HeinOnline is a subscription-based resource containing thousands of academic and legal journals from inception; complete coverage of government documents such as U.S. Statutes at Large, U.S. Code, Federal Register, Code of Federal Regulations, U.S. Reports, and much more. Documents are image-based, fully searchable PDFs with the authority of print combined with the accessibility of a user-friendly and powerful database. For more information, request a quote or trial for your organization below.
![handle is hein.crs/crsuntaaaxt0001 and id is 1 raw text is:
Order Code RS20427
Updated July 18, 2003
CRS Report for Congress
Received through the CRS Web
House and Senate Chaplains
Mildred Amer
Specialist in American Government
Government and Finance Division
The official clergy of Congress are the two chaplains - one in the House, the other
in the Senate. They are among the elected officers of their respective houses. At the
beginning of each Congress, the House chaplain is elected for a two-year term. The
Senate chaplain does not have to be reelected at the beginning of a new Congress. This
fact sheet is one of a series on the legislative process. For more information on the
legislative process, please see [http://www.crs.gov/products/guides/guidehome/shtml].
Chaplains are chosen by each chamber as individuals and not as representatives of
any religious body or denominational entity. The leadership of both houses has the
ultimate authority to recommend candidates for the chaplaincy, although other interested
Members are usually part of the selection process. There have been 62 Senate chaplains
and 59 House chaplains. All but two have been Protestant. There have, however, been
men and women guest chaplains from other faiths, including the Jewish and Islamic.
On June 27, 2003, the Senate elected its first black and first Seventh-Day Adventist
chaplain. Dr. Barry C. Black, a rear admiral and former chief of chaplains for the Navy,
was selected by Majority Leader Bill Frist. His name was among those recommended by
a bipartisan search committee of five Senators led by Senator John Kyl. Dr. Black
replaced Dr. Lloyd Ogilvie, a Presbyterian minister, who had resigned in March 2003.
See [http://www. senate.gov/artandhistory/history/common/briefing/SenateChaplain.htm]
for a list of all Senate chaplains.
On March 23, 2000, the Speaker of the House appointed the first Roman Catholic
House chaplain, Father Daniel P. Coughlin, to fill the vacancy caused by the resignation
of Rev. James Ford, who had served as House chaplain since January 1979. Rev. Charles
C. Pise, the only Catholic priest to be elected Senate chaplain, served for one year (1833).
In May 1999 after Rev. Ford announced his intention to retire, House Speaker
Dennis Hastert and the then-minority leader Richard Gephart appointed an 18-member
bipartisan search committee, chaired by Representatives Tom Bliley (R-VA) and Earl
Pomeroy (D-ND), to recommend three finalists for House chaplain.1 In November 1999,
Rev. Charles Wright, a Presbyterian minister, was chosen by the House leadership (the
Congressional Research Service +** The Library of Congress
1 Rev. Ogilvie was selected after a search by a bipartisan committee of six Senators appointed
by the then-Senate majority leader Robert Dole, as was Rev. Ford, who was chosen after a search
by a smaller conmmittee appointed by then-Speaker Thomas P. (Tip) O'Neill.](ViewImageLocal?handle=hein.crs/crsuntaaaxt0001&div=1&collection=&method=preview&ext=.png&size=3)