House chaplain pressured by Paul Ryan to step down rescinds his resignation – ThinkProgress

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Rev. Patrick J. Conroy, the House chaplain who resigned after pressure from House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-WI) last month, rescinded his resignation Thursday.

Ryan has said the reason he pressured Conroy to resign was because he didn’t believe members were being “adequately served.”

“This was not about politics or prayers, it was about pastoral services. And a number of our members felt like the pastoral services were not being adequately served, or offered,” Ryan said at an event earlier this week.

But Conroy pushed back against that explanation Thursday, saying in a letter rescinding his resignation, “I have never been disciplined, nor reprimanded, nor have I ever heard a complaint about my ministry during my time as House chaplain.”

After Conroy’s resignation, both Politico and The New York Times reported that he was forced out after Republican members of Congress were upset with some of his prayers, including one in particular he delivered last November ahead of the passage of the GOP tax overhaul.

“As legislation on taxes continues to be debated this week and next, 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,” Conroy prayed. “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.”

Late last month, Conroy told the Times he believed that prayer, though Ryan never said as much to him, was the reason he was pressured to resign.

“[A week after that prayer], a staffer [for Speaker Ryan] came down and said, ‘We are upset with this prayer; you are getting too political,’” Conroy told the Times. “It suggests to me that there are members who have talked to him about being upset with that prayer.”

In his letter to Ryan Thursday, Conroy said that Ryan had never spoken with him in person or sent any correspondence when he asked him to resign, instead only sending his Chief of Staff Jonathan Burks to ask Conroy for his letter of resignation.

“I inquired as to whether or not it was ‘for cause,’ and Mr. Burks mentioned dismissively something like ‘maybe it’s time we had a Chaplain that wasn’t Catholic.’ He also mentioned my November prayer and interview with the National Journal Daily,” Conroy wrote in his letter.

Full letter from the Chaplain rescinding his resignation. pic.twitter.com/n3AloHkQWS

— Lauren Fox (@FoxReports) May 3, 2018

As ThinkProgress’ Melanie Schmitz noted last month, “Both Ryan and Conroy are Catholic, although Conroy is Jesuit — a more liberal and scholarly wing of Catholicism that tends to place more emphasis on Catholic social justice teachings — while Ryan is a Catholic conservative.”

The interview Conroy refers to is one he gave in October in which he urged religious tolerance and talked about the public rush to judgment following high profile instances of sexual misconduct.

“You may wish to outright ‘fire’ me, if you have the authority to do so, but should you wish to terminate my services, it will be without an offer of my resignation, as you requested,” Conroy wrote Thursday.

Father Conroy tells reporters leaving the Capitol: “I’m not commenting. The story is not over" per @MariannaNBCNews

— Alex Moe (@AlexNBCNews) May 3, 2018

He added that he wishes to serve the remainder of his term as House chaplain unless terminated “for cause.” Later, seen leaving the Capitol, Conroy told reporters, “I’m not commenting. The story is not over.”

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'Important to have a Netherlands-based captain' - coach Ryan Campbell | Cricket

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© Associated Press

Pieter Seelaar's appointment as Netherlands captain to replace the outgoing Peter Borren was motivated by a continued desire amongst the Royal Dutch Cricket Association (KNCB) to have a locally-based player who trains with the bulk of the squad year-round, according to Netherlands head coach Ryan Campbell.

"We have players like Ryan ten Doeschate and Roelof van der Merwe who could fill the captaincy as well, but we feel it's very important that a Dutch-bound player leads our Dutch team," Campbell told ESPNcricinfo. "That's no disrespect to our international players because we love them all and they're massive leaders within our squad, but the feeling has always been that we want a guy who lives in the Netherlands to lead our team, who is always training with our squad, and Pieter fits the bill perfectly.

"The facts are our [English] county players don't play in all of our matches and they don't train with our squad. We have a summer training squad of 22 and to have one without a captain is a recipe for disaster. We've always felt you need a captain and a leader who is training and playing with the lads. I'm very excited to see what Pieter's going to bring to the table, because he's a different character to Peter Borren. He thinks about the game a lot and his plans have already started."

Seelaar's career stats, 111 wickets in 120 List A matches plus 33 wickets in 59 T20s, are modest for a bowling allrounder, but the 30-year-old is one of the longest tenured Dutch players after making his senior debut against Warwickshire in 2005. His career List A batting average is 14.64, but it is a deceptive figure slanted heavily by his early career as a tailender. In 2015, he was one of the leading scorers in the Dutch domestic first division playing for VOC and notched a List A career-best 68 against Scotland in the second round of the WCL Championship later that summer.

In 2017, Seelaar further cemented his batting credentials with an unbeaten 138 in an epic stand with Ben Cooper during their drawn Intercontinental Cup match against Hong Kong. Add in the fact that Seelaar is arguably the top Netherlands outfielder - he has a reputation for taking some sensational catches including one to dismiss Kevin O'Brien at the 2016 World T20 - and Campbell felt the decision was a no-brainer.

"He's the perfect age and experience, he's been in the national set-up for a long time now and knows what goes around international cricket," Campbell said. "We believe that his game will improve and we've seen that with his bowling particularly. In the last 12 months, apart from an injury, he's been a standout for us with the ball and his batting is an untapped resource. He knows that he needs to keep improving but we feel that the character of Pieter Seelaar is the best fit for us with a young squad."

Seelaar will be leading a Netherlands A squad this weekend in Guernsey before taking command of the full senior side for a T20I tri-series with Ireland and Scotland in June.

As for Borren's retirement at age 34, Campbell said it should not be seen as the first domino to fall in a move toward making more changes within the squad - he doesn't want "players looking over their shoulder". However, he said that competition for spots may be ramped up following the team's poor performance at the World Cup Qualifier in Zimbabwe. With two years until the next World T20 in Australia and the start of the 13-team ODI League, Campbell wants to take as many opportunities possible to give younger players a chance to develop.

"We play that ODI League in 2020 and that's another couple years down the track. That's a long time for guys who are suddenly 36 or 37. It [Borren's stepping down] was decided mutually," Campbell said. "He felt that he didn't have the energy to be there in two or three years' time. If that was the case, then when we're not playing in major tournaments, we need to get our youngsters as much experience as we can because the facts are we don't play enough cricket. The Bas de Leedes and Sikandar Zulfiqars, these sort of guys need to play cricket and that was the decision from all sides."

Campbell paid tribute to Borren, saying he'd made a great friend for life in him. "He beat the drums for the Associate cause. The Associate world is a tough world to live in. Just seeing his stats, the number of games he played over such a long period, some people who don't realise will say, 'Gee he didn't play that many games'. But that's how tough it is. You'll play a decade and only play 40 ODIs or 40 T20Is. It's a tough world but he's a ripping bloke and a fantastic competitor and I wish him all the best."

Peter Della Penna is ESPNcricinfo's USA correspondent @PeterDellaPenna

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ESPN Sports Media Ltd.

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Ryan Higgins and David Wiese bag five-fors as wickets tumble

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Sussex 145 (Salt 63, Higgins 5-21) and 51 for 2 lead Gloucestershire 183 (Wiese 5-48, Robinson 4-67) by 13 runs
Scorecard

Sussex and Gloucestershire made up for lost time when their Specsavers County Championship Division Two match resumed at Hove on Saturday. Just 21 overs had been bowled on the opening day, when no wickets fell, but 22 went down on the second day and Sussex, 51 for 2 in their second innings, led by 13.

Having begun the day on 86 for 0, Sussex were bowled out for 145, losing all 10 wickets for 59 runs in 26 overs before lunch, with Ryan Higgins taking a career-best 5 for 21. Luke Wright, who was dropped twice, was Sussex's top scorer in the session with 13.

There was some encouragement from a lively pitch, and the overcast conditions suited the bowlers too. But a number of batsmen also perished by their own careless hands.

Luke Wells had added just two runs to his overnight 25 when he was caught behind playing forward to Higgins. In the same bowler's next over Phil Salt, 54 not out overnight, skied to long leg.

The wickets continued to tumble: Stiaan van Zyl was caught in the gully off Higgins, Harry Finch was caught behind off Daniel Worrall and captain Ben Brown was lbw to Worrall for a second ball duck, leaving Sussex 105 for 5.

Mark Burgess and Ollie Robinson, rashly, were caught in the slips from successive deliveries with the score on at 116, both off Higgins, and it was 117 for 8 when David Wiese lost his leg stump to Matt Taylor. Briggs and Wright had a final fling but Gloucestershire still had time to face one over before lunch.

Sussex broke through with the score on 27, when Chris Dent dragged on a delivery from Robinson, losing his middle stump.

A vigorous innings from Benny Howell, who had hit star Sussex signing Ishant Sharma for three fours in four balls, came to an end when he was lbw to one that moved into him from Wiese. Ishant was taken out of the attack after his first three overs cost 32 but Robinson struck again when he bowled James Bracey for 15.

It was 102 for 4 when Robinson took his third wicket, having Gareth Roderick lbw for 23 as the batsman shuffled forward.

At tea Gloucestershire were still well placed, but Jack Taylor, hooking as he took his eye off the ball, was caught at long leg - 107 for 5. Gloucestershire were not even sure of gaining a first-innings lead when Craig Miles was eighth out at 144. But some firm blows from Kieran Noema-Barnett (31) gave his side an advantage worth 38. Wiese and Robinson shared nine wickets between them.

When Sussex batted again, in the best conditions of the day, Salt had his middle stump plucked out by Higgins for a second-ball duck. Wells was then bowled by Noema-Barnett for 22 with the last ball of the day.

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