Governor George Busbee this July announced the appointment of Msgr. R. Donald Kiernan, founder of the state’s police chaplain’s program, as special advisory assistant to the director of the newly created Criminal Justice Coordinating Council (CJCC).

Msgr. Kiernan, pastor of Immaculate Heart of Mary Church on Briarcliff Road in Atlanta, is a past member of the State Crime Commission (SCC), which the General Assembly abolished during the last session and replaced with the CJCC.

He was first introduced to the law enforcement profession in March 1961 while stationed at a church in Gainesville. He has since served as chaplain of the Georgia Association of Chiefs of Police since 1963 as well as associate chaplain of the International Association of Chiefs of Police from 1964-1968. For the last 16 years, he has served as chaplain for the State Patrol and is currently a chaplain for the DeKalb County Police Department at well.

Msgr. Kiernan was also instrumental in the passage of a bill in the 1980 session of the General Assembly creating a police chaplain’s program to train and certify chaplains in law enforcement-related activities if they so chose. At the time, the program was the only one of its kind in the country, providing a unique ministry for law officers throughout the state.