Sees a chaplain about to recite Proverbs 29:7 pic.twitter.com/0Khbux90cq
— Zeddy (@Zeddary) April 27, 2018
“The righteous care about justice for the poor, but the wicked have no such concern.”
The Zombie-Eyed Granny Starver’s campaign website might claim he’s a Catholic, but Ryan’s abiding faith leader is Ayn Rand. So, on his way out the door, he gathered up his meager moiety of courage and… fired the Congressional Chaplin, a Catholic priest, for committing Wrongthought.
Dana Milbank, in the Washington Post, “The poor don’t have a prayer in today’s Washington”:
… House Speaker Paul D. Ryan (R-Wis.) did not give a reason when his chief of staff this month told the Rev. Patrick Conroy, a Jesuit priest and House chaplain, to resign or face dismissal.
But we know this much: Ryan’s office complained to Conroy about a prayer he offered on the House floor during the tax overhaul debate that those who “continue to struggle” in the United States would not be made “losers under new tax laws.” Ryan admonished the priest after the Nov. 6 prayer, saying, “Padre, you just got to stay out of politics,” Conroy told the New York Times.
He was warned. He was given an explanation. Nevertheless, he persisted.
Over the five months since Ryan’s warning, Conroy dared to continue to preach the teachings of Jesus on the House floor…
After an immigration deal collapsed, he urged “those who possess power here in Washington be mindful of those whom they represent who possess little or no power.”
He prayed for lawmakers to be “free of all prejudice” and, after the Parkland, Fla., school shooting, to “fulfill the hopes of those who long for peace and security for their children.”
But such “political” sentiments are apparently no longer compatible with service as House chaplain. “As you have requested, I hereby offer my resignation,” Conroy, named chaplain seven years ago by then-Speaker John A. Boehner (R-Ohio), wrote to Ryan on April 16. The ouster became public Thursday.
Only in this perverted time could a priest lose his job after committing the sin of crying out for justice for the poor. But then, look around: Everywhere are the signs of a rising kleptocracy…
When the first Congress was convened, a chaplain was considered an essential part of the furniture — much like spittoons, which I believe are also still around, hopefully just for decorative purposes. As a person of faith, I would be just as happy if the Congressional chaplaincy were allowed to expire quietly. But there is poetic justice in way Paul Ryan, Servant to the Kleptocracy, has managed to set off a firestorm that’s engulfing even his “allies”…
Speaker Ryan has ousted the House chaplain, according to his resignation letter — a move that's angered Democrats and defenders of the Jesuit priest. https://t.co/pRRbops5YH
— NBC News (@NBCNews) April 26, 2018
I guess we shouldn't be surprised Paul Ryan fired the Jesuit priest who was the House chaplain, given this weird exchange with a Dominican nun.https://t.co/DSwde7xWjy
— Kevin M. Kruse (@KevinMKruse) April 26, 2018
More than 70 Democratic lawmakers have signed a letter demanding answers from Speaker Ryan about his decision to oust the House chaplain. https://t.co/BTnEYHK4Ku
— NBC News (@NBCNews) April 27, 2018
But only one Republican, iconoclast Walter Jones.
The best that can be said of any of them is they’re cowards. https://t.co/1AWB8sCeH9
— Dana Houle (@DanaHoule) April 27, 2018
One GOP member tells me it feels like the House has devolved into a war between Catholics & Evangelicals. Called the whole thing “stupid”
— Rachael Bade (@rachaelmbade) April 27, 2018
That time when the House Chaplain was critical of the Speaker's financial dealings in his prayers, and the Speaker laughed it off instead of getting his feels hurt and firing him.
(Congressional Record 2/19/64; Reed was speaker 1889-91, and Milburn was chaplain1885-93.) pic.twitter.com/exymgFjNG3
— Charles Louis Richter (@richterscale) April 28, 2018
I remember when @newtgingrich used to go on a rampage against any implied, arguable anti-Catholic bias in public dialogue. Now, we are staring at a proposed ban on Catholic priests serving as House Chaplains. Hello Newt? https://t.co/G1QSw6BHfV
— Ronald Klain (@RonaldKlain) April 27, 2018
Wouldn’t be shocked if Ryan just resigns rather than accept any responsibility for what happened & for fixing the mess RE the House Chaplain.
