taken away. And that you 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 all once strangers in this land. May God grant us the strength and courage to honor the dignity of every human being, to speak the truth to one another in love and walk humbly with each other and our God for the good of all people. Good of all people in this nation and the world. Amen”
Donald J. Trump@realDonaldTrump: She failed to mention the large number of illegal migrants that came into our Country and killed people. Many were deposited from jails and mental institutions. It is a giant crime wave that is taking place in the USA. Apart from her inappropriate statements, the service was a very boring and uninspiring one. She is not very good at her job! She and her church owe the public an apology! t
Rev. Benjamin Cremer @brcremer.bsky.social: If you’re upset by a woman prophetically speaking truth to power, allow me to introduce you to Jesus’ mom: “God has brought down rulers from their thrones but has lifted up the humble. God has filled the hungry with good things but has sent the rich away empty.” -Luke 1:52-53
Catechism: 2241 The more prosperous nations are obliged, to the extent they are able, to welcome the foreigner in search of the security and the means of livelihood which he cannot find in his country of origin. Public authorities should see to it that the natural right is respected that places a guest under the protection of those who receive him.
Political authorities, for the sake of the common good for which they are responsible, may make the exercise of the right to immigrate subject to various juridical conditions, especially with regard to the immigrants’ duties toward their country of adoption. Immigrants are obliged to respect with gratitude the material and spiritual heritage of the country that receives them, to obey its laws and to assist in carrying civic burdens.
Illegal immigration
St. Pope John Paul 2: Illegal immigration should be prevented, but it is also essential to combat vigorously the criminal activities which exploit illegal immigrants. The most appropriate choice, which will yield consistent and long-lasting results is that of international co-operation which aims to foster political stability and to eliminate underdevelopment. The present economic and social imbalance, which to a large extent encourages the migratory flow, should not be seen as something inevitable, but as a challenge to the human race’s sense of responsibility.
In the Church no one is a stranger, and the Church is not foreign to anyone, anywhere. As a sacrament of unity and thus a sign and a binding force for the whole human race, the Church is the place where illegal immigrants are also recognized and accepted as brothers and sisters. It is the task of the various Dioceses actively to ensure that these people, who are obliged to live outside the safety net of civil society, may find a sense of brotherhood in the Christian community.
Bishop Mark Seitz of the Diocese of El Paso, Texas: “While an emphasis on anti-trafficking is welcomed, several of the executive orders signed by President Trump this week are specifically intended to eviscerate humanitarian protections enshrined in federal law and undermine due process, subjecting vulnerable families and children to grave danger.
“Preventing any access to asylum and other protections will only endanger those who are most vulnerable and deserving of relief, while empowering gangs and other predators to exploit them. Likewise, indefinitely halting refugee resettlement is unmerited, as it is already proven to be one of the most secure legal pathways to the United States.
“We urge President Trump to pivot from these enforcement-only policies to just and merciful solutions, working in good faith with members of Congress to achieve meaningful, bipartisan immigration reform that furthers the common good with an effective, orderly immigration system. My brother bishops and I will support this in any way we can, while continuing to accompany our immigrant brothers and sisters in accordance with the Gospel of Life.”
Bishop Mariann Edgar Budde : “Let me make one final plea, Mr. President. Millions have put their trust in you and, 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.
I ask you to have mercy upon the people in our country who are scared now.
I ask you to have mercy upon the people in our country who are scared now.
Bishop Mark Seitz: “We urge President Trump to pivot from these enforcement-only policies to just and merciful solutions,
Deportation
Sam Toney IV: Many on the right have a problem with Mariann Budde lecturing Trump during yesterday’s prayer service. I don’t. In fact, I applaud her for showing sweater vested, pleated kaki pastors and scared as church mice priests how to speak truth to power. I question her motives. I disagree with parts of what she said. I have no problem with her saying it.
Abortion
(1) If an abortion results in the live birth of an infant, the infant is a legal person for all purposes under the laws of the United States, and entitled to all the protections of such laws.
(2) Any infant born alive after an abortion or within a hospital, clinic, or other facility has the same claim to the protection of the law that would arise for any newborn, or for any person who comes to a hospital, clinic, or other facility for screening and treatment or otherwise becomes a patient within its care.
The proposed legislation would have required all health care practitioners present during such a birth to “exercise the same degree of professional skill, care, and diligence to preserve the life and health of the child as a … health care practitioner would render to any other child born alive at the same gestational age.”
Although a majority of senators voted to advance the legislation, the bill failed to reach the 60-vote threshold needed to overcome the filibuster.
March For Life
JANUARY 24, 2025
IN WASHINGTON, D.C.
The March for Life is an inspiring, peaceful, vibrant, and joy-filled rally of women, men, young people, and children from all across the country. Every year, tens of thousands of pro-lifers converge in Washington, D.C. and march on Capitol Hill on the anniversary of the Supreme Court’s 1973 Roe v. Wade ruling which legalized abortion in all 50 states. It’s the largest annual human rights demonstration in the world. But this is not just a protest…
TOGETHER, WE GATHER TO CELEBRATE LIFE.
We celebrate each and every life, from the moment of conception. We envision a world where every life is celebrated, valued, and protected.
National March for Life – March for Life
23 Pro-Life Activists Released
Trump pardons 23 pro-life activists | Catholic News Agency
Other Social Issues Of Concern
Catholic News Agency: The president of the U.S. bishops’ conference on Wednesday criticized some of President Donald Trump’s initial executive orders on key issues including immigration and capital punishment, warning that harm could be done to “the most vulnerable among us.”
Trump upon taking office on Monday signed a series of executive orders that included tough restrictions on immigration, a directive in favor of the death penalty, a withdrawal from a key global climate pact, and an order affirming the reality of biological sex.
U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) president Archbishop Timothy Broglio on Wednesday said in a statement that he took issue with some of the orders, calling them “deeply troubling.”
“Some provisions contained in the executive orders, such as those focused on the treatment of immigrants and refugees, foreign aid, expansion of the death penalty, and the environment, are deeply troubling and will have negative consequences, many of which will harm the most vulnerable among us,” Broglio wrote.
“Other provisions in the executive orders can be seen in a more positive light, such as recognizing the truth about each human person as male or female,” Broglio said.
Concluding Remarks
Simcha Fisher: Let’s assume, for the moment, that you are right, and that the next four years and beyond will see the rebirth and blossoming of a country that’s friendly to Christianity in a way we haven’t seen in generations. Let’s assume that this is going to be a golden age, a dream come true for Christians.
BEWARE.
Beware. If you’re getting everything you want, and you no longer feel afraid, and you are secure that the powerful and influential are finally on your side, then that makes you rich.
That might sound good! But I mean it makes you the rich that Jesus speaks about in the Gospel. More properly, that he warns about, in the direst terms. He tells you that you are at terrible peril, your salvation will be hard to achieve, and you’re on the short path to corruption and spiritual death.
There is nothing worse for a Christian than to be comfortable, nothing more dangerous than to have power over others.
You want to be back on top. What will happen when you get there? How will it change you? How will it encourage you to live and treat other people? How will you defend your life when you’re alone before the throne of God?
You can only answer these questions for yourself. I hope you at least ask them.
Simcha Fisher: Beware a victor’s mindset with trump victory | The Catholic Weekly