Washington Bishop Mariann Budde announces timeline for electing successor in 2028
Washington Bishop Mariann Budde leads a national prayer service attended by President Donald Trump at the Washington National Cathedral on Jan. 21, 2025. Photo: Evan Vucci/Associated Press
[Episcopal News Service] Washington Bishop Mariann Budde, one of The Episcopal Church’s most prominent bishops because of her role leading the diocese based in the nation’s capital, announced Oct. 1 that she is calling for the election of her successor in 2028.
“I have not come to this decision lightly or alone, and it will not be easy to say goodbye to the diocese I love,” Budde said in a message to her diocese, which includes 86 congregations in Washington, D.C., and parts of Maryland.
“Alongside the diocesan staff and leadership bodies, I will do everything in my power to ensure that the diocese is as strong and healthy as possible for this leadership transition. I am praying for all involved, and especially for the one God is preparing to serve as the tenth bishop of the Diocese of Washington.”
Budde’s diocese includes Washington National Cathedral, which also serves as the seat of The Episcopal Church’s presiding bishop. In January 2025, Budde generated national headlines and intense scrutiny, both positive and negative, for addressing President Donald Trump directly in her sermon at the cathedral during a service held after his inauguration.
Budde, in her sermon, had asked Trump to show mercy to “the people in our country who are scared now,” and she specifically held up the fears felt by many LGBTQ+ people and immigrants at the start of his second term.
In her 15 years as Washington bishop, she has regularly been at the forefront of the church’s engagement on political issues that intersect with the faith, though she also has focused on a more pastoral approach to challenges facing the diocese’s congregations, from navigating the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 to nurturing the diocese’s growing number of Spanish-speaking congregations.
Washington Bishop Mariann Budde speaks in January during a news conference by clergy about immigration actions in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Photo: Jack Jenkins/Religion News Service
Budde told Episcopal News Service in a 2021 interview that, since her consecration as Washington bishop in 2011, she has tried to focus on her primary role as chief pastor to the diocese’s Episcopalians and, when engaging in advocacy, to “take a moral position and not a partisan position, to start somewhere we have authority.”
In her Oct. 1 message, she said: “Next month marks the fifteenth anniversary of our shared ministry. I hope that you know that serving as your bishop is one of the great blessings of my life.”
The election of her successor, she said, would take place at the diocesan convention in January 2028, with the new bishop’s consecration expected in June 2028. “It takes time and considerable effort to elect a bishop in our church,” Budde said. “The responsibility for shepherding that process rests with the Standing Committee, the elected body that provides counsel to the bishop and oversees important diocesan matters.”
– David Paulsen is a senior reporter and editor for Episcopal News Service based in Wisconsin. He can be reached at dpaulsen@episcopalchurch.org.