Tag: Prayer

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.