Washington, D.C. — Catholic activists gathered Monday nearby the White House to protest the death of George Floyd in an event sponsored by Washington Archbishop Wilton Gregory.
Priests, nuns, and laypeople joined an already vocal contingent of people speaking out against police brutality, as well as those opposed to President Trump’s use of religious imagery in his attempts to quell civil unrest. The protest was described in an email sent out by the archdiocese as a call to “rededicate ourselves to the defense of all life and recommit ourselves to pray for an end to racism.”
A group of priests in Lafayette Park leading the protest asked that everyone present pray the Act of Contrition, a prayer Catholics usually say when they have sinned, to atone for racism in the United States. Led by Cornelius Ejiogu, a priest within the archdiocese, the crowd recited Floyd’s final words, and several people read from the gospel.
After several clergymen had spoken, the crowd turned toward the White House and chanted in unison, “Father forgive them, for they know not what they do,” a reference to Christ’s words to the Romans as he hung on the cross.
The comparison of the Trump administration to the biblical Roman soldiers marked the political overtones of the rally. Of the about 200 priests and nuns, dressed in clerical garb, who showed up, many carried politically charged signs. One Dominican sister held a sign reading, “I repent of my racism.” A Franciscan brother lifted a crucifix aloft, while a man walking behind him raised two messages, one reading “Trump mocks Christ,” the other saying, “Barr is complicit.”
Peter Daly, a priest in the archdiocese, chuckled when he saw the sign referring to Barr. Daly, who said he’s been to five protests in Lafayette Park, pointed to the White House and declared Trump a “moral scandal,” who has enthralled conservative Christians with empty promises on rolling back abortion availability.
“He’s not a sincere Christian,” Daly said. “He hasn’t been to church in his whole adult life.”
Trump’s appearance in front of St. John’s, the historic Episcopal church in Lafayette Square, Daly added, was a show of fake Christianity, particularly because he didn’t even go in: not to pray, not to inspect the damage. And Trump’s opposition to protesters vandalizing and burning the church’s basement, he said, didn’t match the minimal damage to the church, given the state of racial inequality in America.
“People got so worked about the graffiti,” he said, gesturing to the defaced buildings of downtown D.C. “But what they don’t understand is that sometimes, you got to do something to get attention.”
What really incensed Daly, though, was Trump’s visit last Tuesday to the St. John Paul II Shrine. The Shrine, which is run by the Knights of Columbus, had invited the president several weeks beforehand to coincide with his signing of an international religious freedom executive order. The visit drew widespread criticism, most prominently from Gregory, who called the Knights’ invitation “baffling and reprehensible.”
The reprimand resonated with Catholic opponents of the president. Several people at the protest carried signs, accusing Trump of religious appropriation. Kathy Boylan, an activist with the socialist Catholic Worker Movement, said that the visit was an example of what happens “when the church is allowed to be used as a prop for nationalism” without regard for the common dignity of the human race.
Gregory himself has been driving much of this criticism: On Friday, he recommitted to criticizing Trump, telling a panel at Georgetown University that Trump’s visit had dishonored the legacy of the late pope.
“I didn’t think that use was appropriate, especially at the John Paul II Shrine, because the pope was a man with incredible concern for the dignity of human beings,” Gregory said. “His whole life, long before his position as the supreme pontiff, was about battling systems that intended to destroy, weaken, or certainly deny human dignity.”
Gregory, along with many other religious leaders, had originally criticized Trump for allegedly clearing protesters in front of St. John’s with tear gas. The action drew prolonged outcry from religious and nonreligious people, including at Monday’s protest.
David Barrows, a man who often joins protests in D.C., joined the Catholics on Monday dressed as a Bible, and holding a sign asking that religious imagery not be used as a photo-op to justify “bigotry.”
“I don’t like the Bible to be used to hurt people, especially when it’s covering up evil acts by men who stand for injustice,” he said after many people had taken his picture.
