Biden-Harris Transition (PT Fund, Inc.)

On Wednesday, January 20, ahead of the Swearing-In Ceremony, President-elect Biden, Vice President-elect Harris and their families will attend Mass at The Cathedral of St. Matthew the Apostle. They will be joined by bipartisan congressional leaders. Father Kevin O’Brien will deliver the homily. Violinist Patricia Treacy, soprano Renée Fleming and the St. Augustine Gospel Choir will perform. 
 
A pre-inaugural morning service is traditional before the swearing-in; presidents including Franklin D. Roosevelt, Harry S. Truman, Ronald Reagan, George H.W. Bush, George W. Bush, and Barack Obama have attended services the morning of their inaugurations. 
 
The Cathedral church and parish was established in 1840 and is named for Saint Matthew the Apostle, the patron saint of civil servants. The church is the seat or cathedral of the Archbishop of Washington. Rev. Msgr. W. Ronald Jameson is the rector of St. Matthew’s.  
 
Participants: 

WASHINGTON — Today, the Presidential Inaugural Committee (PIC) announced the participants of the 59th Inaugural Ceremonies on January 20, when Joseph R. Biden, Jr. and Kamala D. Harris will be sworn in as President and Vice President of the United States on the West front of the U.S. Capitol.
 
The following participants will join the 59th Inaugural Swearing-In Ceremony:

• Invocation - Father Leo J. O’Donovan
• Pledge of Allegiance - Andrea Hall
• National Anthem - Lady Gaga
• Poetry Reading - Amanda Gorman
• Musical Performance - Jennifer Lopez
• Benediction - Reverend Dr. Silvester Beaman

“We are thrilled to announce an inspired group of dynamic participants for the 59th Inaugural Ceremonies. They represent one clear picture of the grand diversity of our great nation and will help honor and celebrate the time-honored traditions of the presidential inauguration as President-elect Biden and Vice President-elect Harris take the oath of office on the West Front of the U.S. Capitol. They are also committed to the President-elect and the Vice-President-elect’s steadfast vision of a new chapter in our American story in which we are an America united in overcoming the deep divisions and challenges facing our people, unifying the country, and restoring the soul of our nation,” said PIC CEO Tony Allen.
 
Over the course of five days of programming, “America United” activities will honor inaugural traditions while safely allowing more Americans than ever before to participate from their own homes. These activities include, “United We Serve,” a National Day of Service on January 18, Martin Luther King Jr. Day; a nationwide COVID-19 Memorial to Lives Lost on January 19; and the official Inaugural Ceremonies, a wreath laying on Arlington National Cemetery, and a “Parade Across America,” and a “Celebrating America” primetime program on January 20. The PIC will also install an extensive public art display — a “Field of Flags,” which will cover the National Mall up to 13th Street — to represent the American people who are unable to travel to Washington, DC.
 
PARTICIPANT BIOGRAPHIES
 
Father Leo J. O’Donovan is an American Jesuit Catholic priest and theologian who served as the 44th President of Georgetown University. Hailing from New York City, he graduated from Georgetown. Father O’Donovan went on to receive advanced degrees from Fordham University and Woodstock College, and received his doctorate in theology from the University of Münster. Father Leo O'Donovan is a longtime friend of the President-Elect and the Biden family.
 
Andrea Hall is the President of the International Association of Firefighters Local 3920 and a career firefighter with 28 years of dedicated service. She has served in the City of South Fulton Fire and Rescue Department in Fulton County, Georgia since 1999, and she is the first African American woman in the department’s history to be promoted to the rank of Fire Captain in 2004.
 
Lady Gaga is a one-of-a kind artist, performer and a trailblazer in beauty and fashion. She is also an outspoken activist, philanthropist and supporter of many important issues including mental health, LGBTQ+ rights, HIV/AIDS awareness and body image issues. During the Obama-Biden Administration, she worked closely with President-elect Biden’s “It’s On Us” campaign to address sexual assault on college campuses.
 