— Dana Houle (@DanaHoule) April 27, 2018
Well, it’d give the smarmy bastid an excuse to run away before the midterm battles got really ugly. And it’s not as though he was gonna go with any kind of grace or dignity, regardless.
PaulWartenberg
I guarantee you the next chaplain is gonna be a Prosperity Gospel acolyte who preaches from Atlas Shrugged instead of Proverbs.
MattF
Ryan is such a perfect example of Republican hypocrisy that I’m almost sorry to see him go. Almost. But not, y’know, actually.
Darrin Ziliak (formerly glocksman)
@PaulWartenberg:
Joel Osteen, Jim Bakker, Creflo Dollar, or Paula White?
debbie
There are no limits to Republican despicability.
Spanky
@PaulWartenberg: Well, someone down below linked to an article saying that Ryan had nominated Joel Osteen, which I took to be utter snark.
Except every time I’ve done that in the past few years it’s turned out to be true. Won’t be surprised if it’s not J.O. it would be one of his brothers in grift. (Never a sister!)
NotMax
Benedict XVI has time on his hands.
WereBear
Yep, gave up on the idea that their followers would rein them in quite a while ago. The leaders and the voters have become perfect reflections of each other.
Emma
Ryan isn’t very bright. Charles Pierce has the story of how the Society spanked him during the 2012 election.
.Now he does it again?
Suzanne
A war between Catholics vs. Evangelicals? Oh man. Rooting for injuries.
Villago Delenda Est
If one follows Ayn Rand, one forfeits, forever, the expectancy of being treated with any civility.
Rand’s “philosophy” is simply evil. White evangelical “Christians” love her. Thus, they are heretics and beyond the pale.
DCrefugee
The thing is, this is just stupid on Ryan’s part. I mean, WTF? He’s out of there at the end of the year, anyway. Why should he care? Why take the heat?
It’ll be interesting to see who/what denomination they choose next. I guess Rep. Ellison is a non-starter…at least until January
The only thing that makes sense is Ryan just wants to punish someone…
vtr
The accompanying photograph shows Ryan steeling from the poor to give to the rich. I get it.
zhena gogolia
Sickening.
OT, I think Michelle Wolf should be frontpaged.
schrodingers_cat
Rs hate:
Muslims
Jews
Atheists
Liberals
Scientists
Actors
Journalists
Teachers
……
Mike in NC
Erick Erickson? Franklin Graham? The possibilities are endless.
hitchhiker
The tell here is Ryan using the folksy “Padre,” which under the circumstances seems damn weighty.
As in a scene where the muscle shows up to tell the local pious type to butt out.
“Padre, you know I respect you from the bottom of my heart as a minister of the Holy Gospel, but if you keep telling detectives you saw me, I’m going to have to burn this nice church to the ground.”
Also, Anne Laurie, your “Congressional Chaplin” made me smile. The Congress really needs a professional 2018 version of Charlie on staff, at least as much as it needs a chaplain.
Baud
Ayn Rand is bigger than Jesus Christ.
Cheryl Rofer
Holding that arrow wrong. Or maybe that’s acceptable with one of those hokey bows with all the mechanical advantage. Certainly wouldn’t work with a longbow.
cmorenc
@PaulWartenberg:
Joel Olsteen would be perfect for the job. He could show by example how to put those capital gains cuts to good use.
jeffreyw
Phrenology AKA “Cat Scan”
Frankensteinbeck
@PaulWartenberg:
The Republican caucus has explicitly stated that a Catholic will not be acceptable. They used the ludicrous framing that they require a chaplain with children who can empathize with the House members who also have children. I swear that fig leaf makes the bigotry MORE obvious.
Origuy
The Senate has its own chaplain. Has he spoken out about this? Seems to me that one person should be able to serve both Houses.
joel hanes
Holding that arrow wrong.
Looks to me as if he’s using one of those “release” doojiggers that hold the string for you, and release cleanly no matter how inept the soi-disant bowman.
zhena gogolia
@jeffreyw:
So cute! I love the captions.
Sherparick
The silence of Bill Donahue & the Catholic League is deafening, is it not? The asshole should renamed it the League for Misogyny & Homophobia since the right to persecute women & gays are all he cares about.
