Pasadena Church Won’t Pray for President-Elect Donald Trump By Name

Members of Pasadena’s All Saints Episcopal Church have removed the proper names from their prayers for “people in authority” because praying for President-Elect Donald Trump by name might cause trauma to some people, its Rector said.

“We are in a unique situation in my lifetime where we have a president elect whose name is literally a trauma trigger to some people – particularly women and people who, because of his words and actions, he represents an active danger to health and safety,” All Saints Church Rector Mike Kinman said in the church blog last week.

“Whereas before we prayed for ‘Barack, our president,’ we are now praying for ‘our president, our president-elect, and all others in authority.’ This practice will continue for at least the near future,” Kinman wrote.

Kinman cited “health and safety” as the reason for the new custom, indicating the change may be temporary, as the Church ponders on steps that need to be taken to keep the worshipping community “a place of safety from harm.”

Kinman said he will continue to listen and pray and consult with the Church community about the new custom as a pastoral and liturgical issue. He said the Church has also decided to remove the names of the Church’s bishops in their prayers “for consistency of style.”

“I ask you to continue to pray not only for our president and president-elect, but for our nation – and particularly those most fearful and vulnerable among us in this hour,” Kinman concluded.

All Saints Episcopal Church Pasadena has also scheduled a “Weekend of Prayer and Sacred Resistance,” on January 20 to 22, coinciding with Trump’s inauguration weekend.

Another post on the Church’s blog on Wednesday said prayers for the weekend will be offered for the country and “a recommitment to sacred resistance.”

“We will stand in resistance to the systemic evils that oppress and marginalize any member of our human family – including but not limited to racism, sexism, nativism, homophobia, anti-Semitism and Islamophobia. Grounded in our baptismal promises, our resistance to public policies that perpetuate those evils is how we put out faith into action in the world,” the post said.