OUR FIRST HERO

 

Subscribe to My Blog! January 25, 2025 OUR FIRST HERO PREVIOUS BLOGS: TERRYBAUM.BLOGSPOT.COM PLEASE FORWARD THIS TO ANYONE WHO MIGHT BE INTERESTED. PODCASTS, EVENTS, INFO, POSTERS: LilithTheater.com  President Donald Trump, left, watches as Rev. Mariann Budde, second right, arrives at the national prayer service at the Washington National Cathedral, Tuesday, Jan. 21, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci) In case you've been hiding under a rock since that terrifying Inauguration day -- and if you have, who can blame you? -- this is what Episcopal Bishop Mariann E. Budde said to President Trump's face on Tuesday, January 21 in Washington Cathedral:   “Let me make one final plea, Mr. President. Millions have put their trust in you and, as you told the nation yesterday, you have felt the providential hand of a loving God. In the name of our God, I ask you to have mercy upon the people in our country who are scared now. There are gay, lesbian and transgender children in Democratic, Republican, and Independent families, some who fear for their lives. The people who pick our crops and clean our office buildings; who labor in poultry farms and meat packing plants; who wash the dishes after we eat in restaurants and work the night shifts in hospitals. They…may not be citizens or have the proper documentation. But the vast majority of immigrants are not criminals. They pay taxes and are good neighbors. They are faithful members of our churches and mosques, synagogues, gurudwaras and temples. I ask you to have mercy, Mr. President, on those in our communities whose children fear that their parents will be taken away. And that you help those who are fleeing war zones and persecution in their own lands to find compassion and welcome here. Our God teaches us that we are to be merciful to the stranger, for we were all once strangers in this land. May God grant us the strength and courage to honor the dignity of every human being, to speak the truth to one another in love and walk humbly with each other and our God for the good of all people. Good of all people in this nation and the world. Amen” And a storm of praise and hatred, gratitude for the Bishop's courage, and death threats against her, followed on the internet. Bishop Budde was interviewed by the New York Times:   "I had a feeling that there were people watching what was happening and wondering, 'Was anyone going to say anything? Was anyone going to say anything about the turn the country's taking? To plea for mercy is actually a very humbling thing to do. I wasn't demanding anything of him. I was pleading with him, like, can you see the humanity of these people? Can you acknowledge that there are people in this country (who) are scared?...If not him, if not the president, could others? Maybe this was naive on my part. When I decided to plea to the president I thought it would be taken differently, because it was an acknowledgement of his position, his power now, and the millions of people who put him there." She continued, "These are things I say all the time. But publicly, people aren't paying attention." In the pulpit, she said, "you can never really predict how things will land." No shit, Sherlock. You know that old joke, "A President and a Bishop walk into a cathedral...." You see, they were in the same actual physical space. That's proven by the photo above. And it was her space. He could not silence her. He could not throw her out. And people would be watching. The press would be there. She had an opportunity to speak the truth to the face of the malevolent narcissist who happens to be the most powerful person in the world. And Bishop Budde had the courage to grab that opportunity. Does she have a 24-hour bodyguard yet? I wonder. Episcopal Churches around the country have removed staff directories from their websites. All the workers have been instructed to send any death threats they receive to a particular person who has been assigned to deal with them. The New York Times again:   On Wednesday, Representative Mike Collins, Republican of Georgia, said Bishop Budde should be "added to the deportation list." Others said her gender itself undercut any claim to spiritual authority. "Female bishop is all you needed to know how it was going to turn out," Kristan Hawkins, a Catholic anti-abortion activist, wrote on X. Us damn women. If we're not demanding to control our own bodies, we're out gallivanting around pretending to lead churches. When are we going to get back to good old-fashioned "barefoot and pregnant"? The battle has begun. Gee, wouldn't it be great if those of us who believe in compassion, the rule of law and government accountability had a political party with the courage to speak up loudly, passionately and constantly for us?  Wouldn't that be just super? All for now, Bloggelinis. Terry