Vision | NACC Now | Member Login | Giving | Contact Us | Site Map | Search
Click here to return to the main NACC Now page.
(Items marked with a * are new or updated items)
1. Executive Director’s Reflection *
2. Have you accessed the November-December Vision on NACC website? *
3. Certification Interviewers Needed Spring 2012
4. Welcome to all who joined NACC in October! *
5. Death of a former NACC Board Member *
6. Death of a former NACC member *
7. Would you like to join the palliative care/hospice call? *
8. You can now order 2012 World Day of the Sick prayer cards!
9. Are you a non-member receiving NACC Now?
10. Have you moved recently and not told us?
11. Conference Planning Group Comes to Milwaukee *
12. NACC announces 2012 National Conference Plenary Speakers
13. Plan to attend the NACC 2012 National Conference
14. Request: where is your palliative care chaplain? *
15. Position for the USCCB Sub-Committee for Certification Posted
16. Did you send us yet what you did for Pastoral Care Week 2011? *
17. DIA Learning Ethics Education *
18. Information about Celiac Disease
19. 2011 NACC audio conferences!
20. Places/dates/details for fall NACC local/regional events *
21. The New SCC 2011 Salary Survey is now available!
22. Spiritual Care Champions Webinar Series
23. ACPE Webinar Series
24. APC webinars
25. HealthCare Chaplaincy Webinars *
26. Are you planning to give any presentations on chaplaincy?
27. Order your video promoting the chaplaincy profession
28. Accessing the chaplaincy profession video on YouTube
29. Healing Tree: a request for prayers *
30. Recent job postings *
31. Positions wanted
It was first grade when I learned in the first lesson of the Baltimore Catechism the answer to the question of “Why did God make you?” “God made me to know Him, to love Him, and to serve Him in this world, and to be happy with Him forever in heaven.” This still rings true, doesn’t it? The mantra-like memorization and recitation of that answer left an indelible mark. Why am I here? What does it mean to be alive, to spend this day, to relate daily to the loves of my life? What about my end time, afterlife, “to be happy with” God forever in heaven? I don’t spend every moment thinking about these questions in the humdrum of daily life, but daily prayer moments keep them before me.
However, for most of us, November itself doesn’t let us forget these questions. The “Why did God make me?” question comes at us indirectly through November’s nudges. They come at us in so many ways. We can’t miss them, can we? From November 1st All Saints, to the parish’s Book of Dead/Living, to the end of liturgical year readings, to time and weather changes, to the lessening of daylight and lengthening of darkness, we can’t ignore them.
As November began, I was also reminded of these questions by two deaths. I learned of the death of Fr. Ray Wawiorka, a priest of the Archdiocese of Milwaukee as well as an early NACC member who was part of the NACC Executive Committee in the formative years of the 70’s. I remember meeting Ray more than once, and was struck by his warm, pastoral style. His end time came peacefully after a lengthy illness at 81 years of age. The other death was sudden to a dear friend of NACC and colleague, Paul Marceau. I got to know Paul as he served on the NACC Board of Directors from 2005-2010. What a beautiful man, rich human being, person of deep faith, compassionate, who lovingly mixed humor and humility! I always felt called to be more in his presence. He abruptly died at the young age of 68, after only recently retiring from his Vice President of Mission and Spirituality position at Trinity Health, and while he was fully immersed in a retirement filled with volunteering, from hospice to literacy council, to Iraqi student project, to Catholic Worker Amnesty, to numerous healthcare related initiatives. He suddenly was taken from us.
Yesterday’s “thief in the night” from I Thessalonians 5 and Matthew 25’s gospel on the talents used or buried, both refer to the darkness. Saint Paul (to distinguish from Paul Marceau) reminds his readers that they are “not in darkness” as children of the light, thus the thief of the night will not overtake them. In Matthew, being thrown into the darkness is a consequence of a wasted life by the useless servant. So, I am grateful for the beauty of the children of light, Ray and Paul, and their well-spent lives in service. Their lives embodied the answer to “Why did God make me?” They remind me to live today in the light, in gratitude for the gift of the day and my gifts for this day, until my “end time,” the sacred suddenness, visits me.
May November’s nudges lead you often to live the answer to “Why did God make you?” Thanksgiving Day will be celebrated before the next NACC Now. By the time Thanksgiving Day comes, may each of you be blessed with a profound gratitude for and awe of being alive, for our gifts, for the experience of spending our lives in service, for the gift of those who are our children of light who keep us from fearing the darkness.
