.jpg "The Right Reverend Mariann Edgar Budde, bishop of Washington DC, delivers the homily during a memorial service celebrating the life of Neil Armstrong at the Washington National Cathedral, on Thursday, 13 September 2012. Armstrong, the first man to walk on the moon during the 1969 Apollo 11 mission, died aged 82 on Saturday, 25 August. In 2025, she performed a memorial service for Jimmy Carter. Here she is pictured in red-and-white robes at a pulpit, speaking into a microphone.")
~ Elie Wiesel, The Night Trilogy: Night, Dawn, The Accident.
In my opinion, for what it is worth, at Jimmy Carter's memorial service, and with President Donald Trump in attendance, Right Reverend Mariann Edgar Budde, bishop of Washington DC, gently and fairly, but firmly spoke truth to power; promoting unity in the face of a regime hell bent on fostering division, and promoting compassion, empathy and mercy in the face of a regime hell bent on cruelty. In doing so, she distinguished her more genuine form of Christianity from the deranged brand of Christian Nationalism / worship of Mammon that is behind Project 2025 and Felonious Trump's vile and unholy regime.
And for that exemplary public service – going above and beyond the call of duty felt by many in the mainstream media since Trump cowed them – I give the bishop top marks.
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Image: Neil Armstrong public memorial service (201209130017HQ) / NASA/Paul Alers / Wikimedia Commons / Public domain.
The Right Reverend Mariann Edgar Budde, bishop of Washington DC, delivers a homily (in 2012).