Blessed Aren't

Father Pat Conroy

Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness,for they shall be filled.

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Jesus of Nazareth

"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."

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Father Patrick Conroy

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"Padre, you just got to stay out of politics."

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House Speaker Paul Ryan

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There was no doubt about it: the office of the speaker of the House was not a bit happy back in November when the Chaplain of that body offered a gentle prayer that the tax law which was being debated at that very moment be fair to everyone. Not an hour had gone by when one of Ryan's toadies made his way into the good father's office and let him know that he should focus his prayers on something a little less specific. Adhering to the philosophy of Jesus Christ was something that good Christians just don't do - not as far as the modern-day Republican party is concerned. All pretense of theirs being "the party of Christian values" should have gone out of the window and into the trash bin decades ago. This isn't a political party, it's a cult.

Father Pat (as he is known by all four-hundred and thirty-five members of that body) is widely liked. He is the sixtieth House chaplain in Aamerican history, and yet he is only one of two Catholics ever to hold that position. He is also the first one to be dismissed from the job. The fact that Ryan is a Catholic makes this all the more shameful. He will have to look his fellow parishioners in the eye the next time he attends mass. I really do wish I could be there for that. 

According to the speaker, The decision to give Father Conway the boot had not a thing to do with his compassion for the poor. He was let go simply "based on member feedback about pastoral care".

Ayn Rand

The only problem with that pathetically lame excuse is the fact that, thus far, no one has seconded that claim, and the overwhelming majority of the members are not-at-all happy with what has happened. Another excuse being given is the quality of his council". That one does seem to make a little sense to me. If Father Pat's "council" has been to advise politicians to stick with the teachings of the man who proclaimed "whatever you did to the least of these, you also did to me", I could honestly see how something like that would make your average right wing "Christian" squirm a bit uncomfortably. Let's face it: their core philosophy has nothing to do with Jesus Christ, and everything to do with Ayn Rand, a long-dead writer of bad fiction who is widely believed to have been mentally ill. In fact, one of the requirements to work in Ryan's office has been that all potential staffers must have read Rand's "Atlas Shrugged", one of only three books in my lifetime that I attempted to read but could not finish. Ideology had nothing to do with it - in fact, at the time (around 1981) I was totally aware of the political implications of the book. It was simply so completely awful that I thought it unreadable.

Father Pat's dismissal should offend Catholics and non-Catholics alike - believers and non-believers. One of the architects of the Constitution, James Monroe, was of the opinion that neither the House nor the Senate should have a chaplain. Perhaps he was on to something, but that is a debate for another day. The fact of the matter is that the GOP's claim to have a corner on the market of all that is good, and holy and Christian should by now be seen for what it truly is and truly has been for generations. Not that I'm optimistic that these silly Americans are finally going to wake up and smell the elephant manure. That's never gonna happen.

Perhaps Franklin Graham is available to take Father Pat's place. Given the depths into the ideological sewer to which "the party of Abraham Lincoln" has sunk in the last half century, and given old Franklin's total disregard of the teachings of the Prince of Peace, I imagine that he'd be right at home in the House of Reprehensibles.

Tom Degan
Goshen, NY