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(Items marked with a * are new or updated items)
1. Executive Director’s Reflection *
2. Thank you for providing us feedback on the second public draft of new Strategic Plan *
3. Certification interviews were completed this past weekend of April 21-22, 2012 *
4. Annual Member Campaign gifts are coming in! *
5. Are you aware of the various special networking calls? *
6. Have you accessed the new March-April 2012 Vision yet?
7. Have you considered joining NACC now?
8. Have you moved recently and not told us?
9. If you have not registered yet, please do! *
10. Today is the final day for hotel rooms being held in the name of NACC! *
11. Enjoy Reflections by Bishop Richard Sklba, Sunday Eucharist Presider *
12. Conference requests: Easter Candle and Book of the Gospels *
13. We can still use Vision writers at the 2012 Conference
14. Would you contribute items for the Silent Auction for the NACC 2012 Conference?
15. 2012 Conference Looking for Bloggers
16. Did you read the recent article by our NACC member, Karen Gorsky? *
17. Two helpful resources for offering reflections/prayers in your ministry settings *
18. Making plans to bless/honor nurses during National Nurses Week, May 6-12, 2012? *
19. Request: how are spiritual departments responding to childhood trauma? *
20. New book by Dr. Ira Byock recently released
21. 2012 NACC local/regional events *
22. The 2012 NACC audio conferences!
23. Spiritual Care Champions Series 2012-2013 Webinar Series continues! *
24. APC Webinars
25. ACPE Webinar Series
26. The New SCC 2011 Salary Survey is now available!
27. Are you planning to give any presentations on chaplaincy?
28. Order your video promoting the chaplaincy profession
29. Accessing the chaplaincy profession video on YouTube
30. Healing Tree: a request for prayers *
31. Recent job postings *
32. Advertisers, administrators, and directors! Post an ad on our job page and watch the applications roll in!
33. Positions Wanted
Yesterday’s Gospel from Luke 24 included the verse, “Then he said to them, ‘Why are you troubled? And why do questions arise in your hearts? Look at my hands and my feet, that it is I myself. Touch me and see, because a ghost does not have flesh and bones as you can see I have.’" Jesus goes on to ask, "Have you anything here to eat?" How startled and amazed they were to recognize him in flesh, bones, and food – the stuff of our life now redeemed and called to be embraced in the Light of Resurrection! In almost every context this past week, economic, political, social, and ecclesial, we experienced fractions and upheavals where we are “troubled” and “questions arise” in our hearts. Yet we still seek to minister daily faithfully daily. During this past week I was also reminded of a quote by Richard Rohr, “God comes to us disguised as our life, which seems to be the last place we want God to be. It is all too ordinary, mundane, fleshy, and unspiritual, It is just 'me' and just 'you' and just daily life. It is both the perfect hiding place and the perfect revelation place for the Holy One.” www.spiritualityandpractice.com/books/books.php?id=8239
Also last Wednesday I spent the day, on the invitation of Jim Letourneau, the Director of Mission and Spirituality for Trinity Health, leading a day of reflection on spiritual care leadership with Trinity’s Spiritual Care Council. The twenty spiritual care leaders were a wonderful group of passionate and talented women and men, dedicated to spiritual care. We reflected on our individual journeys of leadership in light of writings and research on leadership, as well as examined our leadership through the insights by Henri Nouwen on Christian leadership. Finally, we began to explore where and how spiritual care is called to “lead” in our respective settings. It was a rich exchange of both personal and professional experiences. You might find it helpful to examine your own leadership in light of Henri Nouwen’s reflection on the three temptations of Jesus. You can access a simple handout on these temptations at this link. These were taken from Nouwen’s book In the Name of Jesus: Reflections on Christian Leadership. The temptations of relevance, popularity, and power are always swirling around our hearts and minds in some way. It’s worth taking a little quiet time to access this handout and let the Spirit lead you in prayer.
In the midst of these days how are you doing? Where is the Risen One meeting you in your troubled-ness, concerns, and questioning?
A blessed Easter season to you,
David Lichter, D.Min.
Executive Director
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Thank you for providing us feedback on the second public draft of new Strategic Plan *We received nearly 200 responses to the second public draft of the new NACC Strategic Plan. The Board of Directors will review this feedback and develop Draft III on this coming Thursday, April 26, 2012. On May 21, 2012, members will comment on Draft III at the National Conference and on May 22nd the Board will review these member comments and refine the Final Draft. Thank you for your feedback!
