Cardinal Timothy Dolan and the Rev. A.R. Bernard have been named co-chief chaplains of the NYPD, Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch said Tuesday.

Tisch made the announcement during her “State of the NYPD” address.

What You Need To Know

Cardinal Timothy Dolan and the Rev. A.R. Bernard were named co-chief chaplains of the NYPD on Tuesday

They will be installed during a ceremony at One Police Plaza on Feb. 24

The appointments follow the death of longtime Chief Chaplain Rabbi Alvin Kass

The Chaplains Unit provides spiritual and emotional support to nearly 50,000 NYPD uniformed and civilian employees

“Often times, the stories that emerge from the NYPD’s work focus on the people at the center of the crisis,” Tisch said. “What slips from view are the men and women who answered the call, and what they are left to hold onto when it’s over. The strain it takes. The loss it leaves.”

She said the department’s Chaplains Unit has long ensured that officers do not shoulder that burden alone.

Longtime Chief Chaplain Rabbi Alvin Kass, who served the NYPD for decades, died last year. Tisch remembered him Tuesday as a moral compass, or “tzadik.”

“In Jewish tradition, it means a righteous person — someone whose life embodies the moral clarity, compassion and wisdom our officers rely on in their hardest moments,” she said.

After months of deliberating on Kass’ replacement, Tisch said “not just one, but two tzadiks” came to mind.

Dolan and Bernard will be installed at a ceremony at One Police Plaza on Feb. 24, she said.

Bernard, founder of the Christian Cultural Center megachurch in Brooklyn, said in a statement posted to social media that he looks forward to serving alongside Dolan.

“We have shared nearly 20 years of friendship and partnership, including our leadership through the New York Commission of Religious Leaders, and previously stood together to support the department and the city through times of crisis in 2014,” he wrote.

Dolan served as archbishop of New York starting in 2009. He retired from the role at age 75, as required by church law, and was succeeded last week by Bishop Ronald Hicks.