The NACC staff and I wish all of you a blessed day of gratitude for the gift of your lives and ministry.
David Lichter, D.Min.
Executive Director
Have you accessed the November-December Vision on NACC website?
The November-December issue of Vision is dedicated to long-term care. Remember that you can now access it on the NACC website without a password! Go to www.nacc.org/vision/. Continued thanks to Laurie Hansen-Cardona and the Editorial Advisory Panel for their excellent work!
Certification Interviewers Needed Spring 2012We are excited about the number of applications received for spring 2012 Certification Interviews! Interviews will be held April 21 and 22, 2012. Current locations for the interviews include: Milwaukee, Wisconsin; Silver Spring, Maryland; St. Louis, Missouri; and Orange, California. Because we have over 55 applicants, we may be expanding and adding some additional sites. If you are interested in serving, please reserve the dates (April 21-22, 2012) and please email Susanne Chawszczewski, Ph.D. at schaw@nacc.org of your interest in helping. Thank you!
Welcome to all who joined NACC in October! *Full MembersCarroll, Joy E. |
Student MembersBabbish, Elaine M. |
Associate MembersLeenerts, Ted B. |
Paul Marceau, 68, who had served as a public member on the NACC Board of Directors 2005-2010, died on November 6, 2011. Paul was a passionate supporter of chaplaincy, and an advocate for spiritual care. Before his retirement in January 2009 from Trinity Health, Novi, MI, Paul served as Vice President of Mission Services and Spirituality. His NACC friends miss him dearly, as he enjoys fully God’s eternal love and life. www.legacy.com/obituaries/southbendtribune/obituary.aspx?n=paul-marceau&pid=154544715
Death of a former NACC member *Former NACC member Father Raymond W. Wawiorka, 81, died on October 28, 2011. Fr. Ray served on the NACC Executive Committee in the formative years of the late 70’s. May he rest in God’s Peace. www.piasecki-althaus.com/obituary/view/2085
Would you like to join the palliative care/hospice call? *The NACC will host its monthly 60-minute conference/network call for NACC Palliative/Hospice Care Chaplains this coming Thursday, November 17, 2011 at 11:00 a.m. Central time. If you are not on the email list and you would like to participate in the conference call, please contact Cindy Bridges at cbridges@nacc.org.
You can now order 2012 World Day of the Sick prayer cards! *To better serve those interested in our NACC 2012 World Day of the Sick cards, we are asking for orders by November 30, 2011, so we have a better count. Please do not send your payment with the order as you will be invoiced when the prayer cards are sent. You can go to www.nacc.org/resources/wds/ for the order form or to preview the cards (click on the images to enlarge). For questions, please contact Cindy Bridges (cbridges@nacc.org).
Are you a non-member receiving NACC Now?Are you one of the more than 1,000 non-members who has subscribed to NACC Now? We are delighted you find this a valuable tool to advance the ministry of spiritual care and chaplaincy. Have you considered becoming an NACC Member? Join the more than 2500 members who advance the ministry of spiritual care, and support one another’s ministry! Receive additional members’ benefits! Visit the NACC website for more membership information. Join today! www.nacc.org/membership/categories.asp
Have you moved recently and not told us?When you have moved personal residences or places of employment, or have a new e-mail address or phone number, please don’t forget to contact Mary Pawicz (mpawicz@nacc.org), our membership support staff person at the NACC office, to let her know! Please note that a valid, working email address and a current phone number are very important. For reasons of convenience and cost these are the most likely methods we will use to contact you. We don’t want you to miss our communications to you!
Our NACC National Conference Planning Task Force will meet in Milwaukee on November 19 and 20. Please keep them in your prayers as they work on finalizing many of the plans for our 2012 National Conference “Reconciling Journey: A Time to Mourn, A Time to Dance.” They are looking forward to seeing you in Milwaukee in May!
NACC announces 2012 National Conference Plenary SpeakersThe 2012 National Conference Planning Task Force is pleased to announce our speakers for the 2012 National Conference in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, May 19-22, 2012. The task force has worked very hard to bring national speakers to our conversation about our theme: Reconciling Journey: A Time to Mourn, a Time to Dance. Dates and times will be forthcoming!
C. Vanessa White, D.Min.
Assistant Professor of Spirituality
Director of the Augustus Tolton Pastoral Ministry Program
Catholic Theological Union
Jean deBlois, CSJ, Ph.D.
