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"Paul Ryan is Making ‘Very
Flimsy’ Excuses for Firing the Priest Who Urged the House to Care
for the Poor"
Father Patrick Conroy
reminded members of Congress that their decisions have an impact on
income inequality. Now he’s out.
(By
John Nichols, courtesy of The Nation)
"When Pope
Francis spoke several years ago to the Congress of the
United States, the core theme of his address was a call to consider
the plight of the poor.
“How much progress has
been made in this area in so many parts of the world! How much has
been done in these first years of the third millennium to raise
people out of extreme poverty!
I know that you share my conviction
that much more still needs to be done, and that in times of crisis
and economic hardship a spirit of global solidarity must not be
lost,” the pope declared.
... I know that many Americans today, as in the past, are
working to deal with this problem. It goes without saying that part
of this great effort is the creation and distribution of wealth.”
To put a fine point on his
message, the pontiff recalled an American advocate for the
just distribution of wealth: the visionary militant Dorothy Day, who
forged the Catholic Worker Movement.
“In these times when social
concerns are so important, I cannot fail to mention the Servant of
God Dorothy Day, who founded the Catholic Worker Movement. Her social
activism, her passion for justice and for the cause of the oppressed,
were inspired by the Gospel, her faith, and the example of the
saints,” the pope told the assembled members of the US House and
Senate, the cabinet, and the Supreme Court.
It was Dorothy Day who
preached that: “We must talk about poverty, because people
insulated by their own comfort lose sight of it.”
That was a message Paul
Ryan heard but has frequently failed to embrace—not just in the
Wall Street-friendly polices he has advanced but in his practices as
speaker of the House.
After it was revealed this
week that Ryan had ousted House Chaplain Patrick Conroy—a
highly regarded Jesuit priest...a firestorm arose over reports that the speaker forced
the pastor out because Father Conroy had been too pointed in raising
the issue of poverty.
Numerous sources on
Capitol Hill suggested that the chaplain was forced to resign at
least in part because of a November prayer—delivered as the House
was considering a tax bill that overwhelmingly benefited the
wealthy—
(Emphasis is mine.)
in which he urged members to
“be mindful that the
institutions and structures of our great nation guarantee the
opportunities that have allowed some to achieve great success, while
others continue to struggle.”
The speaker was
scrambling Friday to create the impression that he forced Father
Conroy out not for reasons of politics but because members felt their
“pastoral needs” were not being met. But New York Congressman
Peter King told reporters after Ryan met with the House Republican
Conference Friday morning that he had never heard any of his
colleagues complain about Conroy. ...
Congresswoman Marcy
Kaptur, D-Ohio, was a bit blunter in her review of Ryan’s
explanation. She said the speaker’s
excuse “sounds very flimsy to me.”
Skepticism is appropriate
in this instance. It’s not just that Ryan has a long record of
making flimsy excuses.
It is the record of this particular
controversy that calls the speaker’s latest justifications into
question.
When Ryan’s office
initially commented on the chaplain’s exit, he seemed to suggest
that it was a voluntary departure taking place on the best of terms. ...
What was the real
story? Roll Call, a newspaper that covers Capitol Hill reports
that: “Rep. Walter B. Jones, R-NC, and Joe Crowley, D-NY, both
pointed to a prayer that Conroy delivered on the tax overhaul as the
reason he was asked to leave. Jones said he spoke with Conroy and he
confirmed that, saying the only intended meaning of the prayer was
that the tax bill should help everyone.”
Another DC
publication, The Hill, has highlighted interviews with
members of Congress and congressional aides who have offered similar
takes on the issue—including the observation by a Democratic
lawmaker “that the Speaker took issue with a prayer on the House
floor that could have been perceived as being critical of the GOP
tax-cut bill.”
That November 6 prayer...made gentle reference to the wealth divide in
the United States. “May all Members be mindful that the
institutions and structures of our great Nation guarantee the
opportunities that have allowed some to achieve great success, while
others continue to struggle,” said Father Conroy. “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.”
Not long after he
delivered that prayer, Father Conroy told The New York
Times that Ryan said to him, “Padre, you just got to
stay out of politics.”
But the prayer in question
wasn’t political. It was moral. ...
... If Ryan ousted Father
Conroy because of the prayer, noted Father James Martin, the
Jesuit writer and editor, “then a Catholic Speaker of the House
fired a Catholic chaplain for praying for the poor.” ... '
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