Fayette County Marshal C.L. (Butch) Hall has appointed the Rev. Mr. Thomas Zaworski as departmental chaplain.

Chaplain Zaworski is no stranger to law enforcement and is certified as a police chaplain under the provisions of the Peace Officers Standard Training in Georgia. He was a member of the very first class of ministers so certified.

Since achieving his certification, he has attended numerous training classes in various police academies. He also returned to the college classroom to take a number of criminal justice classes in the early 1980s.

Tom, as he prefers to be called, has served as chaplain in three other law enforcement agencies—Clayton County and Fayette County Sheriff Departments and the Atlanta Police Department. He has many interesting stories about his involvement as a chaplain in domestic violence and crisis intervention, especially in the City of Atlanta.

The most difficult assignments, he says, have been death and injury notification to families of police officers. And the saddest chaplain's duty is conducting a funeral for a public safety officer.

Zaworski says he first became interested in police ministry when his eldest son became a police officer in Fulton County and experienced many entry-level stresses that new officers must face and old officers try to forget.

Zaworski is presently semi-retired and a pastoral assistant at St. Gabriel's Catholic Church in Fayetteville. Well known in ecumenical circles with ministers of all faiths, he is active in community affairs.

He resides in Fayetteville with his wife, Helen, who is a retired registered nurse.

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