March 11, 2025 • 12 mins
For many years, Bishop Budde has backed up her words with intersectional activism. Her recent speech at the January 2025 US presidential inauguration caught a lot of attention. We shine a light on her work.
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Speaker 1 (00:05):
Hey, this is Annie and Samantha.
Speaker 2 (00:06):
Welcome to Steffan never told you protection by her.
Speaker 1 (00:08):
Radio and for our activists around the world. I thought
we would extend from our Monday MANI and if you're
listening chronologically, which would be amazing and you deserve an award.
This will make sense if not take a minusica listen
(00:31):
to it. But we are talking about Bishop Mary and
Edgar Buddy, her work. It's always been about activism and
though our conversations about Western religion is not good, we don't,
we're not, we're not, We're not a fan. Yeah, Typically,
we definitely wanted to take the time for those who
do what they are called to do and actually speak
(00:53):
up and speak out and love their neighbors. So we
wanted to take the time to talk about Bishop Buddy
and her works. Thus far so Bishop Buddy seems to
be as someone who's been about action and not just words,
which we appreciate. Since becoming the first woman bishop at
the Episcopal Diocese of Washington, where she started, she's done
a lot beforehand. She'd been a parish priest in Minneapolis
(01:16):
for around like eighteen years. She has gone to school
for theology and has been doing this work for a minute.
So Some of her work includes removing of images of
Robert E. Lee and Stonewall Jackson from the church cathedral
windows and replacing it with the image of African American
civil rights activists and their struggles, which we love. Help
(01:38):
in the presiding of internal services over the ashes of
Matthew Sheppard, which his family were fearful of doing due
to anti gay activists and what they would do, but
his remains are now there, safely guarded at the National Cathedral.
She stood up for those who are protesting the murder
of George Floyd when National Guards and police were sent
in so that Trump could have his you know, Bible
(01:59):
hold photo op upside down. No, that was not true.
I thought that. I thought that. I went and looked
at Apparently it was not true. I was gonna say,
I thought it was like so true. I thought so too.
It may have been like rich like maybe adsual, but yeah,
so I thought so too. I thought so too because
I was like wait upside and then then they're like no, no,
(02:22):
So I was like, ugh, no, I'll give him that.
They someone fixed it for him. And to give more
detail about her involvement with honoring Matthew Shepherd. Here's a
bit from them dot US quote. In twenty eighteen, Buddy
played a significant role in LGBTU plus history when she
oversaw the determine of Matthew Shepard's remains at the National Cathedral,
(02:44):
the same building in which she would address Trump nearly
seven years later. Shepherd was murdered in nineteen ninety eight
and what is still one of the most high profile
hate crime cases in US history, but his parents helped
onto his ashes for twenty years out of fear his
gravesite might be vandalized. Shepherd's remains were interred in the
cathedral's crypt following a memorial service on October twenty six,
(03:05):
twenty eighteen, over which Buddy and openly gay Reverend Ve J.
Robinson presided. So they continue with a quote from a
bishop Buddy saying, there will be young people from all
across the country having tours here and being educated here.
Buddy told mourners at the time, when they pass by,
they will see a plaque in his honor. They will
see that this is a church that has learned from
(03:26):
the example of violence, that we need to stand and
be counted as among those who work for justice and
the full embrace of all God's children. And with all
of that, she was one of two hundreds Christian leaders
and scholars who called for quote preservation of plurist democracy
and opposition to authoritarian rule, citing it was an imperative
of the Christian faith. And that's from her Wikipedia page.
(03:48):
I know, I know, I know, but you know it's validated.
But with all of her work, she has made herself
quite a target. After her speech and prayer during the
inaugural service, many accusing her of using the sin of
empathy take a listen to our Monday Mini and criticizing
her denomination in general as a quote politically motivated religion.
Speaker 2 (04:14):
Interesting.
Speaker 1 (04:15):
Moving on in her speech, she says this, so we're
going to give a little portion of what she said
that infuriated people.
Speaker 2 (04:23):
Quote.
