Department of Labor Holds First Prayer Service
Since May, U.S. Secretary of War Pete Hegseth has led monthly Christian prayer services at the Pentagon featuring the Lord’s Prayer, Christian hymns, and a sermon from a rightwing Christian preacher. One month, U.S. Department of Labor Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer attended the service since she happened to be touring the Pentagon that day. That inspired her to start her own monthly prayer service, but the inaugural DoL one on Wednesday (Dec. 10) included more religious diversity as a Trumpian Orthodox rabbi offered remarks.
“I really can’t thank you enough for honoring me with the privilege of our first prayer service ever here at the Department of Labor,” Chavez-DeRemer said before explaining how she attended a Pentagon service. “I thought that this would be something important for the Department of Labor. … And as we celebrate 250 years in 2026, [this country] will probably need a little more prayer.”
Most of the service fit with Chavez-DeRemer’s Catholic faith. She mentioned in her opening remarks how she “grew up Catholic” and that “in my 57 years of life, that faith has always mattered to me.” She also said she appreciates hearing people say they’re praying for her work, and she noted she carries a rosary with “all 50 states for the beads.” Under Chavez-DeRemer’s leadership, the DoL has recently shared controversial posters featuring muscular White men as the face of the nation — and multiple of those posters include Christian churches as part of this “American dream.”
Leading the service was Kenneth Wolfe, the director of the DoL’s Center for Faith. Prior to joining the Trump administration in that role, he wrote for various traditionalist Catholic publications, arguing for Mass to be in Latin. The Latin Mass has proved popular among some rightwing Trumpian Catholics in recent years, including Steve Bannon, Candace Owens, and Harrison Butker.
Wolfe started the DoL service with a traditional Catholic prayer: “Direct, we beseech thee, O Lord, all our actions by thy holy inspiration, and carry them on by thy gracious assistance so that every work and prayer of ours may begin from thee and through thee be happily ended. We ask this in thy name, amen.” Wolfe noted at the start that the service would “celebrate the season of Advent with Scripture and song” and “commemorate” Hanukkah “with a guest faith leader.”
Wolfe’s deputy director, Brent Perrin, led the group in saying the Lord’s Prayer, which he introduced as “the ‘Our Father.’” He also read from 1 Thessalonians 5:12-13 about laboring together for the Lord and Psalm 90:17 about letting God establish the people’s work. Later, he read 2 Chronicles 15:7 about working hard to be rewarded and Ephesians 4:16 about the whole body of Christ working together.
Alberto Calimano, a Catholic anti-abortion activist and senior advisor for the DoL Center for Faith, talked about the importance of Advent as “a time of waiting, of longing, and of joyful expectation for the coming of the light of the world, Jesus Christ. In these short days and long nights, we remember that even in the darkness, hope is being born.” He then read from Isiah 45:8 as a reminder for “this preparatory and penitential season leading to Christmas.”
The service also included the singing of “Amazing Grace,” “O Come, O Come, Emanuel,” and “God Bless America.”
Amid a service otherwise focused on Christian songs and Christian holidays, the invited guest speaker was Rabbi Yaakov Menken, executive vice president of the Coalition for Jewish Values. He served as the founding chief executive of the group when it launched in 2017 as a rightwing public policy advocacy group that pushes how “America’s founding fathers looked to the Bible.”
While many U.S. Jewish groups criticized various Trump statements and policies during his first term, CJV consistently offered its support to Trump. The group stood out for its support of Brett Kavanaugh amid allegations of sexual misconduct, and CJV frequently attacks other Jewish groups as too liberal and not faithful to the Torah. Much of CJV’s advocacy has been against same-sex marriage and transgender people. While CJV claims to represent over 2,000 Orthodox rabbis, many Jewish critics of the organization (including some Orthodox Jews) dismiss the numbers as exaggerated. Most American Jews are affiliated with either Reformed or Conservative traditions, with just 9% identifying as Orthodox.
“Hanukkah is not just about a festival of lights. Hanukkah is about redemption from religious persecution,” Menken said during the DoL service. “The miracle of Hanukkah was a sign from God that [the Maccabees] had done the right thing and that they would be successful in their efforts.”
“We also live in a generation where too many, even in things that the Department of Labor deals with directly, are focused upon how to do it wrong, persecuting individuals based on their religious beliefs,” he added. “There are employers out there who will try to force even and, of course, in government to certify same-sex weddings, require preferred gender pronouns, force a baker to bake a cake celebrating something he doesn’t like, force nurses to perform abortions, endocrinologists to administer unnecessary and harmful hormones. And in too many firms, anyone with a Jewish name need not apply. Hanukkah tells us that not only that there is a right and a wrong, but there is an almighty God who stands with us when we fight to move in the right direction.”
Church-State Advocates Criticize DoL Prayer Services
News of the inaugural DoL prayer service emerged last week when Hemant Mehta, author of the Friendly Atheist newsletter, shared on social media an invitation sent to DoL staff that included large prayer hands and a note that Secretary Chavez-DeRemer was inviting them all to attend. Groups that advocate for church-state separation criticized the plans.
“The federal government’s role is to serve the public, not to proselytize,” Rachel Laser, president and CEO of Americans United for Separation of Church and State, told me. “Secretary Chavez-DeRemer is abusing the power of her government office — and potentially misusing taxpayer-funded resources — to impose religion on federal workers. Even if this prayer service is presented as voluntary, there will be pressure on Labor Department employees to attend in order to appease their boss.”
Americans United (where I serve on the national board of trustees) also sent a letter to Chavez-DeRemer before the service to urge its cancellation. Ian Smith, an AU staff attorney, explained in the Dec. 9 letter, “The Department of Labor hosting an official prayer service contravenes both history and the law.”
The Freedom From Religion Foundation similarly wrote to Chavez-DeRemer to express their concerns about the services.
“While you are free to participate in religious events and promote your personal religious beliefs in your capacity as a citizen, you cannot use government resources or the Department of Labor to advance your personal religious beliefs,” wrote Christopher Lines, legal counsel for FFRF, in a Dec. 3 letter. “This is not only unconstitutional, but it also alienates the growing number of religiously unaffiliated citizens.”
Despite those warnings, the service went ahead as planned. And Chavez-DeRemer said they would make this a monthly tradition, as has occurred at the Pentagon. The next Department of War service is scheduled for Dec. 17 with prominent Trump-backing evangelical Franklin Graham as the speaker.
As a public witness,
Brian Kaylor
Why does the Department of Labor have a Center for Faith?