Page 34 - FOP_MAY16.indd

ROCKS AROUND CONTINUED FROM PAGE 33
Lewis-Davis seems to have been training to be a chap- lain for more than 30 years, from the time she was nine years old and devoted herself to the United Methodist Church she still serves today. She used to be a disability specialist in the mayor’s office working with disabled vet- erans, when she asked her then-boyfriend-now-husband, Mark Davis, what he thought about her joining him as a Chicago cop.
Her uncle, a former marine, trained Lewis-Davis to meet the task, and she hasn’t stopped since coming on the job since 2003. She will be ordained as a Deacon in June having completed a Master in Divinity from Chicago Theological Seminary, for which she did an internship at UIC Hospital that required doing overnight shifts on her off days.
“The order of the Deacon has four components: word, service, compassion and justice,” Lewis-Davis educates. “Justice and service, of course, tie directly into the De- partment, and we’re the guardians of that.”
ef
Guardians have always been the galaxy’s most em- pathetic law enforcers, and it doesn’t take long to see that on a ride-along with Father Dan and Officer/
Deacon Montelongo. For starters, Father Dan exhibits his well-developed driving skills, gained through taking an emergency vehicle operator’s course at the Academy, when a call comes in and he wants to motor to the scene.
A call of a domestic with shots fired in the 7th District has just come in, and when Dan and Bob arrive, no less than eight officers have responded to cover all angles. When the call is diffused without incident or arrest, all of- ficers breathe a sigh and get some relief hanging out for a few moments to rap with the chaplains.
34 CHICAGO LODGE 7 ■ MAY 2016
“Our duties are two-fold,” Father Dan details. “There is the pastoral care of our officers, weddings, funerals, bap- tisms and police mass every other Sunday. And the other side is crisis ministry. Their spiritual side is sometimes af- fected by what they see and do on this job, so they need to talk. We’re often the first ones they reach out to because they trust us.”
Or, as Father Nangle, explains: “We were often the first call officers would make when they needed help and didn’t know what direction to go in.”
Some of the most effective counseling comes right there on the street, so on any given tour the chaplains will follow calls in more than half of the Department’s 23 dis- tricts. The confidentiality they offer enables the chaplains
to jump the chain of command if they think it will help a member of the flock, yet they like to fly below the radar. “I think we come off as friends more than clergy because it levels the playing field so we remain approachable,” Lew- is-Davis contends.
If officers find the chaplains in their face, it’s because they asked for them to be there. Business is good because there are more calls coming in from officers who are feel- ing the need for spiritual reinforcement, according to Fa- ther Dan.
But if you are among a group of six to eight officers re- sponding to a call, and you ask one of the chaplains on the scene if they have a second because your mother is dying from cancer or you and your wife are going through tough times, you are not alone. And remember these words from Rabbi Moshe:
“We provide a perspective that somebody within the Department might not be in a position to present,” he ad- vises. “Our motto is to keep officers mindful that they are doing God’s work and to not let the detractors take away from who they really are.”
Father Dan left and Chaplain Of cer Bob Montelongo
Rabbi Moshe olf right has been with the Chicago Police Chaplains for more than years.