House Speaker Paul D. Ryan said Thursday he will allow the the chamber’s chaplain to serve out the rest of this Congress, backing down from his demand last month that the Rev. Patrick Conroy resign.
Mr. Ryan came under intense fire from Democrats and some Republicans for his attempt to oust Father Conroy.
On Thursday Father Conroy — who announced his resignation two weeks ago, he says under pressure from Mr. Ryan — revoked that decision, writing a letter saying he had served “honorably” and didn’t think he should go.
Mr. Ryan then accepted that decision and said the chaplain “will remain in his position.”
The episode has turned into an embarrassment for Mr. Ryan.
In Father Conroy’s letter Thursday he said the Ryan staffer who was sent to demand his resignation said “maybe it’s time that we had a chaplain that wasn’t a Catholic.” Father Conroy also said the staffer, Mr. Ryan’s chief of staff, also mentioned a prayer the chaplain delivered during the height of last year’s tax-cut debate that seemed to poke at the GOP’s policy decisions.
Mr. Ryan, a Wisconsin Republican and Roman Catholic himself, defended his decision to oust the Jesuit priest, saying he’d done “what I believed to be the best interest of this institution.”
“To be clear, that decision was based on my duty to ensure that the House has the kind of pastoral services that it deserves. 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,” he said.
Mr. Ryan last week had said House lawmakers had complained to him that they weren’t getting the kind of pastoral care they wanted from Father Conroy.
Father Conroy said Thursday that he’d never heard those complaints and wished to correct any shortcomings while serving out his time as chaplain.
“Had I known of any failure in providing my ministry to the House, I would have attempted to make the appropriate adjustments, but in no case would I have agreed to submit a letter of resignation without being given that opportunity,” he wrote to Mr. Ryan.
He said the House could fire him, but he wouldn’t quit.
Democrats had said the move to oust the chaplain was political, pointing to the tax-cut debate prayer.
Last week Democrats tried to force an investigation into Father Conroy’s ouster, but the GOP voted down the effort.
Questions still lingered, though.
Mr. Ryan said Thursday he and Father Conroy will sit down early next week “so that we can move forward for the good of the whole House.”
• Stephen Dinan can be reached at sdinan@washingtontimes.com.
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