West of the Rockies
I watched the Ryan exchange with the nun, watched him present his usual grin-grimace and meaningful head bobs. The still-screen credit said Ryan would be booed. He was not. I put up with his self-satisfied smirk and condescension for four-plus minutes and am annoyed.
Is there a video of Ryan being kicked in the gonads by an NFL punter to the tune of Yakkety Sax? Please make it so…
schrodingers_cat
@jeffreyw: How are your other kittehs?
Ginger boy and Annie are adorable.
scav
Well, Ryan seems to be conflating the two, Spitting on both and insisting they be nothing but decorative (the internal incoherency is just how things roll in Trumpian circles).
Gelfling 545
@Darrin Ziliak (formerly glocksman): Why would they accept? Better takings elsewhere.
efgoldman
@Emma:
I’m a Jewish atheist, and even I know you don’t fuck with Jesuits.
Gelfling 545
@Mike in NC: Isn’t Huckabee, père a “reverend”?
Frankensteinbeck
@Sherparick:
Again, the evangelicals made it explicit that anti-Catholic bigotry was involved. Yes, every Catholic advocacy person or group that is not having a fit is a coward or hypocrite. This is huge.
Brachiator
@Villago Delenda Est:
Shit, white evangelicals don’t know Ayn Rand from Rand Paul. And apart from the Bible, most of them don’t read, let alone Rand’s long, boring novels.
Yeah, white evangelicals are mostly evil and stupid, but their evil is largely homespun, and free of any taint of anything resembling “philosophy.”
Gelfling 545
Ryan wants to pick a fight with the Jesuits? I pity the fool.
Schlemazel
Interesting that the GOP seems to be turning against the Catholics. They worked so hard to seperate them from their Democratic allies. My guess is that sentiment is only for chaplins. When was the last non-Catholic appointed to the Supreme Court? The parade of homophobic, misogynistic men provided the opportunity to sit on the court has been the private domain of Catholics for a long time now and I don’t think that is accidental. The GOP has pushed candidates who are from that branch of the Roman Church
Brachiator
@Origuy:
I don’t know. Jesus once said that “no man can serve two masters.” That could loosely be applied to the House and the Senate, depending upon how craven Senate Republicans are.
HAL
The Other Chuck
Ryan doesn’t give a shit, he’s retiring. It’s like the rest of the Republican caucus is absolutely self-immolating though. Losing catholics from their coalition means becoming a regional southern party. Though maybe that analysis is all moot, as 2016 showed us that they can build a new coalition constituted out of just plain assholes. Doesn’t seem to be holding though. Pass the popcorn.
Darrin Ziliak (formerly glocksman)
@Gelfling 545:
True.
Though for the true believer Talibangelical, the opportunity to influence temporal power brokers might outweigh the lust for temporal wealth.
Mnemosyne
As I keep telling my fellow Catholics, we may be pretty far down the list of groups to be eliminated when the dominionists take over, but we’re still on the list. The KKK has always reserved a certain amount of their hatred for Catholics — they may downplay it these days, but they still believe it.
Another Scott
@Schlemazel: Wikipedia says, IIRC, that Gorsuch was raised Catholic but is some sort of Protestant now. But the exception proves the rule.
But we should remember that the GOP appointees were picked because of their politics (and things like membership in the Federalist Society) more than for their nominal religion. (Though of course they are often intertwined, politics trumps (heh) religion here.)
Cheers,
Scott.
Baud
@HAL: But that’s her job.
Brachiator
Ryan, servant to the Kleptocracy (great description), seems to have forgotten Jesus’ famous admonition:
Or maybe Ryan is quoting some new secret Gospel: “And so, Jesus spake, fucked are the poor, for they deserve nothing, especially if they seek abortions.”
Again, it is worth noting that the House Republicans almost unanimously supported Ryan, even if a few blasted him off the record. Similarly, they stand by Trump, and anything you read about the GOP trying to put some space between themselves and Trump going into the midterms is bullshit.
Uncle Cosmo
For myself, I am eagerly anticipating the long-awaited November opening of 2018: The Crapture reality show. In which the vast majority of RWNJs in Congress are lifted bodily up –
& dumped unceremoniously into the nearest septic tank.
Victor Matheson
As a professor (and non-Catholic) teaching at a Jesuit college, I cannot tell you how consistently impressed I am with my Jesuit colleagues. To a man (yes, unfortunately the order is not open to females), they are friendly, open-minded, intellectually curious, and dedicated to striving for social justice.
