Why Speaker Paul Ryan chose to fire the popular and heretofore uncontroversial House Chaplain, Father Pat Conroy, in the waning months of his leadership is a mystery. Maybe he figured it would be too hard to get a significant number of Catholic Republicans on board with his legacy-setting agenda of destroying the social safety net if a Jesuit priest was hanging around, reminding them of the scriptures about caring for the poor and stuff. It was a politically dumb move, however, and has created a firestorm in the body. Like the House needed more chaos and ill will.
"He just said that there was dissatisfaction among members with Father Conroy. And that was it," said Rep. Peter King, R-N.Y., after a closed-door conference meeting Friday with House Republicans in which Ryan addressed the Rev. Patrick Conroy's resignation. "I think we deserve more of an explanation on why."
King added, "The speaker said it was just because certain people thought he was not compliant with their requests, or not giving good counsel. I never heard that."
House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., also said Friday she had never received a complaint about Conroy, telling NBC News that Ryan "did a very bad thing" in forcing the House chaplain of the last seven years to resign.
Pelosi said that Ryan told lawmakers it was "because the chaplain is not administering to the pastoral needs of the Congress."
"It can wait until next year and then have a new chaplain," Pelosi said. "You're touching a very bad nerve here. This is about faith. This is about freedom of speech."
A bipartisan group of House members circulated a letter to Ryan demanding an explanation, and has been signed by at least 148 members. And questions about Ryan's authority to fire the chaplain have been raised. Democratic Ohio Rep. Marcy Kaptur told reporters "It is not the speaker's prerogative to terminate an officer of the House without a vote of the House." Leadership ignored a point of order from Maryland Democrat Steny Hoyer on the House floor Friday morning on Ryan's authority to fire the chaplain, and got a terse "The chair is not going to respond" for his efforts.
Democrats, with an assist from a handful of Republicans who voted either with them or ducked the issue by voting present or not voting at all, tried to bring a resolution that would have set up a select committee to investigate Ryan's action. Republicans tabled it. But that's not going to make the headache go away for Ryan.