PresidentJimmy Carterentered hospice care when he was 98 years old.
Carter said he wanted to live long enough to cast his vote for Vice President Kamala Harris for president.
On Oct. 16, he fulfilled his wish but ultimately failed to achieve his goal ofdefeatingDonald Trump.
A student holds up a fist during a Black Lives Matter sit-in at the National Cathedral on June 5, 2020, in Washington, D.C.Win McNamee/Getty Images
On Dec. 29, just three weeks before Trumps inauguration, Carter passed away at the age of 100.
On Jan. 9, Carters casket arrived at the steps of theWashingtonNational Cathedral.
It was draped in an American flag and borne by a special military honor guard.
Randy Hollerith, dean of the cathedral; the Rev.
Rosemarie Logan Duncan, the canon of worship; and the Rev.
Sean Rowe, the presiding bishop of the Episcopal Church, placed their hands on the coffin and prayed.
Deportations
These include retired Bishop Gene Robinson, the first openly-gay bishop in all of Christendom; the Rev.
Robinson likens this moment in our history to that which preceded the Civil War.
As far as Im concerned, anything that devalues another human being is violent, Douglas tells me.
That goes for racist, sexist, misogynistic, transphobic ideology.
Its violent, and we have to name the violence.
We have to stop the violence.
But it does maintain a special place in the federal sphere.
In 1893, a congressional charter authorized a cathedral dedicated to religion, education and charity.
Bush oversaw the laying of the final stone in 1990.
It is the sixth-largest cathedral in the world and the second largest in the nation.
Its many arches and small recessed chapels provide a surprisingly welcoming environment even to the nonreligious.
The cathedral is also wrestling with its own racist past.
President Woodrow Wilson is buried within the cathedral.
They remained installed there for 64 years.
Douglas came to the cathedral in 2015.
Pain travels rapidly across her face as she chooses her words carefully.
Unwelcoming is the word she finally settles on.
A display of these men within sacred spaces insinuates theological legitimacy for white supremacist ideologies and values.
After Charlottesville happened, we knew the windows had to go, Douglas says.
The windows were promptly removed.
Trump defended the Charlottesville mob, saying some were very fine people.
[They] have torn down statues of our founders, desecrated our memorials.
Supporting these confederate statues is really about the same thing as supporting the KKK white supremacy.
How come white people cant see that?
They asked if the cathedral would consider taking the ashes.
The dean responded, This is where Matthew belongs.
For Robinson it was a critical moment.
Its not just a church welcoming Matthews ashes, it was the freaking National Cathedral!
he says, shock still filling his voice.
The chapel where Shepard is interred has become a place of pilgrimage.
The vast majority of the Christian world is still anti-gay.
The Roman Catholic Church teaches that we are intrinsically disordered, Robinson says.
On Nov. 30, 2023, the Rev.
The cathedral commissioned a spiritual portrait of Shepard by Kelly Latimore, a preeminent iconographer of contemporary icons.
The Cathedral and Carters Environmental Legacy
The National Cathedral, like Washington itself, is progressive and political.
I had great pride in being a part of this administration, Meiburg later tells me.
Dickinson describes Carters EPA as the most impactful in U.S. history.
(Rolling Stonecontributing writer Jeff Goodellcalls CarterAmericas greatest environmental president.)
He argued that the FTC should be the greatest public interest law firm in the country.
Among other antitrust actions, he relentlessly pursued the fossil fuel industry.
President Reagans FTC then dismissed his case against the oil companies.
Meiburg and his wife now live in North Carolina, but they return to attend cathedral services.
He describes being raised a Southern Baptist just like President Carter, he tells me.
A Funeral to Honor the First Millennial
At George H.W.
Gone was the long front row.
Behind them sat the former presidents and their wives, followed by the vice presidents and their wives.
Thus, Harris was seated in front of, rather than behind, Trump.
In a rare occurrence for such an event, Michelle Obama was notably absent from Carters funeral.
Garth Brooks and Trisha Yearwood sang a radiant rendition of John Lennons Imagine, one of Carters favorites.
The Rev.Andrew Jackson YoungJr., a renowned Civil Rights leader, served as Carters ambassador to the United Nations.
In that role, Young brought Carters historic effort toadvance human rightsto international diplomacy.
Dr. King used to say that greatness is characterized by antitheses strongly marked.
She felt exalted by the celebration of President Carter.
But when asked about Trump, she said matter-of-factly that Trump seeks to dismantle everything I stand for.
She plans to organize, to get political, find like-minded constituencies.
But the one thing I can control is Im going to show up.
