Bishop Mariann Edgar Budde, the first woman ever elected to lead the Episcopal Diocese of Washington, announced she will resign from her post, kicking off a two-year transition process rather than an immediate departure. Budde has served as bishop since 2011, and her exit will not take effect until a successor is consecrated in June 2028.
A Deliberate, Years-Long Handoff
According to NBC4 Washington, the diocese posted an open letter from Budde in which she said it was time to begin preparing for the election of the next bishop and that she did not make the decision lightly or alone. She wrote that serving as bishop had been one of the great blessings of her life. Per the same report, a diocesan convention is set to elect a new bishop on January 29, 2028, in Washington, D.C., with that successor consecrated and ordained on June 3, 2028 — the same date Budde will formally leave the role.
The timeline is not arbitrary. Under Title III of Episcopal Church canon law, priests and bishops must resign their active positions upon reaching age 72, though the church's 81st General Convention debated in 2024 whether to raise that mandatory retirement age to 75, according to Episcopal News Service. In an October interview, Budde explained that the church designates her departure a resignation rather than a retirement, since bishops permanently retain their ordained title even after stepping down from leading a diocese, as reported by National Catholic Reporter.
Who Oversees the Search
The process of finding the 10th Bishop of Washington falls to the diocese's Standing Committee, led by President Matt Klaus, which announced plans to appoint separate search and transition committees this month, the outlet notes. The Episcopal Diocese of Washington currently counts roughly 38,000 active members across 86 congregations and parochial schools spread across the District of Columbia and four surrounding Maryland counties — Montgomery, Prince George's, Charles, and St. Mary's — according to the Episcopal Diocese of Washington.
The National Spotlight and Trump Tensions
Budde gained national attention after appealing to President Donald Trump for mercy toward immigrants, migrants and LGBTQ+ people, according to NBC4 Washington. She said Trump should have mercy on Americans who were scared, including LGBTQ+ people and migrants, a remark delivered as Trump attended the inaugural prayer service for his second term in January 2025, during which Budde also referenced his belief that God had saved him from an assassination attempt. Trump demanded an apology from Budde, saying she had brought her church into politics in an ungracious way, per the same report.
That clash was not Budde's first high-profile confrontation with Trump. In June 2020, she voiced public outrage after federal authorities forcibly cleared peaceful Black Lives Matter protesters from Lafayette Square using tear gas so Trump could pose with a Bible outside St. John's Episcopal Church without church approval, as reported by AP News. More recently, in January 2026, Budde joined hundreds of interfaith religious leaders in Minneapolis to demonstrate against federal mass deportation plans and immigration raids, framing immigrant rights as a non-negotiable moral and religious duty, according to Religion News Service.
A Legacy Of Reconciliation And Inclusion
Budde's episcopate has also been marked by efforts to confront the church's own history. She authorized the 2017 removal of stained-glass windows honoring Confederate generals Robert E. Lee and Stonewall Jackson from Washington National Cathedral; those windows were permanently replaced in September 2023 by social justice-themed artwork created by artist Kerry James Marshall, per CBS News. In October 2018, she co-presided over a ceremony interring the ashes of Matthew Shepard at the cathedral, giving him a permanent resting place 20 years after his murder, after his parents had kept his remains private for fear of desecration, according to Episcopal News Service.
What Comes Next For Budde
Budde has also built a public profile beyond the pulpit, publishing two books on personal and spiritual courage — How We Learn to Be Brave in 2023 and We Can Be Brave: How We Learn to be Brave in Life's Decisive Moments in late 2025, according to MPR News. Once her tenure ends in June 2028, Budde plans to return to her home state of Minnesota, where she spent 18 years as rector of St. John's Episcopal Church in Minneapolis before her 2011 election as bishop of Washington, per the National Catholic Reporter's report.