Amanda Gorman made history in 2017 by being named the first-ever National Youth Poet Laureate in the United States by UrbanWord and the Library of Congress. Born and raised in Los Angeles, she graduated cum laude from Harvard with a degree in Sociology.
 
Jennifer Lopez, considered one of the most influential Latin artists in the country, is an award-winning actress, singer, dancer, producer, and businesswoman hailing originally from New York City. Lopez and her partner Alex Rodriguez have been outspoken about the disproportionate impact of coronavirus on Latinos and the need to contain the virus, rebuild the economy, and unify the country.
 
Reverend Dr. Silvester Beaman is the Pastor of Bethel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Wilmington, Delaware. Reverend Beaman has known the Biden family for nearly 30 years and is a close confidante and friend of the President-Elect. He was also a consistent ally and community partner of his son, Beau, a decorated officer in the Delaware National Guard and Delaware's former Attorney General.
 

ed. President Biden spoke for 21 minutes, starting at 11:52 and concluding at 12:13.

Chief Justice Roberts, Vice President Harris, Speaker Pelosi, Leader Schumer, Leader McConnell, Vice President Pence, distinguished guests, and my fellow Americans. 

This is America’s day.

This is democracy’s day. 

A day of history and hope.

Of renewal and resolve.

Through a crucible for the ages America has been tested anew and America has risen to the challenge. 

Today, we celebrate the triumph not of a candidate, but of a cause, the cause of democracy.

The will of the people has been heard and the will of the people has been heeded.

We have learned again that democracy is precious.

Democracy is fragile.

And at this hour, my friends, democracy has prevailed.

So now, on this hallowed ground where just days ago violence sought to shake this Capitol’s very foundation, we come together as one nation, under God, indivisible, to carry out the peaceful transfer of power as we have for more than two centuries.
  
We look ahead in our uniquely American way – restless, bold, optimistic – and set our sights on the nation we know we can be and we must be.

I thank my predecessors of both parties for their presence here. 

I thank them from the bottom of my heart. 

You know the resilience of our Constitution and the strength of our nation. 

As does President Carter, who I spoke to last night but who cannot be with us today, but whom we salute for his lifetime of service. 

I have just taken the sacred oath each of these patriots took — an oath first sworn by George Washington. 

But the American story depends not on any one of us, not on some of us, but on all of us.

On “We the People” who seek a more perfect Union.

This is a great nation and we are a good people. 

Over the centuries through storm and strife, in peace and in war, we have come so far. But we still have far to go. 

We will press forward with speed and urgency, for we have much to do in this winter of peril and possibility.

Much to repair.

Much to restore.

Much to heal.

Much to build.

And much to gain. 

Few periods in our nation’s history have been more challenging or difficult than the one we’re in now.

A  once-in-a-century virus silently stalks the country. 

It’s taken as many lives in one year as America lost in all of World War II.

Millions of jobs have been lost.

Hundreds of thousands of businesses closed.

A cry for racial justice some 400 years in the making moves us. The dream of justice for all will be deferred no longer.

A cry for survival comes from the planet itself. A cry that can’t be any more desperate or any more clear. 

And now, a rise in political extremism, white supremacy, domestic terrorism that we must confront and we will defeat.

To overcome these challenges – to restore the soul and to secure the future of America – requires more than words. 

It requires that most elusive of things in a democracy: 

Unity.

Unity.

In another January in Washington, on New Year’s Day 1863, Abraham Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation. 

When he put pen to paper, the President said, “If my name ever goes down into history it will be for this act and my whole soul is in it.”

My whole soul is in it.

Today, on this January day, my whole soul is in this: 

Bringing America together. 

Uniting our people.  

And uniting our nation.

I ask every American to join me in this cause.

Uniting to fight the common foes we face: 

Anger, resentment, hatred.

Extremism, lawlessness, violence.

Disease, joblessness, hopelessness.

