As with every part that occurs at a presidential inauguration, the number of clergy to hope on the ceremony is not only a formality — it’s a press release by the incoming president, telegraphing the values of his administration to the nation.
And for Joe Biden — a lifelong Catholic who has ceaselessly cited his religion in his current speeches, quoting everybody from St. Francis of Assisi to the hymn “On Eagle’s Wings” — the 2 males providing prayers maintain private which means. Father Leo J. O’Donovan, a Jesuit priest and religious mentor to Biden, will provide the invocation firstly of the service on January 20, and Rev. Silvester Beaman, a buddy and confidant, will give the benediction on the finish.
Beaman and O’Donovan’s participation in Biden’s inauguration locations them in an extended line of clergy who’ve prayed at inauguration occasions, stretching again to the second inauguration of Franklin Delano Roosevelt, an Episcopalian, in 1937. Trump’s inauguration in 2017 featured six non secular leaders, a document, together with Franklin Graham (who participated in George W. Bush’s 2001 inauguration), Paula White, and Cardinal Timothy Dolan, archbishop of New York Metropolis.
Biden is simply the second Catholic to turn into US president, following John F. Kennedy’s election in 1960. However in recent times, he has additionally been criticized by fellow Catholics for his stance on abortion rights. In 2019, he introduced that he now not supported the Hyde Modification, which bans federal funding for abortions, a extra progressive stance than he beforehand took (although it was according to what his fellow 2020 Democratic presidential candidates proposed).
Some Catholic clergy have instructed that he should be barred from collaborating in Holy Communion — the central function of the Catholic mass — and a few have already denied him outright. Nevertheless, Biden contends he’s a religious Catholic (he acquired a congratulatory name from Pope Francis following his election), and his invocation of his religion all through his marketing campaign suggests his Catholicism might be an necessary a part of not simply his inauguration ceremony, but in addition his presidency.
Fr. Leo O’Donovan’s invocation is a sign of Biden’s connection to his Catholic roots
The careers of Biden and O’Donovan have intersected for many years. O’Donovan, a local New Yorker, served because the president of Georgetown College from 1989 to 2001, a time marked by the college’s evolution right into a extremely selective, extra various, and extra financially secure establishment. However there have been controversies, too; most notably, in 1992 he was ordered by a Vatican court docket to defund a campus abortion rights advocacy group.
In 1992, whereas Biden’s son Hunter was a scholar at Georgetown, O’Donovan invited then-Sen. Biden to present a lecture on how his religion knowledgeable his public service. “I’d by no means talked about my religion publicly,” Biden instructed Esquire in 2011. “Anyway, I by no means labored so onerous on a speech my complete life. What I spotted as I wrote it was the best sin a person or girl can commit is the abuse of energy.”
:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/22243171/1094265088.jpg)
Since leaving Georgetown’s presidency, O’Donovan has returned to educating as a visiting professor at establishments together with Fordham College, Basic Theological Seminary, and Union Theological Seminary. On the request of former Disney CEO Michael Eisner, whose son attended Georgetown, O’Donovan served on the board of administrators of the Walt Disney Firm.
In 2015, Biden’s son Beau, the previous lawyer common of Delaware, died on the age of 46 after a recurrence of mind most cancers. Biden requested O’Donovan to present the homily at Beau’s funeral. “Joe, I’m so sorry,” O’Donovan stated to Biden, after which began crying.
“He started to consolation me,” O’Donovan later instructed the Nationwide Catholic Register. “He grew to become the pastor there.”
In 2016, O’Donovan grew to become director of mission on the Jesuit Refugee Service USA, and has since sharply criticized President Trump’s immigration insurance policies. On November 12, 2020, days after his election, Biden participated in a digital fundraiser for Jesuit Refugee Service, throughout which he introduced that he would enhance the goal for admitted refugees into the US from the Trump administration’s 15,000 per yr to 125,000 per yr. Biden additionally wrote the foreword to O’Donovan’s 2018 e book Blessed Are the Refugees: Beatitudes of Immigrant Kids.
