There’s a mystery bubbling in Washington this week: Why did House Speaker Paul D. Ryan (R-Wis.) fire the House chaplain?
It’s generally a noncontroversial job. The chaplain offers the daily prayer before the start of each House session, and provides spiritual counsel to all lawmakers. But seemingly out of the blue earlier this month, Ryan fired the Rev. Patrick J. Conroy. Now, some lawmakers are asking why, and they’re not getting a clear answer.
Here are four reasons this drama is particularly mysterious.
Ryan didn’t give a reason for something he must have known would be controversial
Conroy is only the second Catholic priest to serve as House chaplain, and according to one Democratic lawmaker, no chaplain has ever been fired in the history of the House of Representatives.
Until recently, many lawmakers thought that streak remained. The Washington Post’s Paul Kane, who was one of the first to report on the firing, says Ryan sent a note to lawmakers nearly two weeks ago announcing Conroy was leaving. The note left the impression among lawmakers that Conroy was leaving voluntarily.
Ryan gave no reason and complimented Conroy on his way out the door.
When Conroy read his resignation on the House floor last week, he made clear Ryan asked him to leave: “Dear Paul, the Peace of Christ! As you have requested, I hereby offer my resignation as the 60th Chaplain of the United States House of Representatives.”
Some lawmakers say they are just finding out Conroy was fired and want answers about why — answers the speaker’s office hasn’t given.
Ryan told House Republicans behind closed doors Friday that there was no “malfeasance” on Conroy’s part, according to Rep. Mark Sanford (R-S.C.), who spoke with reporters.
In the absence of facts, many on Capitol Hill are giving opinions. House Democratic Caucus Chairman Joseph Crowley (D-N.Y.) told Politico he thought Ryan, a Catholic, was “pandering to anti-Catholic sentiment” among House Republicans.
It’s not just Democrats who are upset. “I still don’t understand why he was asked to leave,” Rep. Frank A. LoBiondo (R-N.J.) told Kane earlier this week.
Ryan’s been in the House for 19 years, in the speaker job almost three. He must know that in the absence of an explanation, lawmakers will speculate, and this story will get more and more attention.
One potential reason for Ryan’s silence: He doesn’t want to kick the chaplain while he’s down by explaining all the reasons he thought it was time for a change.
The chaplain thinks he was fired over a prayer he gave
Conroy himself says he doesn’t know why he was fired, and in the absence of information, he’s trying to connect the dots. Here’s what Conroy told the New York Times in one of the only interviews he has given:
He prayed one day on the House floor about the tax bill: “May their efforts these days guarantee that there are not winners and losers under new tax laws, but benefits balanced and shared by all Americans.”
After that, Conroy told the Times: “A staffer came down and said, We are upset with this prayer; you are getting too political.”
Conroy claims to the Times that Ryan also told him in passing: “Padre, you just got to stay out of politics.”
That would be controversial, to say the least. A senior House Republican aide said Friday there “was not a specific prayer that led to this.”
There’s confusion between Ryan and Pelosi’s office about whether Pelosi was okay with this
If you’re going to fire a beloved House chaplain, it helps to have bipartisan support. Even better if that person is a Catholic, too. Ryan thought he did have House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi’s (D-Calif.) sign-off. “She and her office were fully read in and did not object,” AshLee Strong, Ryan’s spokesman, told Kane.
Pelosi’s office denies they agreed Conroy should go. Ryan and Pelosi may fight in public a lot, but behind the scenes they have a fairly good working relationship. That they can’t agree on the basic facts of a conversation about the chaplain just adds to the mystery surrounding this.
Why did Ryan do this when he’s on his way out? Why not let the next speaker choose the chaplain?
Ryan is retiring at the end of the year and leaving Congress. That he felt he needed to make a change in the final months of his time here makes the firing seem urgent. It creates the perception that Ryan thought the chaplain needed to go now. Again: Why?