In case you missed it: two Catholic clergyman offered prayers at Donald Trump’s inauguration today.
Cardinal Timothy Dolan said a few words (and took the time and trouble to make the Sign of the Cross) before Trump took the oath. His was a prayer tinged with history and healthy doses of scripture.
After the oath and the speech, Brooklyn’s own Father Frank Mann, wearing a large red stole, offered a concluding benediction. (You can read more about Fr. Mann and how he got to know Trump here.)
Also worth noting: Rev. Lorenzo Sewell from Detroit, who raised the rafters with a piece of oratory so spellbinding that CNN’s Kaitlin Collins said she got a text from her father, saying he wanted to visit Rev. Sewell’s church sometime.
Rabbi Ari Berman added his voice.
We also heard from Rev. Franklin Graham, son of the legendary Billy Graham. His prayer was, to put it diplomatically, highly partisan.
But nobody can beat the master at this: Graham’s father.
This is how an inaugural prayer should be done, with a spirit of generosity, humility and gratitude.
Here’s the Rev. Billy Graham at the 1989 inaugural, with a prayer that dares to mention sin, prayer and compassion and, along the way, asks God’s blessings on the departing president and the cabinet, too.