On Inauguration Day, O’Donovan’s prayer will signify not only a lengthy friendship and a connection to some of the tragic occasions in Biden’s life; will probably be a press release concerning the new president’s continued connection to his Catholic roots. Biden has usually spoken of his religion as a “solace” in a time of tragedy and sorrow in the course of the lack of his family members. And that appears particularly necessary for a president taking workplace in a time marked by struggling and grief for a lot of People.
Rev. Silvester Beaman’s benediction is a reminder that there’s work to be achieved
O’Donovan’s invocation — historically, a prayer that asks for help — will probably name for God’s blessing on the ceremony and on Biden earlier than the brand new president swears to uphold the Structure. Following the ceremony, Rev. Silvester Beaman will provide a prayer of benediction, or a blessing for these assembled.
A local of Niagara Falls, New York, Beaman is a graduate of Wilberforce College, the primary non-public traditionally Black college to be owned and operated by African People. Wilberforce is related to the African Methodist Episcopal denomination, as is Beaman’s church, Bethel AME, a predominantly Black church situated in Wilmington, Delaware. (Biden’s foremost residence is in Greenville, a suburb of Wilmington.)
Biden and Beaman met in 1993, after Beaman took over Bethel. Biden attended a group occasion that Beaman held and launched himself to the brand new pastor, and the 2 males struck up a friendship. Beaman often traveled with Biden throughout his earlier presidential campaigns and have become a buddy to all the Biden household, particularly Beau.
Beaman instructed NBC Information that whereas Beau Biden was the Delaware lawyer common, he discovered a associate in his work. “Beau and I grew to become kindred spirits,” Beaman stated. “We grew to become good mates within the trenches coping with social points in Wilmington and the state.” He additionally participated in Beau’s 2015 funeral service.
:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/22243178/1216812769.jpg)
On June 1, 2020, amid nationwide unrest and protests towards racism and police violence following the loss of life of George Floyd, Biden — who had sharply decreased his public appearances as a result of coronavirus pandemic — met with 15 Black group leaders in a gathering within the sanctuary at Bethel. He vowed to handle institutional racism and arrange a police oversight physique throughout his first 100 days in workplace if elected. “The vp got here to listen to from us,” Beaman stated earlier than the group prayed. “This can be a homeboy.”
The June 1 assembly at Beaman’s church grew to become fodder for 3 deceptive and racist Trump marketing campaign advertisements, which used footage of Biden kneeling within the church sanctuary in entrance of Beaman and different Black leaders. In an advert launched in June, the video was superimposed over photos of violent protests, with the church context blurred out and a narrator saying, “Antifa destroys our communities. Rioting. Looting. But Joe Biden kneels down.”
In August, the footage was digitally altered to make it seem that Biden was alone in an advert designed to insinuate that the previous vp was cowering in worry and defeated, having all however given up campaigning.
In September, the footage appeared once more, this time in gradual movement and with the Black leaders seen. The phrases “Cease Joe Biden and his rioters” adopted the footage, with audio of Vice President Mike Pence saying, “You gained’t be secure in Joe Biden’s America.” Beaman instructed Faith Information Service that this advert was “overtly racist,” an “assault on the African American Church.” Together with different AME leaders, Beaman signed a letter that denounced the advert and known as on federal legislation enforcement to analyze it, because it “may incite violence, and encourage racial tensions that result in putting folks of colour in hurt’s method.”
On Wednesday, the benediction from Beaman — a buddy and confidant for practically 30 years — will sign a promise to be linked to the considerations of Black communities, a matter of nice significance as Biden steps into the position of president at this second.
And Beaman is effectively conscious of the stakes: “I might be standing in entrance of a constructing that slaves constructed and I might be standing at a podium {that a} mob desecrated,” he instructed NBC Information. “The final phrase that day would be the voice of God. I’m asking God to make use of me to channel his remaining grace upon the event and communicate to the second. And it’s an honor to take action.”