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and Public Life. Their document On the Way to Life , remains the definitive
examination of the Church in relation to culture, and therefore becomes the basis of
an analysis of post-modernism and its influence upon policing philosophy within this

work. Here it will be proposed that a subjective emphasis within post-modernism
contributes to a performance culture that (within the policing context) places the

individual and the organisational perspectives in tension. At the same the delineation
between the religious and secular spheres creates within spirituality a concentration

on interiority that is increasingly secular in character. These themes, it will be
suggested, provide a significant challenge to the Church as it approaches ministry
within the specific policing context.

In responding to this challenge we shall reflect upon how the Church opens itself to a

transformative cultural exchange (CES 2005:29), through which it also comes to
terms with its own interior relationships, and a paradigm shift in its theology as the
laity emerge (within the terms suggested by the Holy Father) as the principle agents

of its encounter with the world (AA §7, LG §31). As the whole ‘people of God’ (LG §9)
come to share in the ‘common priesthood’ of Christ, and the Church’s mission of

evangelisation through their baptism (LG §10, AG §5), we shall outline how ministry
both alters and expands. In exploring these new perspectives of ministry we shall

determine their implications for approaches to pastoral care within the context of the
police service.

In addressing the arrangements for pastoral ministry within the police service we
acknowledge an appreciation of the research conducted by the Reverend Richard

3
Armitage with regard to police chaplaincy arrangements . This thesis will build upon
this work by continuing to explore the motifs of ministry that are present within the

police service, however the focus of this research is distinct in that its emphasis is
essentially theological, and established at a level of local praxis. The research will

utilise the following methodology:

a) The Police Ministry / Chaplaincy Questionnaire 2010

2
Full title: On the Way to Life: Contemporary Culture and Theological Development as a Framework for Catholic
Education, Catechesis and Formation (CES:2005).
3 Armitage: Police Chaplaincy - Servant to the Service (1996) & Issues of Religious Diversity Affecting Visible
Ethnic Police Personnel in the Workplace (2000).