LOWER MANHATTAN — The weight on Cardinal Timothy Dolan’s chest grew on March 4 when his pectoral cross made room for more metal: the badge of co-chief of chaplains for the New York City Police Department. 

Cardinal Dolan, archbishop emeritus of New York, and Rev. A.R. Bernard, pastor of the Christian Cultural Center in Starrett City, Brooklyn, received their badges during a swearing-in ceremony at 1 Police Plaza, presided over by Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch and Mayor Zohran Mamdani. 

“Well,” Cardinal Dolan, 76, told the audience, “I guess now I have two badges — this venerated shield of the NYPD and the cross, both over a heart, a heart which now belongs to all of you.” 

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The cardinal described the honor of comforting cops and families as they grieved officers killed in the line of duty. 

“I lost a lot of handkerchiefs to grieving spouses and hurting families,” he said. “And now I get to do it a bit more often in a more formal and official way. 

“And that I cherish deeply.” 

Cardinal Dolan and Rev. Bernard are filling the chief’s position previously held by Rabbi Alvin Kass, who died Oct. 29 at age 89. 

Rabbi Kass served 23 years as the chief. He had also been an NYPD chaplain since 1966, making him the department’s longest-serving employee of any kind, Mayor Mamdani said.  

Commissioner Tisch described the legacy left by “our beloved chief, Rabbi Kass.” 

“For decades,” she said during the ceremony, “Rabbi Kass was there for our officers in moments of grief, in moments of doubt, and in moments that test the heart and the try the soul.” 

Commissioner Tisch also recounted the history of the 180-year-old police department’s chaplaincy. It began, she said, in 1906 to ensure “that the men and women who serve here would have guidance when this job demanded it most.” 

Today, the chaplaincy includes about a dozen clergy representing various faiths, including Christians, Jews, and Muslims. 

Mayor Mamdani praised Rabbi Kass and the longtime service records of Rev. Bernard and Cardinal Dolan.  

Rev. Bernard, the mayor noted, has guided his congregation of more than 37,000 members since 1978, but has also launched efforts to “help tackle the systemic issue of affordable housing.” 

Meanwhile, he added, Cardinal Dolan “has stood as a spiritual beacon for almost 3 million Catholic New Yorkers, leveraging the power of the Church to support all those in need, including migrants, refugees, at-risk youth, and our city’s hungry and homeless.” 

The mayor, who is Muslim, closed by quoting the Bible. 

“James 3:18 tells us that a harvest of righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace,” Mamdani said. “Rev. Bernard and Cardinal Dolan have built their lives on this ever-enduring work. They will be like two officers on the beat, perhaps not only in service of the department, but in fact, to all of our city.”