(RNN) - Questions remain about House Speaker Paul Ryan's alleged firing of Father Pat Conroy, House chaplain.
The House and Senate chaplains perform ceremonial duties, such as opening the daily sessions with a prayer, as well as other pastoral and ceremonial duties, such as presiding over the weddings and funerals of members of Congress.
As of the 2011 Congressional Research Service report on chaplains. the House chaplain earns $172,500 a year, and the Senate chaplain was paid $155,500 a year.
According to the House guidelines on the chaplaincy, the chaplaincy is a tradition handed down from the Continental Congress.
While House chaplains are elected at the beginning of each Congressional term, the Senate chaplains do not need to be re-elected each term.
Members of Congress elect chaplains based on the person, not the denomination.
House and Senate chaplains also coordinate guest chaplains, representing several faiths, to give opening prayers. Members of the House of Representatives recommend guest chaplains.
For a short time in the 1850s, the House and Senate had no chaplains because petitions sought the abolishment of Congressional chaplaincy, citing the separation of church and state and saying that the offices had become too politicized.
Despite questions about the positions' constitutionality, the Supreme Court upheld the position in its 1983 March v. Chambers decision, claiming the custom "is deeply embedded in the history and tradtion of this country."
There have been 60 House chaplains and 62 Senate chaplains.
Denominations previously represented by the House chaplaincy include Presbyterian, Methodist, Baptist, Unitarian, Congregationalist, Episcopalian, Disciples of Christ, Christian and Lutheran, according to a House historial website.
Conroy succeeded Rev. Daniel Coughlin as House chaplain on May 25, 2011. Coughlin was the first Roman Catholic chaplain.
The Senate chaplain, Barry C. Black, is the first black and Seventh-day Adventist chaplain.
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