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Conservative leader: Next House chaplain should have a family | TheHill

posted onApril 27, 2018
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Article snippet: Rep. MORE (R-N.C.), one of the leaders of the committee searching for a replacement for the ousted House chaplain, said the next spiritual leader of the House should be someone with a family who can better relate and counsel lawmakers with spouses and children. Father Patrick Conroy, who was forced out by Speaker MORE (R-Wis.), is celibate by virtue of his Catholic faith.   “I’m looking for somebody who has a little age, that has adult children, that kind of can connect with the bulk of the body here, Republicans and Democrats who are going through, back home the wife, the family … that has some counseling experience … because what’s needed in the body here is people who can sit down with different members, male, female, Democrat, Republican, and just talk about what it is kind of to be up here,” Walker, a Southern Baptist minister and chairman of the conservative Republican Study Committee, told reporters Thursday. Walker, who is also co-chair of the Prayer Caucus, didn’t explicitly say another Catholic could not serve as House chaplain. But he made clear he preferred a non-denominational religious leader who had experience with family life. “I don’t think just because you are of that particular strain of faith, that prevents you from doing it. That doesn’t mean [a Catholic] can’t minister people,” Walker continued. “But when you walk the journey of having a kid back home that’s struggling or made some bad decisions, or when you have a separation situation or yo... Link to the full article to read more

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