âDeeply troubling.â That was the Reverend Patrick Mahoneyâs response when he was denied a permit to hold a prayer service at the U.S. Capitol on the National Day of Prayer tomorrow. âFor 70 years, there has been a public witness on the National Day of Prayer at the U.S. Capitol Building. Until today! Our request to have prayer service was denied,â read a statement by Mahoney. He further observed, âThe âPeopleâs House,â as the U.S. Capitol Building is so rightly called, must be a place where all Americans are afforded the right to come and peacefully celebrate and express their First Amendment rights. Tragically, those rights and freedoms are being denied and prohibited.â