- The Washington Times - Tuesday, June 2, 2020

Bishop Mariann Edgar Budde of the Episcopal Diocese of Washington on Tuesday said President Trump is welcome to pray at St. John’s Episcopal Church near the White House but that she couldn’t abide the “symbolic” gesture from Mr. Trump outside of the church on Monday evening.

She said the president cleared a path “with tear gas” and police clad in riot gear to make the walk over from the White House to the nearby church, which had been vandalized Sunday evening.

“[He] stood in front of St. John’s and held up a Bible as if it were spiritual validation and justification for a message that is antithetical to the teachings of Jesus and to the God of justice,” she said on ABC’s “Good Morning America.” “And so I felt in no uncertain terms that I had to disassociate us from that symbolic gesture and to speak a word of justice and peace to the nation.”

She said she didn’t get any notice that Mr. Trump was going to make the trek and that she was watching the news with her mother when it happened.

“He’s welcome, as anyone is welcome, to pray,” she said. “But he is not entitled to use the spiritual symbolism of our sacred spaces and our sacred texts to promote or to justify [an] entirely different message.”

The bishop said she was deeply disappointed Mr. Trump didn’t take the opportunity to enter the church to pray.

“He didn’t come to church to offer condolences to those who are grieving. He didn’t come to commit to healing our nation,” she said on NBC’s “Today” program. “The only time President Trump has been at St. John’s Church as president was on the morning of his inauguration.”

Mr. Trump has, in fact, attended services at the church on at least one other occasion: St. Patrick’s Day 2019.

She also said on ABC that a small fire at the church on Sunday was quickly extinguished and didn’t do too much damage.

Mr. Trump made the dramatic walk over to the church on Monday after he had vowed to marshal federal resources, if necessary, to crack down on protests that have spread nationwide after the Memorial Day killing of George Floyd in Minnesota.

Shortly before he delivered the Rose Garden speech, gas and flash-bang devices had been deployed near protesters who had been congregating near the White House.

Mr. Trump and first lady Melania Trump are scheduled to make a visit to the Saint John Paul II National Shrine near Catholic University in Washington on Tuesday.

• David Sherfinski can be reached at dsherfinski@washingtontimes.com.

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