Father Conroy appears to be yet another example of the Jesuits living out their faith in the world on the right side of justice.
spudgun
@jeffreyw: Okay, that…that was just adorable!! The captions are perfect—
Ruckus
@DCrefugee:
Of course it’s just stupid. Look who we are talking about.
And you would expect anything other than stupid?
Why?
WereBear
@jeffreyw: Absolutely adorable! Will share :)
zhena gogolia
Isn’t it interfering with freedom of religion to tell him what to put in his prayer? I don’t see that he said anything inconsistent with the Gospel.
PAM Dirac
@Another Scott: Gorsuch graduated from Georgetown Prep, a Jesuit high school. Didn’t seem to take.
Schlemazel
@Victor Matheson:
They really have become a shining light. For a long time their were the Pope’s warriors and subjugated large parts of the world. But now they seem to be making amends and are working hard to enlighten the world.
Frankensteinbeck
@Schlemazel:
I think @Mnemosyne: puts it well.
Anti-Catholic bigotry never went away, but it’s been very low priority while they need all hands on deck to fight against women, coloreds, and non-conformists. A lot of masks have been slipping lately, and the evangelicals forgot to hide their hate when they were attacking a Catholic for a separate reason.
Ruckus
@Mnemosyne:
You aren’t forgetting the Kennedys are you?
That was a fun time in politics. More so if you were a Catholic.
Frankensteinbeck
@Brachiator:
Not at all that simple. Ryan was the only compromise that could be found when Boehner left. The lunatics and the merely assholes do not agree on each other’s candidates, and Ryan was the only one neither group hates. They support Ryan because he’s all they’ve got. He struggles to pass anything but symbolic votes. And most congressmen in both chambers hate Trump and ignore the vast majority of his legislative requests. I believe one of them commented during the ACA repeal debate that they wanted to repeal it less because Trump pushed them to do so. This is a completely separate issue from them fanatically defending the Republican hold on the White House and blocking any suggestion that Trump might be illegitimate. They hold power only because of rigging the system, and cannot afford to give even an inch, even just in terms of narrative legitimacy.
Brachiator
@Another Scott:
The GOP loves appointees who are religious conservatives, and who are very religion friendly, especially those who oppose the idea that there should be a wall of separation between the church and state.
Mnemosyne
@Ruckus:
I don’t mean to make you feel old, but JFK was assassinated 6 years before I was born. ?
Jay Noble
@Cheryl Rofer: He’s using a release – a trigger. Actually has good form there. But why the heck is he doing a full draw in an office where that arrow with that bow behind it has the potential to go through walls?
Suzanne
All this talk of anti-Catholic prejudice and Jesuits is causing me to muse on my grandfather, who was an old-school mainline Protestant who didn’t like Catholicism (which is part of why he hated Italians, but that’s another story). He sometimes called Catholics “Papists”, like freakin’ Lord Grantham. Dude loved the Jesuits, though. I suspect that he would have had me sent to a Jesuit school if my family had had the money.
Villago Delenda Est
@HAL: Maggie is simply a hack. Maggie Haberhack.
dnfree
I have been reading a book called “America Aflame” about the period before, during, and after the Civil War. It also focuses on religion, and how the Catholics (especially those coming in as immigrants, like the Irish) were despised. And how the evangelical movement, rising at that time, led to both sides, north and south, attaching religion to their cause, which in turn made them less likely to compromise (with God on our side). And how, after the war, the south was defeated but they still clung to their guns and their religion, and their belief that their former slaves should still be kept in an inferior position. All in all, it’s not what I learned in high school back in the 1960s.
https://www.amazon.com/America-Aflame-Civil-Created-Nation/dp/160819390X
Brachiator
@Frankensteinbeck:
Yeah, it is that simple.
The GOP could have elected a block of cheese to be speaker, and they would support it. The GOP solid support of Ryan and Trump ain’t fanatical, it’s strategic and political. This is true even if they are happy to see Ryan go.
To call Trump illegitimate is meaningless. He holds the office and executes its duties. Apart from voting the fucker out, the Constitution does not provide for any remedies for election due to illegitimacy, and historically, there have been any number of backroom deals to settle a presidential election.
