National Cathedral to celebrate America 250 with 'interfaith service' after 'Celebrating Pride' event

The National Cathedral in Washington, D.C., is celebrating the 250th anniversary of American independence with an interfaith service on July 3, days after hosting a Holy Eucharist service celebrating LGBT pride.

The free interfaith event, titled "We Hold These Truths to be Self-Evident," is open to the public and will "[celebrate] the nation's ideals alongside an honest reckoning of its history and unfinished work," according to an announcement. The cathedral is part of the Episcopal Diocese of Washington.

The Rev. Randolph Hollerith, who has served as dean of the cathedral since 2016, and the Rev. Mariann Edgar Budde, who has been the bishop of Washington since 2011, appeared in a short video promoting the event, which Hollerith described as "a national interfaith service celebrating 250 years of the American story."

"Washington National Cathedral is a house of prayer for all people, and a gathering place for the nation," Budde said in an apparent reference to Isaiah 56:7, which Jesus cited when He cleansed the temple of the moneychangers.

"Presented in partnership with the Courage Project, the service will bring together voices and traditions that that will show us where we've been as a country and who we are called to become," added Budde.

The Courage Project, a philanthropic initiative launched in May 2025 with backing from other liberal foundations, offers cash awards to activist organizations that demonstrate "civic bravery," including helping those detained by immigration authorities, reports The New York Times.

The interfaith service is part of the National Cathedral's "A Better Way" initiative, which has featured events with speakers including Sen. Raphael Warnock, D-Ga.; former National Institutes of Health Director Francis Collins and former Rep. Liz Cheney, R-Wyo.

The interfaith ceremony is slated to take place less than two weeks after the National Cathedral hosts a Holy Eucharist service "celebrating Pride" this Sunday, according to an announcement.

Budde rose to national prominence in January 2025 for publicly rebuking President Donald Trump from the pulpit during an interfaith service he attended following his inauguration. In her homily, she pleaded with him to "have mercy" on LGBT individuals and illegal immigrants.

"In the name of our God, I ask you to have mercy upon the people in our country who are scared now," Budde stated. "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," she continued.

Budde drew widespread media coverage for her homily and was showered with praise on left-leaning shows such as "The View" and "The Rachel Maddow Show."

Rob Pacienza, who serves as senior pastor at Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, and attended the inauguration service, told The Christian Post at the time that he found Budde's homily and overall worldview symptomatic of the spiritual decay within mainline Protestantism, which he said is increasingly losing its cultural relevance.

"They're becoming irrelevant, and it's really not what people are hungry for. They're hungry for God's Word. They're hungry for the truth. Unfortunately, as you saw [in January 2025], you're not going to get that at the National Cathedral," he said at the time.