That’s me on the left and Sgt. Carter Staff on the right. This photo was snapped last week during a lunch hour cookout in the loading dock area of City Center. The cookout was care of the Police Department chaplains. The chaplains provide lunch to the Police Department employees a couple of times each year. They do it as an act of service to those who serve and because it gives them a chance to get to know our officers a bit better.
Just the week before, the City hosted its annual appreciation luncheon for the chaplains. Sgt. Staff is the chaplain program coordinator. He organized the luncheon and gave the group a few well chosen words about why the chaplaincy program is important and what it means to have chaplains available to officers and to residents who have suffered tragedy.
Some people get a little nervous when thinking about the fact that a government, such as the City of Eden Prairie, associates with churches and people of faith, such as the local ministers that serve as our chaplains. There is a history of division in our country between the government and the church. I appreciate that division. Church tethered to government is not good for the church, and vice-versa, in my opinion.
But the chaplaincy program is different. It is not a proselytizing environment for the ministers involved. There is none of that. They don’t do it. We don’t allow it. Our chaplains care for the officers needs when they are involved in public or personal tragedy. Most of us don’t encounter death scenes in our day to day work. It can be tough to deal with sometimes. Chaplains can be very helpful with the right words at the right time.
The same is true for chaplains connection to residents who forced to deal with the untimely or unexpected death of a loved one. Police officers must sometimes be the one to inform someone with tragic news. But it’s often the chaplain who can stay and talk and comfort someone until the shock of loss has dissipated. Again, chaplains are trained ans experienced in the art of comforting someone in shock and despair. They have exactly the right skill set for some of the sad situations our officers face in the community.
Our Police Department is a better Police Department because we have a chaplaincy program. We are fortunate to have them as part of our city government.
