Former Archbishop of New York Cardinal Timothy Dolan and Rev. A.R. Bernard, founder of the Christian Cultural Center megachurch in Brooklyn, are set to assume leadership of the NYPD’s chaplains unit, Police Commissoner Jessica Tisch said Monday.
The pair will be replacing Rabbi Alvin Kass, the spiritual leader of the East Midwood Jewish Center in Brooklyn, who 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,” said Tisch.
Dolan and Bernard “are two of the most righteous people this city has ever known,” she added. “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.”
Susan Watts / New York Daily News
Former NYPD Chaplain Rabbi Alvin Kass, pictured in 2016, died in October. (Susan Watts / New York Daily News)
As chief chaplains, Dolan and Bernard will oversee a team of clergy members representing Catholic, Methodist, Jewish, Pentecostal, Muslim and Greek Orthodox religions, according to the department’s website.
The unit founded in 1906 provides 24/7 spiritual guidance and confidential counseling to the department’s more than 33,000 members.
Dolan served as the Archbishop of New York from 2009 until 2025, when he resigned after reaching the mandatory retirement age of 75 and Pope Leo appointed Bishop Ronald Hicks of Joliet, Ill. to replace him as head of the second-largest archdiocese in the U.S.
Bernard, 72, serves as CEO and senior pastor of the city’s largest evangelical church, which boasts over 37,000 members on its website.
This isn’t Bernard’s first appointment to serve New York City. Former Mayor Eric Adams chose Bernard to serve on the Charter Revision Commission, but he was forced to resign after the Daily News raised questions of his eligibility after discovering he maintains a primary residence on Long Island.
