House chaplain’s firing sparks uproar among Democrats
WASHINGTON — Irate Democrats erupted Friday over House Speaker Paul Ryan’s move to oust the House chaplain, saying Ryan hadn’t offered any explanation and charging that the Rev. Patrick Conroy’s political leanings contributed to his dismissal.
Ryan told Republican lawmakers in a closed-door meeting that he forced Conroy out because he wasn’t doing a very good job tending to the pastoral needs of lawmakers and that lawmakers had brought concerns to him. It would be the first forced ouster of a chaplain in the history of the House.
Upset Democrats on Friday forced a vote on creating a special committee to investigate Ryan’s decision, but the move was killed by a party-line tally.
Top House Democrat Nancy Pelosi of California tweeted that “Father Conroy’s abrupt & unjust dismissal is hard to understand & impossible to support. In all his years of service, I’ve never received a complaint from our Members about him pastoring to the needs of the House.”
Democrats — and Conroy himself — have cited a prayer he offered in November that called for fairness as the House debated tax cuts as a reason for GOP discontent.
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.”
Conroy said shortly afterward that Ryan warned him to “stay out of politics.”
“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 Rep. Emanuel Cleaver, D-Mo., himself a clergyman. Cleaver also said Conroy’s invitation of a Muslim cleric to deliver the opening prayer of a session last year “apparently disturbed some of the members on the Republican side.”
Conroy, a Roman Catholic priest from the Jesuit order, has served as chaplain since 2011. He will leave next month.
The chaplain is responsible for opening the House each day with a prayer and offering counseling to lawmakers and aides. He also appears at memorial services.