The Rev. Msgr. Salvatore A. Criscuolo says a key quality of a Metropolitan Police Department chaplain is being available.
An MPD chaplain had “better be willing to give up a day off, you better be willing to miss a dinner, and you better be willing to wake up at 3 o’clock in the morning and be available,” said Msgr. Criscuolo, who has been a volunteer chaplain since 1986.
The Metropolitan Police Department is aiming to recruit as many as six volunteer chaplains and is taking applications through Jan. 18.
Msgr. Criscuolo, who retired as pastor of St. Patrick’s Catholic Church in Northwest D.C. in 2019, said some of his fellow volunteers over the years have retired and others “have [gone] to their eternal reward,” so the department can use some extra (prayer) hands.
The “department has grown and the needs have become greater, especially with all that’s going on in our city in the past few years,” he said of the city’s police force of 3,600 assigned officers.
The MPD recruitment website states that applicants must have been “an ordained member of the clergy in good standing for at least five years and be endorsed for chaplaincy by a recognized religious denomination,” as well as “never been convicted of a criminal offense involving moral turpitude.”
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The chief function of a police chaplain is to listen to the officer or their family and provide support, Msgr. Criscuolo says.
“Believe it or not, religion is not the priority,” he said. “When I get called to get to the hospital or for an officer-involved shooting, I don’t ask, ‘Are they Catholic?’ It’s like, ‘It’s an officer and I’m the chaplain, and I need to see the officer.’”
The spike in police activity has increased the need for chaplains, he said.
“It is a unique ministry,” he said. “Unlike any other clergy person, where people come to see you on a Saturday or Sunday … you’ve got to get out and meet your congregation, which would be the police.”
Police chaplains not only deal with wounded officers and the families and colleagues of those lost in the line of duty or to other causes, but also are called upon for baptisms, to perform marriages and provide counseling, Msgr. Criscuolo said.
“It’s just being available to the best of our ability to support those men and women of law enforcement,” he added.
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He said he “could not answer” the question of whether a chaplain from The Satanic Temple, a religious group that has sued to insert itself into a number of public spaces, would be welcomed by the Metropolitan Police Department.
“Not every man or woman who applies for the chaplaincy program will be accepted,” Msgr. Criscuolo said. “It has nothing to do with religion, or has to do with the person, their personality, and if they feel comfortable” with the responsibilities.
• Mark A. Kellner can be reached at mkellner@washingtontimes.com.
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