Professor of Systematic Theology
Director of the Master of Arts in Health Care Mission Program
Aquinas Institute of Theology
Most Rev. Blase J. Cupich, S.T.D.
Bishop of Spokane, Washington
John Dear, SJ, M.Div.
Priest, pastor, peacemaker, organizer, retreat leader, author/editor
Click here for more information, including speaker bios.
Please remember and mark your calendar with the dates of our NACC 2012 National Conference in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, May 19-22, 2012. The theme for the conference will be Reconciling Journey: A Time to Mourn, A Time to Dance. Go to www.nacc.org/conference for critical conference questions.
LuAnn Young, BCC, a Director of Pastoral Care within Sacred Heart Health System, seeks to learn of any Catholic hospital that has a chaplain dedicated specifically to Palliative Care and who isn't part of the Pastoral Care department. Most seem to staff a Palliative Care department with Pastoral Care department staff. Does anyone use such a Palliative Care Team model with its own dedicated chaplain not from the Pastoral Care department staff? If you have or know of such a model, can you please contact LuAnn at Luann.Young@shhpens.org.
Position for the USCCB Sub-Committee for Certification PostedIn past NACC Now’s, we have alerted members to the creation of a new Subcommittee on Certification for Ecclesial Ministry and Service within the USCCB Secretariat of Catholic Education that will oversee the approval of professional standards for certification, such as NACC’s standards. The USCCB has posted the position, Assistant Director for Certification of Ecclesial Ministry and Service, that will staff that sub-committee. If interested, please go to: www.usccb.org/about/employment/
Did you send us yet what you did for Pastoral Care Week 2011? *We received a couple items from members regarding what they did during last month’s year’s Pastoral Care Week. We plan to create a special place on our NACC Website to share practices, documents, videos, etc., with one another. Please share yours by sending them to Cindy Bridges (cbridges@nacc.org).
DIA Learning Ethics Education *DIA Learning is pleased to announce that its five on-line Ethics Education courses are available to help you attain your CEH requirements. Each course is divided into 15 chapters, is worth 15 CEH’s and can be completed on-line at your own pace. You can register for any of the courses at nacc.dialearning.com. SPECIAL PRICING will be in effect until the end of the year. Buy 2 courses at $75 apiece and save $45 each. We also have a course titled “Grieving in the NICU, Supporting Families and the Health Team when a Baby Dies.” This course is worth three CEH’s and is available at www.grievingforbabies.org. There are also two DVD’s available on this website: Mending Broken Hearts When a Baby Dies and Supporting Family and the Health Team When a Baby Dies. Purchasing and viewing either DVD is also worth three CEH’s. The course and DVDs focus on coping with grief issues faced by families and caregivers in the neonatal intensive care unit. Chaplains feature prominently throughout each. For additional information please contact them at info@dialearning.com.
Information about Celiac DiseaseRecently, the NACC received a communication from someone regarding their experiences as a patient with celiac disease in two hospitals. They shared their frustration at the lack of knowledge they found from the chaplain and Eucharistic minister regarding celiac disease and their inability to receive a low-gluten host in either situation. They asked that the NACC help to share some information about celiac disease with the hope that the availability of low-gluten hosts would be explored/expanded in the healthcare settings. Please find below links to some information about celiac disease.
Catholic Celiac Society - www.catholicceliacs.org
Diocese of Saint Augustine Special Needs in the Reception of Holy Communion –
www.dosafl.com/imagegallery/VertNav/228/SpecialNeedsRecpetionHolyCommunion2010.pdf
Low Gluten Altar Breads – Benedictine Sisters of the Perpetual Adoration – www.benedictinesisters.org
These are the final 2011 NACC audio conferences. They are on Thursdays at noon (Central Time). Here are the presenter and topic.
• December 1 & 8, 2011: Mary Ann Getty, Ph.D., on the Passion of Paul: Suffering, Limitations, and the Development of His Theology of the Cross. Click for details.
We have the following events scheduled for 2011/2012. Mark your calendars today!
We are pleased to announce that the new SCC 2011 Salary Survey is now available. We are grateful to have partnered with the Association of Professional Chaplains (APC) to conduct this survey. We thank all our members who participated in the survey. This survey report is copyrighted material. Members of APC and NACC have access to this salary survey as a member benefit. Members are asked not to duplicate this survey for others. Non-members can consult the website of the Spiritual Care Collaborative, www.spiritualcarecollaborative.org to purchase a copy for a nominal fee. You can access this survey through the membership portal.
