Reverend Marianne Bod, the bishop of Washington, DC, has a history of the exercise of the so -called “prophetic tradition”: the name of the world’s diseases and the summons of those who commit them. In 2020, after President Donald Trump ordered the disperse of the protesters of the “Important Life” movement from Lavaite Square then I put there to take photographsHe stands in front of the Church of St. John and Bible holdingAnd she expressed her anger. “The master. Bodh wrote in a post:” Trump used the sacred symbols to wear the cloak of spiritual power, while adopting positions contrary to the Bible he was carrying in his hands. ” Editorial. When Trump nominated for his re -election in 2020, she said she “gave up talking to President Trump.”
However, earlier this week, and from the Washington National Cathedral platform, Body addressed President Trump directly and personal. Her sermon, which lasted for about fifteen minutes, focused on what she described as three necessary elements for national unity: dignity, honesty and humility. Then, at the end of her engagement, a fourth sermon added, calling on Trump to “mercy” to those in America, especially immigrants and gay community members, who are now afraid. The last two minutes of her engagement spread widely, angering Trump supporters, who commented that they should be placed on the “deportation list”, and that Bod is “the first evidence of why women should not become priests, priests, or bishops.” “Trump posted on Truth Social that Bod was” the so -called bishop “. It is not very good in its function!” He added.
Bod, author of the book “How do we learn to be braveFrom 2023, she did not apologize to Trump or anyone else for her statements. On Thursday morning, she spoke with me on the phone from her home in Washington, DC. In a forty -minute conversation, which was edited for length His saying in the sermon, the role of prayer in her life, and the responsibility of religious leaders in addressing social and political facts in their era.
I mentioned that your decision to talk about mercy came after Trump heard about the will of God, and invokes the right of divine kings in his inauguration speech. Can you explain to us how you made this decision to speak publicly, and the role that the prayer played in?
I began to feel not complete, instability only about the three pillars of the unit, and that there is something missing. So I was suffering before Monday morning, in fact, I was talking back and forth with the people I was sharing my thoughts and thoughts.
At some point on Monday – I cannot remember Matthew, but that was in the context of overwhelming descriptions of large sectors of people in our society in ways that were very harsh and inconsistent with what I knew was real, and what is the most thing of us knows is true – the word mercy He has come to me with mercy and sympathy. I decided to stay with mercy, and this is partly due to the fact that I knew that, in that context and at that moment, I needed to respect the position of the president and the fact that millions of people, as I said, put their confidence in it and they were. It depends on the leadership of the country. He himself felt that divine care saved him in order to make America great again, he said, but also for the sake of driving, right?
I was trying to find a way to bring to the room those who were not part of the vision of the unit that he described in his inauguration letter, and in fact, the way he was talking about our country throughout the entire election campaign. And of course I was in prayer. I was in conversation with different people on my inner dialogue. So I chose to ask for mercy, and I also tried to give the human character to the people I was referring to, and those who need mercy – the people who are afraid.
I thought that there was a thousand people in the cathedral that morning. I thought that there were parents in the room for gay and gay children, or perhaps even sexual converts, or they themselves gay or gay, so that they knew something about the struggle. I was trying to give a human character, to bring us to the same spirit when we get to know each other, we are more similar than we differ. Also, when talking about the migrant population – especially those who reach this country and undertake the tasks that maintain the continuation of our society, often behind the scenes or in other than working hours, and they do a truly exhausting work – I say these are the people whom many of us know. I wanted to bring them to the room, to help evoke pictures of real people, instead of wide categories or descriptions.
Writing – you are a writer, and I think you understand this – is a form of prayer for me. It involves everything, right? Each aspect of my being, and all of my arrogance, insecurity, and dots. Do you know those rare moments when you already have an energy to write, and at other times you feel that you will fall in front of the screen? It is all a prayer, and this is definitely part of it as well.
In the past, I talked about the useless talk to Trump, and that you have finished talking to Trump. I thought, and I listened, you addressed him yes, but are you talking to Trump?
This is really interesting. I think when I said in the past I finished talking to Trump, I really mean that I was giving up any illusion that my words would have any effect on him. I did not see myself as a person who considered it a reliable voice to listen to. And I dared to say that the matter is still. However, at that moment, I chose to address it personally. I could keep it in a wide plural form with the conscience of the absent, as I did with the other three [principles of unity]right? We need these three things. We all need to do it. But I believed, at that moment, I would respect his position.
As a communication technique, people often tell us family systems that if you really want someone to hear you in your circle, let him hear you talk to another person. As if my children were my adult children, talking to another person about their lives, and it coincides with listening – sitting in the kitchen, cutting vegetables, you know what I mean – and they are talking to someone. A university friend, or talk to a family friend or uncle, talk differently, and I listen differently.
I was actually relying on the people who heard me talking to Trump in a way that you would communicate with. So there was that. The other part is that I was completely aware that I did not only speak to those gathered on the cataract campus, but in reality we are part of a public discourse that was continuing throughout the political season. As I mentioned, there is a certain amount of rhetoric that we deal with as usual, especially in political seasons, which is a truly dangerous way to manage the country. If we talk to each other this way all the time, we are going on the path of self -destruction as a nation.
I just talked about your children, and in my mind a priest, I have some experience on how politics affects a personal level. I imagine that your children are very proud of you. How are they? How is your family with all this?