We could also elect a Democratic Congress which would oppose and block the president, but we aren’t there yet.
Brachiator
@zhena gogolia:
Yep. NPR has a good story about how Republican dinner guests and lickspittle reporters are outraged, outraged, I tell you, over Wolf’s remarks.
What a bunch of dopes.
Linky (from my cellphone)
https://www.npr.org/2018/04/29/606834453/comedian-faces-criticism-after-controversial-remarks-at-d-c-gala
Doug R
Blue Origin is T minus FOUR minutes!
Frankensteinbeck
@Brachiator:
Boehner had to delay his own retirement just to find someone who could be elected speaker. The division is real.
Not to an insecure bunch of narcissism-prone racists who know very well that they are heavily outnumbered in terms of voters and only massive system-wide disenfranchisement techniques allow them to currently hold the levers of power. If they lose anything, they could lose everything, and especially lose white male dominance forever. We are here, in this place of madness, because this is so vivid and existential and emotional to them that they have become foaming-at-the-mouth desperate. It governs their actions, therefor it is not meaningless even if it should have no practical effect.
jeffreyw
@schrodingers_cat: We are up to 6 kittehs and down to 2 doggies. Toby kitteh is cranky, hates and chases Homer. Homer picks on other kittehs but Ginger and Ollie are getting big enough that he thinks twice anymore. Bitsy is the only one of the bunch that sits on my lap, Bea takes a belly rub and leans into my scritches. They all took another look at me while Mrs J was out w/broken ankle and I was their sole provider. They decided I wasn’t all bad, just mostly. Gabe is just a goofy pup still, albeit nearly full grown. Katie is still cool, (with everyone but Mrs J) but does stop by for a scritch if she thinks a treat is possible.
EBT
Fuck everyone, when that smarmy bastard’s heart explodes in three years I will maturbate myself bloody.
mick the naïf
Old-time Irish Catholic here. Raised in the Church, attended parochial schools, one of five kids (including a Seamus and a Kathleen). My father taught in a Catholic school. We grew up surrounded by priests, monks, and nuns. I was taught by Benedictines.
I never, ever, ever heard anyone address a priest as “Padre”. That would have been considered *extremely* insulting.
And when Ryan said it, it was.
Just more evidence of what a fraud that man is.
PST
@hitchhiker: I also wondered about the use of “Padre” in this context. The forms of familiarity are often used to express contempt (or at least to emphasize status differences). I’m thinking particularly of the passage in Catch-22 where Colonel Korn repeatedly refers to Chaplain Tappman (who isn’t a priest) with a sneer as “Padre.” It is especially belittling the way Buck Henry says it in the movie.
Ella in New Mexico
Is this is the place in the art house film where the atheists who say all religion is useless mumbo jumbo opiate of the masses intersect with the grifting fake freeloaders like Joel Osteen who say “Hell, ya, I’ll take those believing suckers for everything they’ve got, the dumbasses” and we cut to a grainy tilted sideways zoom shot of Paulie and Ayn laughing hysterically in the background?
Cheryl from Maryland
@Brachiator: I remember the reviews of Colbert’s 2006 WHCD speech. The press reviews were scathing. The press know they were burnt as toadys.
Ella in New Mexico
All kidding aside, I think Chaplains should be a required presence in Congress, free to call things as they see em, just like the Fire Marshall who can say “no, you cannot plug in the frayed cord of that electric foot heater under your desk Senator Thune. I don’t care who the fuck you are you’re not gonna burn the building down so you’re toes aren’t numb”.
They SHOULD be there an act as the conscience of the institution and those we elect to represent us exactly BECAUSE of the Paul Ryans are. They just need to be chosen and managed by a independent and interfaith board who’s mission it is to find the best and most universal religious teachings in their pastoral duties, and only loosely supervised by Congress at all–not at the direction of the fucking corrupt Speaker of the House.
schrodingers_cat
@jeffreyw: You should take a photo of all the 6 kittehs together like Shiro and his gang. Also too, start a You Tube channel called Jeffrey W and his critters.
Brachiator
@Cheryl from Maryland:
Lots of whining from them about how the public will lose respect for journalism because Michelle Wolf was mean to reporters. From the NPR story.
Boo fucking Hoo.
