Moulton and Myozen Joan Amaral Attend National Prayer Breakfast as Trump Criticizes Congress
WASHINGTON — Yesterday, Rep. Seth Moulton (D-MA) attended the National Prayer Breakfast with Myozen Joan Amaral, a Zen priest from Beverly who founded Zen Center North Shore. In response to the president’s immigration policies, Amaral has begun ministering to detained immigrants at Immigration and Customs Enforcement centers throughout the region. The Boston Globe recently profiled Rev. Amaral’s work.
Rev. Amaral said: “What an honor to attend the National Prayer Breakfast with Seth. When we work as a team, we have a better chance at sustaining the courage and perseverance required for protecting the rights and well-being of the most vulnerable among us.”
Moulton said: “Joan is compassionate, moral, brave and kind—all things we could use in a president.”
According to Politico, President Trump used the National Prayer Breakfast, an event where presidents usually deliver a message of unity, to slam his political rivals.
At the breakfast, President Trump said: "As everybody knows, my family, our great country and your president have been put through a terrible ordeal by some very dishonest and corrupt people. They have done everything possible to destroy us, and by so doing, very badly hurt our nation....I don't like people who use their faith as justification for doing what they know is wrong. Nor do I like people who say, 'I pray for you' when they know that that's not so. So many people have been hurt, and we can't let that go on."
Earlier this week, Senator Mitt Romney choked up as he described reconciling his faith and the president’s behavior. Romney became the first senator in history to cast a vote to remove a president of the same party from office.
In December, Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi was asked by a conservative blogger if she hated the president. She delivered a forceful rebuke saying, “I don’t hate anybody. I was raised in a Catholic house. We don’t hate anybody. Don’t accuse me of hate...as a Catholic, I resent your using the word hate in a sentence that addresses me. I pray for the President all the time. So don’t mess with me when it comes to words like that.”
On Tuesday, Moulton walked out of the State of the Union in protest after the president lied about his record in support of the military and several other issues.
Moulton tweeted at the time, “I left the State of the Union after Trump—a draft dodger who has mocked Sen. John McCain, Gold Star families, and soldiers with traumatic brain injury—started talking about the good he has done for our military.”
He explained more about his decision in an interview with WBUR.
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For more about the breakfast or to connect with Rev. Amaral contact:Tim@mail.house.gov.
Photo handout below: