Cardinal Timothy Dolan, Rev. A.R. Bernard to serve as NYPD co-chaplains: officials

Newly retired Cardinal Timothy Dolan is set to serve as one of the NYPD’s top religious leaders, alongside Brooklyn-based megachurch founder, Rev.A.R.

Bernard, the department announced Monday. Dolan, 76, and Bernard, 72, who founded the Christian Cultural Center, will be officially installed as co-chaplains of the country’s largest police department this month, according to NYPD officials. Their appointments come after Rabbi Alvin Kass – who served New York’s Finest for nearly 60 years – died in October.“As I was thinking about who should fill this role, one Hebrew word kept coming to mind — ‘Tzadik,’ a person of righteousness,” NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch said in a statement. “Cardinal Timothy Dolan and Reverend A.R.Bernard are two of the most righteous people this City has ever known.

“They are two men of incredible faith whose life and leadership embody the moral clarity, compassion, and wisdom our officers rely on in their hardest moments.”The announcement also comes just days after Dolan – who served the archdiocese for nearly 17 years – handed over the reins to Archbishop Ronald Hicks, 58, in a ceremony at St.Patrick’s Cathedral. Dolan, who was born in Missouri and considers himself an adopted New Yorker, confirmed last week that he planned to stay in the Big Apple following his retirement.An avid backer of New York’s Finest, he voiced his admiration in a July 2020 opinion piece for The Post, where he urged the public to refrain from condemning all cops as protests raged over the police-involved killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis. “Our valiant police officers have one of the most perilous, stressful duties around, and from what I have seen in my nearly dozen years here, they do it with care, compassion and competence,” Dolan wrote at the time.

“Now we have added to their load with continual, at times exaggerated, rash and inaccurate criticism, combined with rocks, Molotov cocktails and taunts.” Dolan w...