US House Speaker Paul Ryan yesterday reversed his decision to force the House chaplain Fr Patrick Conroy to step down, after receiving a letter from Fr Conroy in which the priest reversed his own offer to resign.
In mid-April the Jesuit priest submitted his resignation at the request of the Speaker. Mr Ryan did not make his reasons for the request public at the time but in Milwaukee as recently as Monday this week Mr Ryan repeated an explanation he has since made that the reasons were not political. “This was not about politics or prayers, it was about pastoral services. And a number of our members felt like the pastoral services were not being adequately served, or offered,” he said.
In his role, Fr Conroy is responsible for delivering the opening prayer during each House session and also offers pastoral counselling to members who request it.
Democrats and some Republicans in the House took fierce exception to the forced resignation and forced a floor vote on the matter. In the debate the content of a November 2017 prayer was referred to in which Fr Conroy prayed there would not be “winners and losers” under new tax laws, but benefits would be “balanced and shared by all Americans”.
The floor vote was defeated, but the dissent continued and Fr Conroy took further “advice” on the resignation he had submitted. He wrote again to Mr Ryan, in a letter whose content was released yesterday, challenging the Speaker’s authority to fire him. In the letter Fr Conroy said he only submitted his resignation because he thought Mr Ryan had “the absolute prerogative and authority” to force his removal. But, after seeking the “advice of counsel”, he said he no longer believed that to be the case and plans to stay in the job through to the end of this Congress, and possibly longer if re-elected by the members of the House.
“I have accepted Fr Conroy’s letter and decided that he will remain in his position as Chaplain of the House,” Mr Ryan said in a statement. “It is my job as speaker to do what is best for this body, and I know that this body is not well served by a protracted fight over such an important post.”
Mr Ryan said he plans to meet Fr Conroy next week “so that we can move forward for the good of the whole House.”
Pic: Fr Patrick J. Conroy, chaplain of the chamber of the House and Senate Representative, in his office at the Capitol May 31 2011. File Photo by Olivier Douliery/ABACAUSA.com
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