Who is Mariann Edgar Budde, the bishop who implored Trump?

Bishop Mariann Edgar Budde, whose public appeal to President Trump for clemency on behalf of immigrants and the LGBTQ community made headlines on Tuesday, was also publicly critical of Mr. Trump in his first term.

Bishop Budde65, is the first woman to serve as spiritual director of the Episcopal Diocese of Washington, and she has led the diocese since 2011.

Before moving to Washington, she spent nearly two decades as principal of St. John’s Episcopal Church in Minneapolis. An alumna of the University of Rochester in upstate New York, she grew up partly in New Jersey and partly in Colorado. She enjoys biking around Washington.

Since last summer, her diocese, which includes the national cathedral, has planned to host a service the day after the inauguration, regardless of who won the presidency. Regardless of the outcome, she intended to preach, she said.

In 2020, Bishop Budde wrote an op-ed in The New York Times saying she was “outraged” and “horrified” by Mr. Trump’s use of the Bible, which he held dear in St. John’s Church, after officers used tear gas against protesters. for racial justice in nearby Lafayette Square. She wrote that Mr. Trump had “used sacred symbols” while “propounding positions that were contrary to the Bible.”

On Tuesday, she again had a message for Mr. Trump.

With the president seated at the front of the church, she concluded her sermon by urging him to “have mercy on the people of our country who are afraid now.”

She cited LGBTQ people and immigrants — apparently in response to the president’s efforts to crack down on illegal immigration and dismantle federal protections for transgender people.

The bishop said unity required honesty, humility and recognition of the dignity of all people by “refusing to mock or dismiss or demonize.”

Mr. Trump looked down. Vice President JD Vance, sitting nearby, raised his eyebrows.

“I am asking you for mercy, Mr. President,” she said, adding, “We were all once strangers in this land.”

Mr. Trump did not seem to enjoy the service. Later in the day, he told reporters that it wasn’t too exciting.

“They can do a lot better,” he added, apparently referring to the organizers of the service.

In a telephone interview, Bishop Budde declined to comment on Mr. Trump’s reaction to the service.

She said she was “not necessarily calling out the president” but that she had decided to make her plea “because of the fear” she had seen in Washington’s immigrant and LGBTQ communities.

She wanted Mr. Trump should “pay attention to the people who are afraid,” she said.

“I was trying to say: The country has been entrusted to you,” she added. “And one of the qualities of a leader is mercy.”

But she also hoped her remarks would resonate far beyond Mr. Trump’s ears, she said.

A little more than half of the country now expresses some support for deporting all unauthorized immigrants living in the United States, according to for a recent vote from The New York Times and Ipsos.

And Bishop Budde said she felt there had been a shift in the “license” that Americans felt was “really quite cruel.”

“I wanted to remind all of us that these are our neighbors,” she said.