An unprecedented number of religious leaders will be participating in the inauguration ceremonies for President-elect Donald Trump in Washington DC next Friday. But who are they – and why have they agreed to take part?

Days after November’s general election in the United States, Cardinal Timothy M. Dolan began his column in the archdiocesan paper, Catholic New York: “Jackie Kennedy once commented, ‘The Church may have flaws, but she sure comes through at birth and death.’ I’ll take that compliment!”

Dolan went on to write about the importance of traditions such as the Funeral Mass. Perhaps in the same spirit he has accepted an invitation to pray at Donald J. Trump’s inauguration next Friday. While Catholic leaders have long sought to be a part of religious traditions in Washington, a Catholic has not been asked to participate in a presidential inauguration since 1985.

Dolan is not the head of the US Conference of Catholic Bishops, so he is not going ex officio. One wonders if the invitation came because Dolan and Trump are both New Yorkers? Or because Trump sat beside the cardinal at the Al Smith Dinner? Or because Dolan is seen as a conservative standard bearer in the American Church? Perhaps for all these reasons. The cardinal says he will read Scripture and offer a prayer for the nation.