What's missing?

• The department's chaplain was described as honest, fair, a listener, here when you needed him, knowledgeable about police work, and able to keep things to himself. Sound good, does it? Kind of like what you hope your officers would say about you.

Have you spotted the missing ingredient?

There are two major ingredients that had better be in every chaplaincy. One of them is a "pastoral heart" - a loving, caring genuine concern for the well being of your troops. The second is not so obvious, and it's the one missing from the list above: common sense.

Like bread baked without yeast, a chaplaincy without common sense will remain flat and is never going to rise to what it could have been.

I don't know if common sense can be taught or learned, but it had better be part of the make-up of a law enforcement chaplain. When the chaos of a crisis scene is swirling around everyone, a chaplain "with a good head on his (or her) shoulder" can be part of the solution. Without common sense, the chaplain is more likely to be part of the problem.

Common sense - sound practical judgement- keeps us grounded in reality; doing what is logical; and usually doesn't create more problems that it solves.

Someone needs to remind the distraught wife - rushing to leave the house to get to an injured husband in the hospital - to take her pocketbook, get someone to care of the sleeping infant upstairs, and lock the door - all common sense things.

Be thankful if "has common sense" is part of the description of your chaplaincy.

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