WACO, Texas (KWTX) – A Waco pastor received an unexpected and unprecedented honor at the White House’s annual Christmas reception this month when President Trump invited him to address the gathering.
Ramiro Peña of Christ the King Church was among about 200 guests at the December 14 reception. The event featured performances by the Marine Corps Band and a Navy choir. Peña has attended the reception during all four years of Trump’s first term. He is part of the White House Faith Office, which focuses on religious liberty issues.
When Trump took the podium, he called Peña to speak alongside Franklin Graham and another pastor. It marked the first time anyone other than the president had addressed guests at the event during Trump’s presidency.
“I was just surprised. He’s never done that before,” Peña said. “And so I was just very humbled and honored that he would trust me to his microphone, because he had no idea what I would say. But obviously, I think he’s demonstrating the trust and confidence in the relationship that we have in private, and that this built over into the public arena with that very kind gesture of his.”
Pastor credits Trump with restoring ‘Merry Christmas’
During his remarks, Peña thanked Trump for advocating the use of “Merry Christmas,” which the pastor said had come under attack in previous years.
“If you recall at the time, especially major retailers, were removing that phrase and simply saying, ‘Happy holidays,’” Peña said. “And in our culture today when people really take offense at just about anything… I was so happy that he took that head on and said, ‘No, Christians shouldn’t shrink back from this simple phrase, Merry Christmas, because we are celebrating the birth of Christ.’”
Peña said the culture has shifted on the issue and credited the president’s leadership on religious liberty matters.
“President Trump created the first ever Faith Office in the West Wing, which is extremely important, a very, very strong and loud symbolic gesture to create an actual office, and then put it in the West Wing,” Peña said.
“I think it’s remarkable that President Trump would invite pastors repeatedly to come and pray at the White House as he seeks wisdom from above, trying to do the best he can for the country he loves,” he said.
Peña said a commission on religious liberty chaired by Texas Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick will deliver its report later this year.
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