On the day of Freddie Gray’s funeral—April 27, 2015, when the city of Baltimore erupted in a wave of violence, crime, and arson—the police force did not employ a single chaplain. In the two years since, they’ve grown an ecumenical corps of 134 men and women of the cloth who ride along with officers dispatched to scenes that demand a different sort of care. Cops and priests serve complementary, overlapping missions after all: Both help people at times of utmost need, intervening in life’s liminal moments to “protect and serve.”
In a city known for colonial Catholicism and violent crime, this collaboration makes great sense. And after hearing testimony from the front lines—from Police Commissioner Kevin Davis, pastor Rev. Dr. Sheridan Todd Yeary, and Archbishop of Baltimore William E. Lori—at a panel “Violence, Faith & Policing in Baltimore” on Capitol Hill Wednesday night, I couldn’t shake the thought: Why doesn’t every city, from Chicago to Charlotte, already do this?
