ROCHESTER, N.Y. — Mariann Budde, the bishop who presided over a National Cathedral ceremony for President Donald Trump, has ties to upstate New York.

It is nearly one week since a sermon at the National Cathedral placed an Episcopal bishop in the spotlight.

Budde is receiving support from some and sharp criticism from others after her sermon before Trump the day after the inauguration ceremony.

As it turns out, Bishop Budde has ties to the Rochester area.

“That was it was a big part of my life. A sense of my vocation was honed there,” said Bishop Budde of her time spent at the University of Rochester, where she is a 1982 graduate with a major in history.

The Rt. Rev. Mariann Budde is now at the Episcopal Diocese of Washington.

“The study of history and the experiences I had both at the university and with a few of the religious communities in Rochester, were very formative to me,” said Budde, who is now serving as the spiritual leader for 86 Episcopal congregations and 10 Episcopal schools in the District of Columbia and four Maryland counties. 

She explains how she was chosen by the dean of the National Cathedral to deliver the sermon.

“In June, the Cathedral announced that regardless of who won, there would be a prayer service for the nation, a prayer service whose team was praying for unity after a very bruising and divisive political, you know, political time, that it would be the same service regardless of who won," she said. "It would be an interfaith service. The cathedral would plan it and the bishop of the Diocese of Washington would preach regardless.”

Under the umbrella theme of unity, Budde decided to focus on the topics of respect, honesty and humility and then added one more – mercy.

“In the name of our God. I ask you to have mercy upon the people in our country who are scared now,” said Budde from the pulpit. She went on to preach, “There are gay, lesbian and transgender children in Democratic, Republican and independent families, some who fear for their lives,” and, “The vast majority of immigrants are not criminals.” 

President Trump’s comments following the service? 

“What do you think?" he said. "Did you find it exciting? Not too exciting, was it? I didn’t think it was a good service, no.”

"Anyone can disagree here or not like a sermon that again. That happens," Budde said when asked what her response would be to those who think she was politicizing from the pulpit. "I would say I was not preaching. I was certainly not preaching partisan politics. And I was not even preaching politically. I was drawing from the wells that I know, that I live from, which are spiritual. It was a political gathering in that I was praying for the nation. So, I was trying to speak to the diversity of our nation. But I would respectfully disagree with those who call it partisan or political in an inappropriate sense.”

The bishop will continue to spread her message of mercy, although she says she understands the vote has gone to Trump and his campaign promises and she respects that process.

“I'm hoping to humanize it a bit and perhaps have some of the pendulum swing toward a more merciful and gracious and expansive understanding of who we are as a country," she said.