Reverend Monsignor Salvatore A. Criscuolo Pastor and Chaplain

Published: Nov. 22, 2018, 3:21 p.m.

b'Monsignor Salvatore Criscuolo, St. Patrick\'s Catholic Church Pastor and DC First Responders\' Chaplain, on his experience at the historic church in Washington DC ~\\n\\n"It\'s been an amazing experience and to this day, I have been there since 2004. I will work around in the church every so often by myself and I look around and I look after the heavens, and I say to the good Lord I still can\'t believe you put me in charge of this. So he has a great sense of humor. "\\n\\nReverend Monsignor A. Salvatore Criscuolo and host Andy Ockershausen in studio interview\\n\\nAndy Ockershausen:\\tThis is Andy Ockershausen. This is Our Town and this is our first opportunity to talk to this gentleman on the air, and I\'m so delighted, because the Reverend Monsignor Salvatore is\\ntoday with us and he is the head man, I say the head man, the head priest from St. Patrick\'s. I think St. Patrick\'s could be the oldest Catholic church, is that correct?\\nSt. Patrick\'s Church - Washington DC\\nMonsignor Salvatore Criscuolo:\\tIt is, Andy. It is the first church established in the federal city, goes back to 1794.\\nAndy Ockershausen:\\tIt\'s just an incredible history of St. Pat\'s.\\nMonsignor Salvatore Criscuolo:\\tIt is.\\nAndy Ockershausen:\\tIt was a celebrity church too, for awhile. A lot of people got married there, but I guess they moved to new parishes and so forth, but I\'ve known St. Pat\'s ... I\'m from Northeast Washington. My grandfather was here, he was a baker. I never knew him, but someplace at 5th and G, and I think his parish might have been St. Patrick.\\nMonsignor Salvatore Criscuolo:\\t5th and G, it probably would have.\\nAndy Ockershausen:\\tThat\'s close, isn\'t it?\\nMonsignor Salvatore Criscuolo:\\tVery, very close.\\nAndy Ockershausen:\\tThere wasn\'t a lot downtown in those days, and there wasn\'t much to downtown. But Sal, we\'re so delighted to have you and to talk to you. In addition to your work with the clergy. You are the chaplain for the police and fire departments of the greatest city in the world, Our Town, Washington, DC.\\nMonsignor Salvatore Criscuolo - Chaplain to DC\'s First Responders\\nMonsignor Salvatore Criscuolo:\\tI am. I\'ve been very blessed for the last 32 years to serve the First Responders in the District of Columbia, as well as some of the federal agencies that are here.\\nAndy Ockershausen:\\tDo you do work, any county work? Do you help out if they need you?\\nMonsignor Salvatore Criscuolo:\\tI don\'t do anything in the county. There\'s enough going on in Our Town. But I work with Metropolitan Police, is when I first came on, back in 1986 as their chaplain and then it\'s expanded over the years where I work with Capital Police, the Park Police, Secret Service, do some work with ATF, Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms.\\nAndy Ockershausen:\\tYou\'ve got a lot of people depending on you in bad times. Because that\'s when they call for you mostly, in bad times, correct?\\nMonsignor Salvatore Criscuolo:\\tWell, thank God, they don\'t only call in bad times. They call-\\nAndy Ockershausen:\\tI know that. You\'re an entertainer, I know that. \\nMonsignor Salvatore Criscuolo:\\t... when there\'s graduations and when there are promotions. They also call when they want to get married, they call when they want to have their children baptized. So it\'s a parish, it\'s just it\'s a unique parish.\\nAndy Ockershausen:\\tThe whole departments are your parish.\\nMonsignor Salvatore Criscuolo:\\tRight, right.\\nAndy Ockershausen:\\tAnd the same thing with the Fire and Rescue people?\\nOrdained in 1978 and Assigned to Our Lady of Sorrows, Takoma Park, MD\\nMonsignor Salvatore Criscuolo:\\tCorrect, yeah. So it\'s an amazing ministry that when I was ordained back in 1978, never thought that I would be doing this kind of ministry. In my first assignment in Takoma Park, the volunteer fire department in Takoma asked me if I would come and be a chaplain to their fire department.\\nAndy Ockershausen:\\tDid you have a parish out there?\\nMonsignor Salvatore Criscuolo:\\tI did. I was brand-new,'