SCC 2011 Salary Survey for NACC members: www.nacc.org/resources/salarysurveyintro.asp
SCC 2011 Salary Survey for nonmembers: www.spiritualcarecollaborative.org/salary_survey.asp
Please consider the webinar offerings of the Spiritual Care Champions Series offered on Wednesdays. Go to www.che.org/mission/index.php?id=46.
The following ACPE webinar will be offered on Thursdays at 1:00 p.m. Eastern time:
More info: www.acpeacademy.com/2010-webinars/
APC webinars *Please note that APC has graciously extended a special discount on APC Professional Chaplaincy Webinars to members of their Organizational Partner associations, AAPC, ACCA, ACPE, CASC, NACC, NAJC and NAVAC.
Our NACC members are invited to use a special promotion code that a member can access by going to this Member Only page on the NACC website:
www.nacc.org/resources/apc_webinars.asp
There you can also link to APC Store where you can use the code to register for live or recorded webinars. The code, when entered on the payment screen during final checkout, will deduct $20 from your webinar order. APC requests that we not share this code beyond our membership.
More info on these and other offerings: APC webinars
HealthCare Chaplaincy WebinarsMore info: plainviews.healthcarechaplaincy.org/content/Conferences.aspx
We continue to encourage members to promote the chaplaincy profession. Please remember that the NACC office staff want to make sure you have resources to share. If you are planning to do a presentation, please contact Cindy Bridges (cbridges@nacc.org) so that she can send you brochures. Also we remind you that you can access on our NACC website the Chaplaincy Ministry video (or order one – see below) as well as two PowerPoint slideshows to use as a basis for the presentation at www.nacc.org/advancing/promo.asp.
Order your video promoting the chaplaincy professionOur video on Chaplaincy, both a recruitment version (that begins and ends with “Is God Calling You?”), and a version without this question, is available in DVD format. The charge is just $6.00, the cost of production and shipping. You may preview the video at this link. To order copies please email Cindy Bridges for instructions.
Accessing the chaplaincy profession video on YouTubeDo you know that you can also access the Chaplaincy video on YouTube? Since YouTube now allows more than 10 minute clips, we have been able to have YouTube host our video. You can access the video at www.nacc.org/advancing/promo.asp and visit the NACC’s YouTube channel (click “subscribe” to receive notifications when we add new content to our channel): www.youtube.com/user/CatholicChaplains.
Healing Tree: a request for prayers *Please let us know if you would like our membership to pray for your health and healing. Also please let us know when you want us to remove your name from our Healing Tree.
We continue to pray for: Tom Landry (at the death of his father, Thomas), Nancy Flaig, Glenn and Pat Teske (recuperation from injuries suffered in car accident), Bonnie Burnett (recuperation from surgery), Anna Maria Marabella (Surgery), Marian Louwagie (Cancer), Susan Murphy (recovering from hospital stay), Sr. Margaret Dougherty, DC (cancer), Fr. Jim Radde, SJ (cancer), Sr. Mary Clare Boland, SP, Sr. Phyllis Ann DiRenzo (treatment for breast cancer), Kathy Brier (hospitalization-daughter of NACC member Theresa Brier), Ginny Conron (POP surgery), Marcella Keefe-Slager (lung cancer and treatment), Gloria Troxler (preventive chemotherapy after ovarian surgery), Fr. Kevin Ikpah (eye troubles), Lourdes B. Ruta (wife of Peter Ruta, in recovery), and Kelly Elizabeth Sexton (cancer: daughter of NACC member Melyssa Sexton).
Recent job postingsThe following positions have been posted in the last two weeks. Please go to www.nacc.org/positions/available.asp for more information.
MANAGER of PASTORAL CARE
Joliet, IL - Provena Health
MANAGER, CHAPLAINCY SERVICES
Froedtert Hospital, Milwaukee, WI
SPIRITUAL CARE DIRECTOR
Portage, WI - Divine Savior Healthcare
In this time of change and uncertainty it is more important than ever to use every resource available. If you have lost your job recently, if you’re just seeking a new or better position, or if you are an employer seeking a chaplain for your organization, be sure to visit our Positions Wanted webpage. NACC members can take advantage of this free service by placing a job-seeking ad, for free, which will run for 60 days. To see the ads, visit www.nacc.org/positions/wanted.asp.
To place your own ad, send an email to Phil Paradowski: pparadowski@nacc.org.