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WASHINGTON, D.C. (LifeSiteNews) — The National Cathedral in Washington, D.C., is under the jurisdiction of the Episcopal Church and is a congressionally-designated non-denominational National House of Prayer. But that status may change if anti-woke lawmakers and others have their way. 

One day after taking the oath of office, President Donald Trump and Vice President JD Vance, along with their families, ritually attended a prayer service at the National Cathedral.  

They were welcomed with a woke sermon by Episcopal “bishop” Mariann Budde, who lectured Trump about needing to have “mercy” on illegal immigrants and self-professed “LGBT” people.   

Her behavior set off a tsunami of criticism, not only of Budde herself but of the church. 

GOP Congresswoman Diana Harshbarger of Tennessee told Newsmax host Todd Starnes, who described the church as a “sanctuary of Satan,” that certain federal events should not take place at the location.   

Conservative commentator Jack Posobiec agrees. On a recent show, he went so far as to call for the church’s tax-exempt status to be revoked. 

While not a bad idea, such a move is extremely unlikely, as a group called Jews Choose Trump called on the IRS in 2019 to investigate the cathedral’s tax-exempt status to no avail after Budde and two of her liberal colleagues denounced Trump for “racialized rhetoric.”    

Since 1933, the cathedral has played host to 10 inaugural prayer services, as well as multiple presidential funerals, most recently Jimmy Carter’s. The church acts in a similar fashion to Westminster Abbey and other Anglican churches in the United Kingdom. But, as Joseph Duggan points out in an essay for Chronicles, it shouldn’t.  

“The Washington National Cathedral, in more ways than one, is the Disney version of what was long ago the cultural unity of Christian Europe. It is an ersatz edifice operated by clerics who today believe neither in Christianity nor in our nation,” he wrote. 

“Of course, it is a commendable thing that our government leaders still see fit to pray at public ceremonies. But neither the Episcopal Church nor any other ecclesiastical body should monopolize the solemn rituals of our national government with the trappings and false implications of it being an official national church.” 

“Let’s declare our independence from that artifact of English imperialism, the National Cathedral,” he concluded.   

Duggan is a former speechwriter for President George H.W. Bush and worked in the State Department under Ronald Reagan.  

In 2023, the cathedral announced the installation of a set of stained glass windows to commemorate “the resilience, faith and endurance of African Americans and our nation’s struggle with the original sins of racism and slavery.” The church had removed windows of Confederate Generals Robert E. Lee and Thomas “Stonewall” Jackson to make way for the new ones. It also has a so-called “LGBTQIA+” ministry, among other left-wing initiatives. 

LifeSiteNews is encouraging all of you to pray and fast for the conversion of Donald Trump. Learn more here.

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Stephen Kokx is a journalist for LifeSiteNews. A former community college instructor, Stephen has written and spoken extensively about Catholic social teaching, politics, and spirituality. He previously worked for the Archdiocese of Chicago under the late Francis Cardinal George. His essays have appeared in a variety of outlets, including Catholic Family News and CatholicVote.org. He is the author of two books, Navigating the Crisis in the Church: Essays in Defense of Traditional Catholicism and St. Alphonsus for the 21st Century: A Handbook for Holiness.

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