Speaker 1 (04:24):
Unity is relatively easy to pray for on occasions of
great slomity. It's a lot harder to realize when we're
dealing with real differences in our private lives and in
the public arena. But without unity, we're building our nation's
house on sand. And with a commitment to unity that
incorporates diversity and transcends disagreement and with the solid foundations
(04:44):
of dignity, honesty, and humility that such unity requires, we
can do our part in our time to realize the
ideals and the dream of America. Let me make one
final theme, mister President. Millions have put their trust in you,
and as you hold the nation yesterday, you have felt
the providential hand of a loving God. In the name
(05:04):
of our God, I ask you to have mercy upon
the people in our country who are scared. Now. There
are gay, lesbians, and transgendered children in democratic, Republican and
independent families, some who fear for their lives. And the people,
the people who pick our crops, clean our office buildings,
who labor in poultry farms and meat packing plants, who
wash the dishes after we eat in restaurants, and work
(05:26):
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 our good
neighbors that are faithful members of our churches and mosques,
synagogues and temples. I ask you to have mercy, mister President,
on those in our communities whose children fear that their
parents will be taken away, and that you help those
(05:49):
who are fleeing war zones and persecution in their own lands.
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 while humbly with each
other and our God, for the good of all people,
the good of all people in this nation and the world.
(06:18):
So this speech was given on January twenty first of
twenty twenty five, and she has had both support and
of course hate. Nowhere in that speech is she telling
them gay people are right or wrong. No where is
this speech saying that this is a sin or not sin.
All she is asking for is humanity, and people lost
their damn minds some people. So she has received thousands
(06:40):
of letters in positive response, I think like twenty thousand
at one point. But she also has had an onslought
of threats and violence aim toward her, so much so
that many women leaders have seen threats towards them within
the church. In fact, this is from baptistnews dot com Wingfield. Wingfield,
who I reference in a Monday many wrote this in
(07:02):
a completely different article. He says conservative outrage over Episcopal
Bishop Maryann Buddies appealed to President Donald Trump to show
mercy is symptomatic of the heresy afflicting the Southern Baptist Convention.
According to social media influencer Megan Basham. As you can imagine,
she is a conservative, right winged Baptist influencer. In response
(07:25):
to buddies Tuesday sermon or Unity, in which she appealed
to Trump to show mercy to immigrants and the LGBTQ community,
Basham posted this, It cannot be said enough that we
have men leading the Southern Baptist Convention who have actively
worked to ensure we follow the same trajectory that led
to this woman occupying a pulpit. I don't know if
they are wolves, but I know they are agents of destruction.
(07:48):
I will never stop opposing them in strongest terms. What
I want to know is why they have so little
zeal for their father's house. A woman who has become
a leader within a specific denomination is bashing women leaders,
saying they are wolves. Possibly right what? And I know
(08:09):
like there's a been a whole level of conversation, and
in our future conversation with Molly, she references that hypocrisy,
calling out hypocrisy does not work.
Speaker 3 (08:17):
Yes, because I'm what, ma'am, oh, just a least a man,
if at least pretend to be a man, if you're going.
Speaker 1 (08:29):
To do this.
Speaker 2 (08:30):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (08:30):
Anyway, this is an example of people opposing women as leaders.
And we've talked about this. You talked about this specifically
when we were talking about women popes and women leaderships.
We talked about this with U. And then the religious
trauma about why they won't allow for women to be
pastors or the split that happened within churches and within
denominations because of this conversation. Yes, this was specifically from
(08:54):
a woman, and she used this conversation from but who
only said please be nice, please me thought full, kind,
please be human, to say to weaponize it and saying
this is why women shouldn't leave, this is why women
should be.
Speaker 2 (09:10):
A pastor, because women are susceptible to the sin of empathy. Yes,
we might actually care about things are And of.
Speaker 1 (09:23):
Course Trump was not happy. Here's a quote from MPR
about his reaction. Quote. Trump criticized Buddy's remarks, writing after
midnight Wednesday morning on his Truth social platform. Quote the
so called bishop who spoke at the National Press Service
on Tuesday morning. Was a radical left, hard line Trump hater.
