Paul Ryan responded by saying he accepted the decision by the Rev Patrick Conroy following an effort to oust him in April

The chaplain of the House of Representatives, the Rev Patrick Conroy, revoked his resignation on Thursday, forcing the House speaker, Paul Ryan, to back down from an effort to oust him.

In a letter, the Jesuit priest said that a top Ryan aide told him “maybe it’s time that we had a chaplain that wasn’t a Catholic” while asking for his resignation. Conroy also said that the Ryan aide, Jonathan Burks, mentioned a prayer that Conroy gave in November 2017 that the tax bill have no “winners or losers” as well as an interview he gave to National Journal.

Conroy’s ousting in April provoked a political crisis for Ryan after it was reported that the House chaplain was not leaving of his own volition but instead was being forced out. Ryan told lawmakers last week that Conroy was pushed out because he was not meeting the “pastoral needs” of members.

Paul Ryan says decision to fire House chaplain was not political Read more

However, Conroy insisted to the New York Times that Ryan told him after the 2017 prayer: “Padre, you’ve got to stay out of politics.” Conroy insisted that the prayer didn’t “sound political to him” and added: “If you are hospital chaplain, you are going to pray about health. If you are a chaplain of Congress, you are going to pray about what Congress is doing.”

In his letter, Conroy pushed back against Ryan’s statements about the quality of his “pastoral services” and “spiritual counseling”. He wrote: “This is not the reason that Mr Burks gave me when asking for my ‘resignation’.” Conroy went on to state vehemently: “In fact, no such criticism has ever been levelled against me during my tenure as a House chaplain. At the very least, if it were, I could have attempted to correct such ‘faults’. In retracting my resignation I wish to do just that.”

Ryan responded in a statement saying that “I have accepted Father Conroy’s letter and decided that he will remain in his position as chaplain of the House”. The Wisconsin Republican insisted “my original decision was made in what I believed to be the best interest of this institution. To be clear, that decision was based on my duty to ensure that the House has the kind of pastoral services that it deserves. It is my job as speaker to do what is best for this body, and I know that this body is not well served by a protracted fight over such an important post.”

Burks also denied Conroy’s allegations in his own statement. “I strongly disagree with Father Conroy’s recollection of our conversation,” said the Republican staffer. “I am disappointed by the misunderstanding, but wish him the best as he continues to serve the House.”

This decision avoids what would have been an unprecedented showdown between the House chaplain and speaker. Congress elects the position every two years although it has traditionally been uncontested. Conroy was elected to his position in May 2011 after his predecessor the Rev Daniel Coughlin retired. Coughlin was the first House chaplain to be a Roman Catholic.