AUSTIN (RNS) — Retired Episcopal Presiding Bishop Michael Curry prays for President Donald Trump even when it’s hard to take that step, he said at a Texas Tribune Festival session on Thursday (Nov. 13), in conversation with New York Times national reporter Ruth Graham. 

Curry was the first African American elected to lead the predominantly white denomination and completed his nine-year term as presiding bishop on Oct. 31, 2024. He said he is guided by the prayer book of the Episcopal Church when he takes on the task of praying for the president.

“Whatever Michael’s opinions are — right, wrong or different — the language of prayers that have been thought and prayed over has a way of calling me to my higher self,” he said. “Even on days when I say, doggone it, get on your knees and pray for him, for his family, for all those who are in leadership and authority, that they may do justice, love mercy, walk humbly with God.”

In the hourlong discussion, Curry, 72, also spoke about the challenges he faced as presiding bishop, his family’s faith history and how he still hasn’t quite figured out how he’ll spend his retirement years.

He recalled being completely surprised at the invitation to give an “address” — though he preferred to call it a “sermon” — at the 2018 wedding of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle. He thought the staffer who informed him — and also mentioned he’d have to keep the initial request secret even from his wife — was joking. “I didn’t actually believe it,” Curry said.

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The former presiding bishop also expressed confidence in the Rt. Rev. Sarah Mullally, who in October was named the next archbishop of Canterbury — a job he called a “twofer” because she will be both the chief primate of the Church of England and the spiritual leader of 85 million Anglicans worldwide, “which means this is more complex than Congress.”

“She’s skilled at overseeing large complex institutions,” he said, noting Mullally’s service as former chief nurse of the National Health Service in Britain. “She’s a nurse. She does know how to care. She also knows how to make stuff happen.”

Curry noted that his denomination’s 2015 General Convention, when he was elected bishop, was the same convention at which the Episcopal Church officially changed its canon law to include marriage rites that could be used by both couples of the same sex or different sexes.

“I spent the first couple of years having to explain that to our brothers and sisters around the world,” he said, adding that “a significant portion just couldn’t go along with it.”

He also recalled his family history with the church. In southern Ohio in the 1940s, his mother was welcomed at a Communion rail of an Episcopal church, which led his father to become an Episcopal priest. Curry later followed in his footsteps.

“He told us any church where Black folk and white folk drink from the same cup is a church that knows something about the gospel that I want to be a part of,” he said his dad reiterated to his sister and himself. “And that conviction has been with me, now at 72 years old, and it’s driven much of my ministry.”

As he did at the royal wedding and throughout his time as presiding bishop, Curry continued to speak a message focused on love when he addressed the festival audience at First Baptist Church in Austin, which houses a congregation affiliated with the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship. “Love that neighbor even when you don’t like ’em,” he said.

Now a year into retirement, Curry said Episcopal Presiding Bishop Sean Rowe — who was installed as Curry’s successor — has encouraged him to keep preaching as long as he can. He intends to do that but is still determining how else he can contribute at this stage of his life.

“Longer term, not sure yet — that’s an honest answer,” said Curry, adding he has started watching a couple soap operas with his wife. “I know I want to get a dog, and we haven’t told the cat that.”

Curry, continuing his optimistic spirit, said he hasn’t given up on the endurance of Christianity — even if institutional churches like his are going through what he called “in-between times.” Between 2013 and 2023, the denomination saw a 23% drop in membership, from just over 2 million to under 1.6 million, RNS previously reported.

“What it looks like, what it will look like, what forms and shapes it will take, that’s for generations yet to see and know,” he said. “And so, I refuse to be downcast. … There is something that will begin to emerge over time — whether I’ll live to see that, don’t know about that.”

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