She brought her church into the world of politics in
(09:44):
a very ungracious way. She was nasty in tone and
not compelling or smart. Why does he always have to
end with that like.
Speaker 2 (09:53):
He's so he's such a child's Predictable's nasty.
Speaker 1 (10:00):
She is nasty. It's not smart.
Speaker 2 (10:02):
She doesn't like me.
Speaker 1 (10:04):
She's the worst thing. She didn't even really say. She
even graciously says mister President, which I refuse to say. Yeah.
But she has held fast to her words and does
not offer an apology, she told NPR in that same article.
(10:24):
Despite the backlash, Buddy told NPR that her remarks were
sincere and she did not have any regrets in bringing
them to the president's attention. I don't hate the president,
and I pray for him, but he said, I don't
feel like there's a need to apologize for a request
for mercy. I regret that it was something that has
caused this kind of response that it has in the
(10:44):
sense that it actually confirmed the very thing I was
speaking of earlier, which is our tendency to jump to
outrage and not speak to one another with respect, she continued.
But no, I won't. I won't apologize for what I said.
So thank you to Bishop Buddy who offers that line
of conversation, having the strength to do so in the
(11:06):
face of those who criticize her, and she knew she
would be criticized. She did it with grace, much more
grace than I would. I think she took the high
road for sure, but she was still able to speak up.
So kudos to this activist and thank you for taking
us stand.
Speaker 2 (11:24):
Yes, and it was one that resonated with a lot
of people. I got a lot of people sent me
those the clips of that speech after it happened, So
Yes listeners. As always, if you have any suggestions for
this segment or any other segment we do, we have
a lot of them. You can email us at Hello
at Stuffweenever told You dot com. You can find us
(11:46):
on blue Sky at mom Stuff podcast, or on Instagram
and TikTok at stuff one Never told You. We're also
on YouTube. We have a tea puppet store, and we
have a book you can get wherever you get your books.
Thanks is always too. Our super producer, Christina are excited
prdusing my at and their contributor Joey. Thank you, and
thanks to you for listening stuff I Never told you
his prediction by her Radio. For more podcasts from My
Heart Radio, you can check out the heart Radio app,
(12:07):
Apple podcast or where you listening to your favorite shows,
Hey, this is Annie and Samantha.
Speaker 2 (00:06):
Welcome to Steffan never told you protection by her.
Speaker 1 (00:08):
Radio and for our activists around the world. I thought
we would extend from our Monday MANI and if you're
listening chronologically, which would be amazing and you deserve an award.
This will make sense if not take a minusica listen
(00:31):
to it. But we are talking about Bishop Mary and
Edgar Buddy, her work. It's always been about activism and
though our conversations about Western religion is not good, we don't,
we're not, we're not, We're not a fan. Yeah, Typically,
we definitely wanted to take the time for those who
do what they are called to do and actually speak
(00:53):
up and speak out and love their neighbors. So we
wanted to take the time to talk about Bishop Buddy
and her works. Thus far so Bishop Buddy seems to
be as someone who's been about action and not just words,
which we appreciate. Since becoming the first woman bishop at
the Episcopal Diocese of Washington, where she started, she's done
a lot beforehand. She'd been a parish priest in Minneapolis
(01:16):
for around like eighteen years. She has gone to school
for theology and has been doing this work for a minute.
So Some of her work includes removing of images of
Robert E. Lee and Stonewall Jackson from the church cathedral
windows and replacing it with the image of African American
civil rights activists and their struggles, which we love. Help
(01:38):
in the presiding of internal services over the ashes of
Matthew Sheppard, which his family were fearful of doing due
to anti gay activists and what they would do, but
his remains are now there, safely guarded at the National Cathedral.
She stood up for those who are protesting the murder
of George Floyd when National Guards and police were sent
in so that Trump could have his you know, Bible
(01:59):
hold photo op upside down. No, that was not true.
I thought that. I thought that. I went and looked
at Apparently it was not true. I was gonna say,
I thought it was like so true. I thought so too.
It may have been like rich like maybe adsual, but yeah,
so I thought so too. I thought so too because
I was like wait upside and then then they're like no, no,
(02:22):
So I was like, ugh, no, I'll give him that.
