Tag: Chaplain

WASHINGTON — House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., sought Friday to defend his dismissal of the House chaplain, a decision that has roiled the chamber in recent days, with some members of both parties questioning his motives. Ryan also told colleagues that the dismissal was not motivated by Conroy’s political views or a prayer that the Jesuit gave in November on the House floor that stirred controversy when the chamber was debating a tax bill. In the prayer, Conroy asked that lawmakers “guarantee that there are not winners and losers under new tax laws, but benefits balanced and shared by all Americans.” About a week later, Conroy told the Times, he heard from the speaker’s office. “A staffer came down and said, We are upset with this prayer; you are getting too political,” he said. The issue has split Ryan and Pelosi, who according to a senior aide, disagreed with the decision and told Ryan that she had heard only good things about Conroy. “As you have requested, I hereby offer my resignation as the 60th chaplain of the United States House of Representatives,” Conroy wrote to Ryan on April 16. Conroy is just the second Catholic priest to serve as House chaplain, following the Rev. Coughlin served until 2011, when former House speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, chose Conroy to succeed him. Boehner, Pelosi and Ryan are all Catholic. “Evidently that would mean that no Catholic priest ever apply again to be a chaplain of the House of Representatives, if that’s a standard,” said Rep. Joseph Crowley, D-N.Y., a Catholic who had two uncles who were priests.

The House speaker, Paul Ryan, has told fellow Republicans he fired the House chaplain after complaints from members that he was not doing a very good job – and not because of pressure over the Rev Patrick Conroy’s political leanings. Democrats and Conroy himself have cited a prayer he offered that called for fairness as the House debated tax cuts as a reason for Republican discontent. Last November, Conroy prayed for lawmakers to make sure that “there are not winners and losers under new tax laws, but benefits balanced and shared by all Americans”. Republicans leaving a party meeting on Friday said Ryan told them Conroy was forced out after lawmakers complained that had not been adequately tending to the pastoral needs of lawmakers. While Ryan has the support of most of the chamber’s Republicans, many Democrats are upset and say politics may be behind Conroy’s fate. “He was essentially dismissed for praying and for this very gray and hazy representation that he was not ministering to some of the members,” said Emanuel Cleaver, a Missouri Democrat who is himself a clergyman. “I’m not aware of any discontent or any criticism and to be the first House chaplain to be removed in the history of the Congress in the middle of a term raises serious questions,” said Peter King, a New York representative. “We deserve more of an explanation and why. Democrats sought to create a special committee to investigate “the motivations and actions” behind Ryan’s decision but the move was killed by a party-line vote. Conroy’s resignation letter said he was offering to step down at Ryan’s request, calling his seven years of House service “one of the great privileges of my life”.