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regarding ministry have not been properly established. However the research does

suggest that the service could do more to identify and engage its own faith
resources. Indeed those serving within the constabulary who possess ministry skills

or experience have not yet been afforded the opportunity to use them for the good of
the service. It could be argued that the police service has no actual need to identify

and use such resources as they may contribute little toward its organisational goals.
However this would pre-empt the question as to why there is police chaplaincy at all?

As a result chaplains lack a clear and effective organisational mandate, and therefore
struggle to articulate themselves to those they serve. The interviews with chaplains
do suggest that to a certain degree the service utilises chaplaincy for no other reason

than it has been offered freely by the churches. In this regard the service perhaps
needs to more clearly determine what it wants from faith ministry.

From a Catholic perspective the Church at an institutional level has largely failed to
recognise the opportunities for both mission and ministry that exist within the police

service. At both a national and local level the engagement of the Church with the
policing context is defined largely by its absence. The Church is free to conclude that

a specific ministry to the police service is unnecessary but this of course would
appear at odds with its own teachings that seek the evangelisation of secular

professions (CL §23), and a mission directed to sanctifying the ‘temporal sphere’ (AA
§5). The Church has also failed to identify the resources for ministry it has at its
disposal, and enterprises such as the CPA and the CPG could be evaluated in this

regard, and likewise individuals within the service who possess (or at least have
potential to do so) ministry skills. Once identified these ministry resources should be

properly prepared and validated 64 within a Catholic model for ministry.

The final principle for a Catholic method for ministry is that it should encompass an

evangelical, ecumenical, and inter-faith outlook. We have seen how police chaplains
adopt a ‘faithless’ approach in order to safeguard against any attempt to proselytise

others. While this method is understandable it may well be misguided within such an

64 The Catholic Bishops’ Conference makes the point that lay ministers should be properly mandated by the
Bishop to carry out their work (1996:13).