With unity we can do great things. Important things.

We can right wrongs.

We can put people to work in good jobs.

We can teach our children in safe schools.

We can overcome this deadly virus.

We can reward work, rebuild the middle class, and make health care 
secure for all.

We can deliver racial justice.

We can make America, once again, the leading force for good in the world.

I know speaking of unity can sound to some like a foolish fantasy. 
 
I know the forces that divide us are deep and they are real.

But I also know they are not new. 

Our history has been a constant struggle between the American ideal that we are all created equal and the harsh, ugly reality that racism, nativism, fear, and demonization have long torn us apart.

The battle is perennial. 

Victory is never assured.

Through the Civil War, the Great Depression, World War, 9/11, through struggle, sacrifice, and setbacks, our “better angels” have always prevailed. 

In each of these moments, enough of us came together to carry all of us forward.

And, we can do so now. 

History, faith, and reason show the way, the way of unity.

We can see each other not as adversaries but as neighbors.

We can treat each other with dignity and respect.

We can join forces, stop the shouting, and lower the temperature.

For without unity, there is no peace, only bitterness and fury.

No progress, only exhausting outrage.

No nation, only a state of chaos.

This is our historic moment of crisis and challenge, and unity is the path forward. 

And, we must meet this moment as the United States of America. 

If we do that, I guarantee you, we will not fail.

We have never, ever, ever failed in America when we have acted together.

And so today, at this time and in this place, let us start afresh.

All of us.

Let us listen to one another.

Hear one another. 
See one another.

Show respect to one another.

Politics need not be a raging fire destroying everything in its path.

Every disagreement doesn’t have to be a cause for total war.

And, we must reject a culture in which facts themselves are manipulated and even manufactured. 

My fellow Americans, we have to be different than this. 

America has to be better than this. 

And, I believe America is better than this.

Just look around.

Here we stand, in the shadow of a Capitol dome that was completed amid the Civil War, when the Union itself hung in the balance. 

Yet we endured and we prevailed.

Here we stand looking out to the great Mall where Dr. King spoke of his dream.

Here we stand, where 108 years ago at another inaugural, thousands of protestors tried to block brave women from marching for the right to vote. 

Today, we mark the swearing-in of the first woman in American history elected to national office – Vice President Kamala Harris.

Don’t tell me things can’t change. 

Here we stand across the Potomac from Arlington National Cemetery, where heroes who gave the last full measure of devotion rest in eternal peace. 

And here we stand, just days after a riotous mob thought they could use violence to silence the will of the people, to stop the work of our democracy, and to drive us from this sacred ground. 

That did not happen.

It will never happen.

Not today. 

Not tomorrow. 

Not ever. 

To all those who supported our campaign I am humbled by the faith you have placed in us.

To all those who did not support us, let me say this: Hear me out as we move forward. Take a measure of me and my heart. 

And if you still disagree, so be it. 

That’s democracy. That’s America. The right to dissent peaceably, within the guardrails of our Republic, is perhaps our nation’s greatest strength.

Yet hear me clearly: Disagreement must not lead to disunion.

And I pledge this to you: I will be a President for all Americans. 

I will fight as hard for those who did not support me as for those who did.

Many centuries ago, Saint Augustine, a saint of my church, wrote that a people was a multitude defined by the common objects of their love.

What are the common objects we love that define us as Americans?

I think I know.

Opportunity.

Security.

Liberty. 

Dignity.

Respect.

Honor.

And, yes, the truth.

Recent weeks and months have taught us a painful lesson.

There is truth and there are lies.

Lies told for power and for profit.

And each of us has a duty and responsibility, as citizens, as Americans, and especially as leaders – leaders who have pledged to honor our Constitution and protect our nation — to defend the truth and to defeat the lies.

I understand that many Americans view the future with some fear and trepidation. 

I understand they worry about their jobs, about taking care of their families, about what comes next.

I get it. 

