decision by Republican lawmakers to select a Presbyterian minister as the new Chaplain of the House of Representatives has ignited charges of religious discrimination.

   Before Congress headed home for its Thanksgiving recess, House Speaker Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.) announced the appointment of Rev. Charles Parker Wright, a Presbyterian, to the post of official chaplain. Wright is active in the National Prayer Breakfast; he succeeds Rev. James Ford, a Lutheran, who has served in the post since 1978.

   According to media reports including stories in the New York Times and the Washington Post, Wright was chosen from among three finalists under consideration for the chaplaincy, even though he was not considered the most popular. The selection process was conducted by an 18-member committee with equal representation from Republicans and Democrats. Forty-seven candidates had been considered; the number was then scaled down by a series of secret ballots to the three finalists.

   Others on the list were Rev. Timothy J. O'Brien, a Roman Catholic priest and professor of political science at Marquette University, and the Rev. Robert Dvorak of the Evangelical Covenant Church.

   Rep. Earl Pomeroy (D-N.D.) who chaired the selection committee told the Times that while it did not officially rank the top three contenders for the post, House leadership was told that the majority of members considered Father O'Brien to be the most appropriate. Rev. Wright had actually come in third in the balloting, behind Rev. Dvorak.

   The Washington Post reported that several Democrats "said they thought House leaders were trying to placate the religious right or were uncomfortable with naming a Catholic priest."

   In an unusual move, O'Brien told reporters that he believed that had he been "of any mainline Protestant denomination," he would have been appointed to the post.

   "I hope and pray that the 1960 presidential election did do away with the idea of Catholics as not being fully Americans," said O'Brien. "I'm not convinced that the prejudicial view is gone, and I do believe that if I were not a Catholic priest I would be the House chaplain."

   The 1960 election saw Sen. John Kennedy, a Roman Catholic face off against then-Vice President Richard Nixon. Kennedy's election was the first time a Catholic achieved the nation's highest elected office. During the campaign, the young Massachusetts senator defended the separation of church and state, and declared that he saw no conflict between being a member of a church governed by the Vatican, and obeying the U.S. Constitution.

   O'Brien dropped hints of other incidents pointing to sectarian bias. He noted that during an interview with House leaders, Rep. Dick Armey "indicated that he came from North Dakota originally and was raised in a very anti-Catholic environment, and I thought this was a strange comment to make." Armey's office confirmed that he was raised in North Dakota, and had remarked that "there's lot of Lutherans, who always complained about Catholics."

   O'Brien also cited what he described as "an evangelical Protestant line of questioning" from GOP members of the selection committee.

   A spokesman for Rep. Hastert said that the Speaker was aware that O'Brien was "of the Catholic faith and the House had not had a chaplain of the Catholic faith." He denied that religious bias or favoritism played a role in the selection process though, and said that Hastert chose Rev. Wright as "the one who would jell the best with the members (of the House) and their families."

   William Donahue, head of the Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights, charged that the selection of Rev. Wright was a question of "bigotry."

   "To say that most members of the House would be more comfortable with a Protestant minister than a Catholic priest ... is to say that Catholic priests need not apply for this post."

   "Never in the history of the U.S. has any priest been recommended as the candidate of first choice by the selection committee for House chaplain. This raises the question, If not now, when?"

   Donahue told reporters that his group would now contact all members of congress asking that Wright's appointment to the post be examined in time for the confirmation vote in January, 2000.

   Some Democrats quickly dumped the blame for the affair on Speaker Hastert and Majority Leader Dick Armey. Rep. Anna Eschoo (D-Ca.) who is a Catholic member of the selection committee charged that "there are tones of (bias) involved."

    "I do not say this gladly," she told Associated Press.

   Charges that Hastert and Armey were catering to the GOP's religious right wing -- composed mostly of Protestant evangelicals and fundamentalists -- were fueled when O'Brien told reporters: "I just kind of felt that I was going to have some trouble with the Evangelical Right because they ... likely had a different candidate." He cited "uncomfortable moments" during the selection process, including an incident where Rep. Richard Shimkus (R-Ill.) spoke of the requirement that the House chaplain be "of good moral character." Shimkus noted that as a Catholic priest, O'Brien did not have a family and then asked, "How can we be assured you're of good moral character?"

   Shimkus' office denied that the exchange involved assaulting O'Brien's status as a non-married, presumably celibate priest. A spokeswoman stated, "That is not what my boss said," and told Associated Press that candidates for the chaplaincy were grilled on their understanding of 2 Timothy that discusses qualifications for leaders of the church laid out by the Apostle Paul. Passages warn that men shall be "lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accuses, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good..."

   Rep. Armey told the Washington Post, "No one was selected or not selected based on denomination, but rather personal qualifications, background and experience."

   The duties of the House Chaplain are explained in a one-sentence line of House Rules which states: "The Chaplain shall attend at the commencement of each day's sitting of the House and open the same with prayer." Incredibly, the selection process lasted for more than three months, and created what Rep. Lois Capps (D-Ca.) termed a "wonderful" experience. In the past, the post of House chaplaincy was traditionally filledquickly by an appointment from the Speaker with voice vote confirmation by the members.

   Why the flap?

   Republicans are nervous about maintaining good relations with religious right groups, composed mostly of Protestant evangelical and fundamentalist activists. Whilethe Christian right often agrees with Roman Catholic teachings on abortion and voucher aid for private and religious schools, the nation's bishops are considered more liberal on other social issues like welfare and the environment. There is also a deep, but not always acknowledged undercurrent of distrust within the religious right that the Catholic Church is the "whore of Babylon," and the papacy an illegitimate institution.

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