They someone fixed it for him. And to give more
detail about her involvement with honoring Matthew Shepherd. Here's a
bit from them dot US quote. In twenty eighteen, Buddy
played a significant role in LGBTU plus history when she
oversaw the determine of Matthew Shepard's remains at the National Cathedral,
(02:44):
the same building in which she would address Trump nearly
seven years later. Shepherd was murdered in nineteen ninety eight
and what is still one of the most high profile
hate crime cases in US history, but his parents helped
onto his ashes for twenty years out of fear his
gravesite might be vandalized. Shepherd's remains were interred in the
cathedral's crypt following a memorial service on October twenty six,
(03:05):
twenty eighteen, over which Buddy and openly gay Reverend Ve J.
Robinson presided. So they continue with a quote from a
bishop Buddy saying, there will be young people from all
across the country having tours here and being educated here.
Buddy told mourners at the time, when they pass by,
they will see a plaque in his honor. They will
see that this is a church that has learned from
(03:26):
the example of violence, that we need to stand and
be counted as among those who work for justice and
the full embrace of all God's children. And with all
of that, she was one of two hundreds Christian leaders
and scholars who called for quote preservation of plurist democracy
and opposition to authoritarian rule, citing it was an imperative
of the Christian faith. And that's from her Wikipedia page.
(03:48):
I know, I know, I know, but you know it's validated.
But with all of her work, she has made herself
quite a target. After her speech and prayer during the
inaugural service, many accusing her of using the sin of
empathy take a listen to our Monday Mini and criticizing
her denomination in general as a quote politically motivated religion.
Speaker 2 (04:14):
Interesting.
Speaker 1 (04:15):
Moving on in her speech, she says this, so we're
going to give a little portion of what she said
that infuriated people.
Speaker 2 (04:23):
Quote.
Speaker 1 (04:24):
Unity is relatively easy to pray for on occasions of
great slomity. It's a lot harder to realize when we're
dealing with real differences in our private lives and in
the public arena. But without unity, we're building our nation's
house on sand. And with a commitment to unity that
incorporates diversity and transcends disagreement and with the solid foundations
(04:44):
of dignity, honesty, and humility that such unity requires, we
can do our part in our time to realize the
ideals and the dream of America. Let me make one
final theme, mister President. Millions have put their trust in you,
and as you hold the nation yesterday, you have felt
the providential hand of a loving God. In the name
(05:04):
of our God, I ask you to have mercy upon
the people in our country who are scared. Now. There
are gay, lesbians, and transgendered children in democratic, Republican and
independent families, some who fear for their lives. And the people,
the people who pick our crops, clean our office buildings,
who labor in poultry farms and meat packing plants, who
wash the dishes after we eat in restaurants, and work
(05:26):
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 our good
neighbors that are faithful members of our churches and mosques,
synagogues and temples. I ask you to have mercy, mister President,
on those in our communities whose children fear that their
parents will be taken away, and that you help those
(05:49):
who are fleeing war zones and persecution in their own lands.
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 while humbly with each
other and our God, for the good of all people,
the good of all people in this nation and the world.
(06:18):
So this speech was given on January twenty first of
twenty twenty five, and she has had both support and
of course hate. Nowhere in that speech is she telling
them gay people are right or wrong. No where is
this speech saying that this is a sin or not sin.
All she is asking for is humanity, and people lost
their damn minds some people. So she has received thousands
(06:40):
of letters in positive response, I think like twenty thousand
at one point. But she also has had an onslought
of threats and violence aim toward her, so much so
that many women leaders have seen threats towards them within
the church. In fact, this is from baptistnews dot com Wingfield. Wingfield,
who I reference in a Monday many wrote this in
(07:02):
a completely different article. He says conservative outrage over Episcopal
Bishop Maryann Buddies appealed to President Donald Trump to show
mercy is symptomatic of the heresy afflicting the Southern Baptist Convention.
