Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office chaplaincy continues to expand

CB Hanif, a former editorial board member of the Palm Beach Post, has become the first Muslim chaplain for the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office. American born and raised, Imam Hanif brings considerable interfaith experience to the job.

He is joined by Rabbi Gerald Weiss, who serves Beth Ami Congregation in Boca Raton and Rabbi Randall Konigsberg from Temple Emeth in Delray. Both become the first conservative rabbis to join the chaplaincy. Konigsberg also received Critical Incident Training while in New York.

Joining them are Pastor Michael Rose of the Royal Palm Covenant Church in Royal Palm Beach; Fr. Michael Parotta of St. Vincent’s Roman Catholic Church in Delray, Fr. Joseph Papers of Sacred Heart Roman Catholic Church in Lake Worth, and Leslie Smith of First Baptist Church/ West Palm Beach.

Pastor Rose has a long record of service to the Royal Palm Beach Police Department and now PBSO. He was a key participant in beginning participation in the Drowning Coalition after a youngster in RPB drowned in a swimming pool.

Fr. Parotta, a native of Queens, NY, comes from the Diocese of Fargo, ND, and is now permanently attached to the Diocese of Palm Beach. He brings a straight-talk, no-nonsense New York style to his ministry and in his own words, “likes to work the streets.”

Leslie Smith is a Biblical Counselor at First Baptist with an MSW. She has 10 years of intensive Biblical studies and is pursuing a higher degree in theology. She becomes a footnote in history in that in order to satisfy the requirement that chaplains be ordained, First Baptist ordained her specifically so that she could serve as a chaplain for PBSO.

Fr. Papes, an avid diver who recently took a day off to partake in the mini-lobster season, is a “home town boy made good” story. He was born and raised in Lake Worth. He serves a parish that encompasses the block on which he was raised. Fr. Papes has several deputies in his congregation and has helped out at District 14 before he ever became a chaplain.

The chaplaincy is looking for additional women, additional Creole speaking chaplains, and a priest representing Eastern Orthodoxy.

For additional information contact William Gralnick at 681-4523.