According to the testimony from a former member of the Trump administration, Donald Trump was the first president in history to approve a Catholic Mass within the White House. Former Office of Management and Budget director Mick Mulvaney recently wrote an opinion piece in the Wall Street Journal detailing the notable faith-related event during Trump’s first term in 2018.
Religion has become a significant topic within American political discourse ahead of the upcoming election, as the topic seems to have become increasingly divisive. Donald Trump has often been praised for his stance toward faith, winning support from conservative Christians.
“The story begins in February 2018, when I was director of the Office of Management and Budget. Just before Lent, I asked White House chief of staff John Kelly to relay to the president what I later learned was an unprecedented request: a Catholic Mass in the Old Executive Office Building on Ash Wednesday,” Mulvaney wrote.
The former Trump staffer noted that he was motivated to ask for the ceremony to occur in the White House due to a period of high demand, where budget staff had a substantial workload. “I did that in large part because Lent typically falls during crunch time for budgeteers. I knew there was at least a small group of practicing Catholics who might want to attend Mass and receive ashes that day, but who might not be able to because of work. Mr. Trump approved the request,” he added in his op-ed.
Mulvaney explained how surprising it was that the first Catholic Mass inside the White House drew a massive crowd of government employees. “The result was stunning. More than 100 people showed up to the first Mass in history in the White House compound. Not all of them were from the White House. Dozens were career staffers from the nearby federal agencies who had worked under President Obama and now serve in the Biden administration,” he said.
The staffer noted several other faith-based services were hosted on White House grounds after the event. However, Mulvaney claimed that the Biden administration halted such events during the pandemic. As COVID subsided and society began to return to social norms, he claimed Biden’s team still hasn’t reinstated the services.
The American Tribune reported on comments from Donald Trump earlier this year in which he vowed to protect Christians. The former president suggested that Christians are the “soul of our country.” Trump said, “Americans of faith are not a threat to our country. Americans of faith are the soul of our country.”
The GOP presidential candidate further described how he would “aggressively” defend religion in the United States as he did during his first term. “When I return to the White House, I will once again aggressively defend religious liberty just like I had for four years.” He continued, “You had no problems. But we’re going to defend it in all of its forms. We will protect Christians in our schools and our military and our government and in all of those airwaves. … And we will protect God in our public square,” Trump added.
Featured image credit: By The White House from Washington, DC – President Trump Visits St. John's Episcopal Church, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=90897698
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