According to social media influencer Megan Basham. As you can imagine,
she is a conservative, right winged Baptist influencer. In response
(07:25):
to buddies Tuesday sermon or Unity, in which she appealed
to Trump to show mercy to immigrants and the LGBTQ community,
Basham posted this, It cannot be said enough that we
have men leading the Southern Baptist Convention who have actively
worked to ensure we follow the same trajectory that led
to this woman occupying a pulpit. I don't know if
they are wolves, but I know they are agents of destruction.
(07:48):
I will never stop opposing them in strongest terms. What
I want to know is why they have so little
zeal for their father's house. A woman who has become
a leader within a specific denomination is bashing women leaders,
saying they are wolves. Possibly right what? And I know
(08:09):
like there's a been a whole level of conversation, and
in our future conversation with Molly, she references that hypocrisy,
calling out hypocrisy does not work.
Speaker 3 (08:17):
Yes, because I'm what, ma'am, oh, just a least a man,
if at least pretend to be a man, if you're going.
Speaker 1 (08:29):
To do this.
Speaker 2 (08:30):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (08:30):
Anyway, this is an example of people opposing women as leaders.
And we've talked about this. You talked about this specifically
when we were talking about women popes and women leaderships.
We talked about this with U. And then the religious
trauma about why they won't allow for women to be
pastors or the split that happened within churches and within
denominations because of this conversation. Yes, this was specifically from
(08:54):
a woman, and she used this conversation from but who
only said please be nice, please me thought full, kind,
please be human, to say to weaponize it and saying
this is why women shouldn't leave, this is why women
should be.
Speaker 2 (09:10):
A pastor, because women are susceptible to the sin of empathy. Yes,
we might actually care about things are And of.
Speaker 1 (09:23):
Course Trump was not happy. Here's a quote from MPR
about his reaction. Quote. Trump criticized Buddy's remarks, writing after
midnight Wednesday morning on his Truth social platform. Quote the
so called bishop who spoke at the National Press Service
on Tuesday morning. Was a radical left, hard line Trump hater.
She brought her church into the world of politics in
(09:44):
a very ungracious way. She was nasty in tone and
not compelling or smart. Why does he always have to
end with that like.
Speaker 2 (09:53):
He's so he's such a child's Predictable's nasty.
Speaker 1 (10:00):
She is nasty. It's not smart.
Speaker 2 (10:02):
She doesn't like me.
Speaker 1 (10:04):
She's the worst thing. She didn't even really say. She
even graciously says mister President, which I refuse to say. Yeah.
But she has held fast to her words and does
not offer an apology, she told NPR in that same article.
(10:24):
Despite the backlash, Buddy told NPR that her remarks were
sincere and she did not have any regrets in bringing
them to the president's attention. I don't hate the president,
and I pray for him, but he said, I don't
feel like there's a need to apologize for a request
for mercy. I regret that it was something that has
caused this kind of response that it has in the
(10:44):
sense that it actually confirmed the very thing I was
speaking of earlier, which is our tendency to jump to
outrage and not speak to one another with respect, she continued.
But no, I won't. I won't apologize for what I said.
So thank you to Bishop Buddy who offers that line
of conversation, having the strength to do so in the
(11:06):
face of those who criticize her, and she knew she
would be criticized. She did it with grace, much more
grace than I would. I think she took the high
road for sure, but she was still able to speak up.
So kudos to this activist and thank you for taking
us stand.
Speaker 2 (11:24):
Yes, and it was one that resonated with a lot
of people. I got a lot of people sent me
those the clips of that speech after it happened, So
Yes listeners. As always, if you have any suggestions for
this segment or any other segment we do, we have
a lot of them. You can email us at Hello
at Stuffweenever told You dot com. You can find us
(11:46):
on blue Sky at mom Stuff podcast, or on Instagram
and TikTok at stuff one Never told You. We're also
on YouTube. We have a tea puppet store, and we
have a book you can get wherever you get your books.
Thanks is always too. Our super producer, Christina are excited
prdusing my at and their contributor Joey. Thank you, and
thanks to you for listening stuff I Never told you
his prediction by her Radio. For more podcasts from My
Heart Radio, you can check out the heart Radio app,
(12:07):
Apple podcast or where you listening to your favorite shows,
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