Mountain of Mail
Washington Bishop Mariann Budde inspects some of the more than 20,000 pieces of mail she has received since her post-inauguration sermon Jan. 21 at Washington National Cathedral. (Photo: Laura Natta/Diocese of Washington)
Episcopal News Service | March 3, 2025
Washington Bishop Mariann Budde has drawn intense national and international attention in the past month for her Jan. 21 sermon at Washington National Cathedral, in which she spoke directly to President Donald Trump in attendance and asked him to “have mercy.”
This week, Budde thanked all the people who have responded favorably to that sermon, in a video message she recorded literally in front of some 20,000 positive responses – a mountain of letters piled high in postal crates on a desk.
“I cannot tell you how much it has meant to me to receive the letters and phone calls and notes and gifts and expressions of gratitude, support and encouragement, and I am persuaded that there is a spirit of love and goodness in this land that flows through all of us,” Budde said.
Budde, in her post-inauguration sermon, had asked Trump to show mercy to “the people in our country who are scared now,” and she specifically held up the fears felt by many LGTBQ+ people and immigrants at the start of Trump’s second term.
Trump later demanded an apology, calling Budde a “Radical Left hard line Trump hater” whose sermon was “ungracious” and “nasty in tone.”
Though many of Trump’s supporters shared the president’s view, Budde also became a kind of folk hero for many Americans who saw her as one of the few public figures calling for compassion and respect for human dignity as the new Trump administration began swiftly upending existing policies and democratic norms.
Last week, churchwide leaders thanked Budde personally for her “courageous, Gospel-related words” when she appeared via Zoom in a gathering with members of Executive Council, which was meeting Feb. 17-19 in suburban Baltimore, Maryland.
Executive Council greeted Budde with applause, according to an official summary of the meeting. “Then council members shared stories of the impact of her remarks as well as concerns about her safety,” the summary said. “Budde reassured everyone she was fine. One speaker described Budde’s remarks as a breaking in of the Spirit into the midst of much turmoil.”
A Diocese of Washington spokesperson said nearly all of the more than 20,000 pieces of physical mail Budde received in the past month were positive. “They are almost all letters of thanks to Bishop Budde for speaking about mercy and kindness and for helping them feel comfort in their fear,” she told Episcopal News Service.
Email communications to Budde and the diocese, on the other hand, have been more divided, some angry at the bishop and others expressing gratitude and support.
Budde offered more words of encouragement in her video statement, posted Feb. 25 as a Facebook reel. The video had logged more than 300,000 views in less than two days.
“Now is a time for us to stand together, to take courage from one another and learn together how we are to be brave now and to hold on to the things that are good about us and about our country,” Budde said. “Together, God will work through us to bring about the kind of society, the kind of community, that we all deserve and that we want to pass on to those who come after us. So, take good care, have courage and remember that together we can all be brave.”
David Paulsen is a senior reporter and editor for Episcopal News Service based in Wisconsin.