But the answer is not to turn inward, to retreat into competing factions, distrusting those who don’t look like you do, or worship the way you do, or don’t get their news from the same sources you do. 

We must end this uncivil war that pits red against blue, rural versus urban, conservative versus liberal. 

We can do this if we open our souls instead of hardening our hearts.

If we show a little tolerance and humility.

If we’re willing to stand in the other person’s shoes just for a moment.
Because here is the thing about life: There is no accounting for what fate will deal you. 

There are some days when we need a hand. 

There are other days when we’re called on to lend one.

That is how we must be with one another.

And, if we are this way, our country will be stronger, more prosperous, more ready for the future. 

My fellow Americans, in the work ahead of us, we will need each other. 

We will need all our strength to persevere through this dark winter. 

We are entering what may well be the toughest and deadliest period of the virus. 

We must set aside the politics and finally face this pandemic as one nation. 

I promise you this: as the Bible says weeping may endure for a night but joy cometh in the morning. 

We will get through this, together

The world is watching today. 

So here is my message to those beyond our borders: America has been tested and we have come out stronger for it. 

We will repair our alliances and engage with the world once again. 

Not to meet yesterday’s challenges, but today’s and tomorrow’s.  

We will lead not merely by the example of our power but by the power of our example.

We will be a strong and trusted partner for peace, progress, and security.

We have been through so much in this nation.

And, in my first act as President, I would like to ask you to join me in a moment of silent prayer to remember all those we lost this past year to the pandemic. 

To those 400,000 fellow Americans – mothers and fathers, husbands and wives, sons and daughters, friends, neighbors, and co-workers. 

We will honor them by becoming the people and nation we know we can and should be. 

Let us say a silent prayer for those who lost their lives, for those they left behind, and for our country. 

Amen. 

This is a time of testing. 

We face an attack on democracy and on truth.

A raging virus.

Growing inequity.

The sting of systemic racism.

A climate in crisis.

America’s role in the world.

Any one of these would be enough to challenge us in profound ways.

But the fact is we face them all at once, presenting this nation with the gravest of responsibilities. 

Now we must step up. 

All of us. 

It is a time for boldness, for there is so much to do.

And, this is certain. 

We will be judged, you and I, for how we resolve the cascading crises of our era. 

Will we rise to the occasion? 

Will we master this rare and difficult hour? 

Will we meet our obligations and pass along a new and better world for our children?

I believe we must and I believe we will. 

And when we do, we will write the next chapter in the American story. 

It’s a story that might sound something like a song that means a lot to me. 

It’s called “American Anthem” and there is one verse stands out for me: 

“The work and prayers
of centuries have brought us to this day
What shall be our legacy?
What will our children say?...
Let me know in my heart
When my days are through
America
America
I gave my best to you.”

Let us add our own work and prayers to the unfolding story of our nation.

If we do this then when our days are through our children and our children’s children will say of us they gave their best. 

They did their duty.

They healed a broken land.
My fellow Americans, I close today where I began, with a sacred oath.

Before God and all of you I give you my word.

I will always level with you.

I will defend the Constitution.

I will defend our democracy.

I will defend America.

I will give my all in your service thinking not of power, but of possibilities.

Not of personal interest, but of the public good. 

And together, we shall write an American story of hope, not fear.

Of unity, not division.

Of light, not darkness.

An American story of decency and dignity.

Of love and of healing. 

Of greatness and of goodness.

May this be the story that guides us.

The story that inspires us.

The story that tells ages yet to come that we answered the call of history.

We met the moment.

That democracy and hope, truth and justice, did not die on our watch but thrived.

That our America secured liberty at home and stood once again as a beacon to the world.

That is what we owe our forebearers, one another, and generations to follow.

So, with purpose and resolve we turn to the tasks of our time. 

Sustained by faith. 

Driven by conviction.

And, devoted to one another and to this country we love with all our hearts.

May God bless America and may God protect our troops.

Thank you, America.

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