Gelfling 545
@Suzanne: Getting accepted to a Jesuit school in my area is still considered a mark of honor. And they have a reputation for prefering smart poor students over wealthy dullards. One of my (poor, urban, all-minority public school) students was accepted as a scholarship student at our local Jesuit HS in my last years of teaching and we all nearly swooned for joy.
Gelfling 545
@mick the naïf: This is so. 12years in Catholic school and my patents “pillars of the Church” as they say. I absolutely never heard that term. If you’re speaking Spanish, great. Otherwise, Father it is. (I somehow doubt Ryan is fluent in Spanish .)
ETA Perhaps this is what passes for humor among Republicans?
Omnes Omnibus
@Gelfling 545: Padre is the British army term for a chaplain. FWIW.
Frankensteinbeck
@Brachiator:
“The assholes we cover for because we mostly agree with them will harass and threaten us some more because we haven’t given them absolutely everything they want with no compromises.”
Gelfling 545
@Omnes Omnibus: i never suspected that Ryan was in the British army!
Omnes Omnibus
@Gelfling 545: Just noting that there are times and places where it doesn’t indicate disrespect.
patrick II
But the Paul Ryan I see on TV said there are no losers with the new tax law, only winners; that their bill does represent those who possess little or no power because — freedom; and those who wish for peace and security for their children will have it — because of well armed teachers!
It is clear that Ryan would take no offense at the priests prayers if he actually believed what he was saying about the bills they pass — but he doesn’t. He knows the less fortunate will not be winners with the new tax law; that he represents those only with power, and that more guns mean more shootings and death.
I know I am a keen observer of the obvious, but if Ryan wasn’t consciously lying all of the time he would have no problem at all with what the priest asked for.
Anotherlurker
@efgoldman: As an Atheist, I can have a frank, substantive discussion with a Jesuit and not be attacked for my beliefs. They are some of the smartest, best educated people I have ever met.
Ruckus
@Mnemosyne:
I knew it was before your time but the history is fairly well known. JFK being Catholic and all. His opposition was banging that drum very loudly every minute of every day. Even if you didn’t give a damn about politics, you knew about that.
patrick II
Also, the thing that always kills me about Ryan is that fcking smirk. “Sister, this may surprise you, but I completely agree with you, where we may disagree is on how to achieve that goal.” Knowingly disenfranchising the poor and powerless with a smile/smirk on your face while consciously and brazenly lying to the face of a nun is slime of a pretty high order.
If I had a genie’s lamp, I would wish for good health for everyone, world peace, and to be able to knock that smirk of Ryan’s face without consequence.
Ruckus
@Jay Noble:
I’m going with two descriptive words.
Ryan is a Fucking Moron.
People who support him are going to be smarter?
Yeah I don’t think so.
grandpa John
@Brachiator:
Not a problem for Ryan,it’s obvious that he doesn’t serve God despite his lying lip service . As Jesus proclaimed in Matthew in the time of judgement
bemused
@patrick II:
He also exudes a smug and condescending attitude.
Aleta
-By Ruth Graham, in Politico Magazine
More about the political programming, etc. at the link.
grandpa John
@Brachiator:hmm respect, It’s hard to lose something you never had . this thought came to me as I read an article where members of our elite press are trying to cover for a press secretary who is either lying to them and to us or denigrating someone , every time she opens her mouth.
Brachiator
@grandpa John:
A CNN reporter who was at the dinner rationalizes Sanders’ mistreatment of the press and falsely accuses comedian Michelle Wolf of being a bully.
https://www.cnn.com/2018/04/29/politics/michelle-wolf-whcd-takeaways/index.html
zhena gogolia
@Brachiator:
You should give a Chris Cilizza warning.
e.a. foster
being an atheist I don’t believe in an after life, but Catholics do. So one does have to wonder how the conversation will go when Paul Ryan dies and gets to heaven. IF he is held to account, it won’t go well. He seems to have forgotten what the Jesus story was all about. You know it might be fun if there were an after life and Paul Ryan did have to account for his actions. Wonder what he is going to say in confession, if he goes.
As times change perhaps they ought to have some one from a non christen faith as the chaplin or given there is to be separation of church and state, simply no faith person on tap.
John Fremont
@Another Scott: Mike Pence was raised Catholic as well, but he is now an Evangelical. Sarah Palin became an Evangelical too after being brought up Catholic.