Washington bishop’s plea to Trump inspires first-time visits to Episcopal churches
Hive Bakery in Flower Mound, Texas, began selling cookies made with the Rt. Rev. Mariann Budde’s image after the Washington Bishop pleaded with President Donald Trump to show mercy to “the people in our country who are scared now” – specifically LGBTQ+ people and immigrants in her Jan. 21 sermon during the Service of Prayer for the Nation at Washington National Cathedral. Photo: Hive Bakery/Facebook
[Episcopal News Service] Cheryl Mirabella left the Catholic Church when she was a young adult and went on a yearslong “spiritual safari” through different denominations.
“I have a very deep spiritual life … but I didn’t really feel like I was getting what I needed through church,” she told Episcopal News Service.
Mirabella accidentally tuned in to the Jan. 21 Service of Prayer for the Nation at Washington National Cathedral and listened to Washington Bishop Mariann Budde’s plea to President Donald Trump to show mercy to “the people in our country who are scared now” – specifically LGBTQ+ people and immigrants.
“I was so impressed by her kindness and her words, so I immediately went and downloaded her book (‘How We Learn to Be Brave: Decisive Moments in Life and Faith’) on Audible and … listened to the whole book while taking a solo trip down to Arches National Park in Moab,” Mirabella said. “I was so inspired by her and her words and her journey through life.”
Then on Sunday, Mirabella went to her local Episcopal parish, St. Luke’s Episcopal Church in Park City, Utah, to check out the Jan. 26 worship service.
“The priest, a woman, got up and her first words were to welcome us … That felt really good,” she said. “What Jesus teaches us is not representative of what a lot of denominations are now.”
Many people like Mirabella reported on social media that they attended an Episcopal worship service for the first time because of Budde’s sermon, and they were pleasantly surprised to learn that LGBTQ+ people, women and all immigrants, regardless of status, are not only welcome in The Episcopal Church, but also serve as clergy and lay leaders.
“I think people really have a hunger, especially in times like these, to have a story that will help them, give them hope and give them purpose in life. They don’t always hear a Christian message out there that resonates with them,” the Rev. Claire Hickman, rector of St. Luke’s Episcopal Church in Ferndale, Michigan, told ENS. “Having Bishop Budde speaking in a way that’s really talking about God’s kingdom coming in this world – this side of the grave – is powerful.”
Five visitors told Hickman they went to St. Luke’s for worship after feeling inspired by Budde’s sermon five days earlier.
Since her sermon went viral, Budde has made countless television appearances, including CNN and The View. She’s also done interviews with The New Yorker, The Nation, The Guardian, Glamour and other news outlets. Her image has appeared in works of art and on a cookie made by Hive Bakery in Flower Mound, Texas, which sold out every day. She also was mentioned in a folk song.
Non-Episcopalians are also just learning about some of Budde’s past actions, like in 2020 when she criticized Trump for posing with a Bible in front of St. John’s Episcopal Church, Lafayette Square one block from the White House after ordering his security detail and law enforcement officers to forcibly push back protesters who had gathered outside the White House as part of an ongoing anti-racism demonstration a week after the killing of George Floyd.
In 2018, Budde safely interred the remains of Matthew Shepard – a young gay man who in 1998 was beaten and tortured to death – at Washington National Cathedral. Shepard’s parents held onto his ashes for 20 years out of fear of his grave being vandalized. News of Budde helping Shepard’s parents has been circulating among LGBTQ+ communities, organizations and news outlets.
At Christ Church in Bloomfield & Glen Ridge, New Jersey, about half a dozen people who either were new to the congregation or who don’t come regularly were in church, the rector, the Rev. Diane Wilcox, told ENS. The church has an average Sunday attendance of about 40, so that many new people not only was unusually high but really stood out, she said.
After the service, she always asks visitors what brought them to the church that day. “One couple said they had lived in Bloomfield for a while and decided to find an Episcopal church to attend this Sunday” in response to Budde’s sermon, she said.
During coffee hour after the service, people were lingering longer than usual and were talking about the sermon. “There was a buzz in the air,” Wilcox said.
She suspects that additional people who are newly curious about The Episcopal Church were watching the livestreams of their service and those of other churches. They may translate into additional new visitors in coming weeks, she said.
When Rebekah Gleaves Sanderlin was a little girl growing up in Tennessee, her Southern Baptist preacher told the congregation that God calls people to the ministry, “and if you hear the voice, you’ll know.” When she told her grandmother that she thinks God’s calling her to the ministry, she was told that only men could serve as pastors.
In elementary school, Sanderlin was sent to the principal’s office and then home from her conservative Church of Christ school one day because she prayed in front of boys before lunch. Her teacher accused her of “trying to spiritually lead boys.”
“Looking back now, oh my God, those were horrible things to say to a small child,” Sanderlin told ENS.
As an adult, Sanderlin searched for her spiritual home while frequently moving due to her husband serving in the Army. But when Trump won the 2016 election while she was living in the Florida Panhandle, a very religiously and politically conservative region, she no longer felt comfortable in church.
When Sanderlin saw a clip of Budde’s plea to Trump, she decided to visit her local Episcopal parish, St. Aidan’s Episcopal Church in Virginia Beach, Virginia.
“Just hearing Budde say the most basic tenets of Christianity, it honestly blew my mind,” she said. “It was not something that I was aware of that was even being preached anywhere.”
Sanderlin and Mirabella both said they would consider worshipping at an Episcopal church.
“I know not every congregation is the same, but I have a feeling that [St. Luke’s] may work for me,” Mirabella said.
–Shireen Korkzan is a reporter and assistant editor for Episcopal News Service. She can be reached at skorkzan@episcopalchurch.org. Melodie Woerman is an Episcopal News Service freelance reporter based in Kansas.
