Wendy Cudge and Laura R. Olson
This article was originally published on The Conversation.
Last week, news broke that House Speaker Paul Ryan had forced the resignation of Father Patrick Conroy, a Jesuit priest and longtime House chaplain, over what many, including Father Conroy, claimed was about the content of his prayers. Speaker Ryan disputed this explanation, saying some members simply wanted a different chaplain to better serve their “pastoral needs.”
We are scholars of religion and American politics who, along with Margaret Clendenen Minkin, a doctoral student at Brandeis University, have written about the history and work of congressional chaplains. The current controversy offers a unique opportunity to ask broader questions about why the U.S. Congress hires chaplains and what chaplains do.
History of the Parliamentary Chaplaincy
The American tradition of legislative prayer dates back to 1774, when Jacob Ducher, pastor of Christ Episcopal Church in Philadelphia, was invited to offer prayer at the First Continental Congress.
After the Constitution was ratified, in April 1789 the U.S. Senate elected Samuel Prouvost, Episcopal Bishop of New York, as minister.
Meanwhile, the House of Representatives elected Philadelphia Presbyterian minister William Lynn as its first chaplain in May 1789. Provost and Lynn each received a yearly salary of $500. After Congress moved to Washington, D.C., local clergy took turns leading the prayers until a permanent chaplaincy was established.
Who are our pastors today?
Currently, congressional chaplains are nonpartisan, full-time positions. Chaplains are official employees of the Congress they serve. Chaplains each have a staff member and are paid as Level IV federal executive employees. Their current salary is $164,200.
Chaplains offer public prayer at the beginning of each day of Congress’ business and provide pastoral care to members and those connected to the House and Senate, including staff, police officers and family members.
But it is striking how demographically unrepresentative they are of the American people. Since 1789, all of the chaplains to the Legislature have been Christian men, almost all of them Protestant. There has been only one person of color, the current Senate Chaplain, the Reverend Barry Black. Muslim and Hindu chaplains have offered prayers only as one-time visiting ministers. The same goes for women.
Separation of church and state?
In a country where separation of church and state is the law, having chaplains officially serve in the federal government has long been controversial, and in the 1850s Congress received numerous petitions calling for the abolition of the chaplaincy, but the position remained.
In 1983, a lawsuit led by Nebraska Congressman Ernest Chambers to abolish the practice of congressional prayer reached the U.S. Supreme Court, but the court decided to follow historical practice rather than drawing a clear boundary between church and state.
In the current controversy, Father Conroy has become the first Assembly chaplain to resign midway through a term. Whether or not Speaker Ryan actually asked him to resign because of the content of his prayer does not detract from the historical significance of Father Conroy’s resignation.
Wendy Cudge, Professor of Sociology and Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies, Brandeis University;
Laura R. Olson, Professor of Political Science, Clemson University;
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Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom, seeking common ground and finding connections.