Certification interviews were completed this past weekend of April 21-22, 2012 *The NACC is grateful to the 55 applicants, 9 Site Coordinators, 13 Interview Team Educators, 66 interviewers, and several members who provided a pastoral presence on those days, for their participation in the certification interviews that took place this past weekend, April 21st and 22nd. Applicants from across the United States were interviewed in the following cities:
Chicago, IL |
Middletown (Hartford), CT |
Milwaukee, WI |
Orange, CA |
Phoenix, AZ |
Queens, NY |
Silver Spring, MD |
St Louis, MO |
Thank you to everyone who worked so hard to ensure the professional and pastoral quality of these important services of our association.
Annual Member Campaign gifts are coming in! *Thank you for those of you who have already participated in the 2012 Member Support Campaign. We have had a wonderful response so far! This Campaign is so vital for the health of NACC, as it supports you, our members, by helping us keep our educational offerings reasonably priced and enables us to waive or reduce program fees for members in need, provide extra networking calls, offer scholarships as we can, and be extra responsive when challenging financial circumstances arise due to family job losses and other family circumstances. Please be as generous as you can. If you have not given in the past, please consider offering some support this year. Blessings on you!
Are you aware of the various special networking calls? *In the coming days we have scheduled several special conference calls for members. If you are not on the email list for these calls and want to be, please let us know by contacting Cindy Bridges (cbridges@nacc.org).
The March-April 2012 Vision is now available on the NACC website. The main theme is on collaborating with our professional colleagues and serving on interdisciplinary teams. It is a very helpful issue. Remember that you no longer need your member number to access the Vision; just go to www.nacc.org/vision! Continued thanks to Laurie Hansen-Cardona and the Editorial Advisory Panel for their excellent work!
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Have you considered joining NACC now?Are you one of the more than 1,100 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 2,500 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! If you have questions about being a member, please contact Cindy Bridges (cbridges@nacc.org). 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!
While the Early Bird Special ended last week and you missed it, please don’t miss this exceptional conference with your colleagues! Don’t miss our national plenary speakers and conference weaver, as well as quality workshops. Complete your registration today! Also, please be sure to make your hotel reservation! Rooms are filling up! The brochure is also online at www.nacc.org/conference/.
Today is the final day for hotel rooms being held in the name of NACC! *The guest room block is being held until end of day today Monday, April 23, 2012 or until rooms are sold out. For phone reservations or inquiries, call the Milwaukee Hilton City Center at (800) 445-8667 or (414) 271-7250. Room rates are $129 (plus taxes) for single/double. Please specify that you are a member of the National Association of Catholic Chaplains Conference in order to secure the room rate. Click here or go to www.hilton.com/en/hi/groups/personalized/M/MKEMHHF-NACC-20120517/index.jhtml?WT.mc_id=POG.
Enjoy Reflections by Bishop Richard Sklba, Sunday Eucharist Presider *Bishop Richard J. Sklba, Auxiliary Emeritus Bishop of the Archdiocese of Milwaukee, will be presiding at our Conference’s Sunday Eucharist, May 20, 2012. Please enjoy his article in the recent edition of the Archdiocese of Milwaukee’s Catholic Herald.
www.chnonline.org/herald-of-hope/bishop-richard-j-sklba/11176-walking-sort-of-to-santiago-de-compostela.html
The NACC 2012 Conference Planning Task Force is in need of a Book of the Gospels and an Easter Candle for use during the Conference Eucharists. If any member within driving distance of the Conference can secure either of these items and bring them to the Conference, please contact Susanne at schaw@nacc.org. Thank you!
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We can still use Vision writers at the 2012 Conference *We have a few volunteers who are attending the 2012 Conference and are interested in writing articles about the 2012 Conference for the July-August 2012 Vision. We can still use a few more. If you would like to consider this opportunity and service to our members, or want to ask more questions about what this might entail, please contact Laurie Hansen Cardona at vision@nacc.org. Article deadlines for these articles will be June 8, 2012.
Would you contribute items for the Silent Auction for the NACC 2012 Conference?We invite members to bring to the 2012 Conference handmade or other types of items, including items from your institution, for our silent auction to be held at the conference. Share your talents and gifts to benefit other members! Proceeds will go towards conference scholarships. If you are interested in contributing an item, please contact Susanne Chawszczewski at schaw@nacc.org.
2012 Conference Looking for BloggersThe NACC is planning to set up a blog for the 2012 Conference in Milwaukee. We are looking for experienced bloggers who are NACC members and are planning to attend this year’s conference. If you are interested in helping to blog live from the conference, please contact Susanne Chawszczewski at schaw@nacc.org.
Our NACC member, Karen Gorsky, MA, BCC, Pastoral Care Coordinator/Chaplain at Henry Ford Wyandotte, MI, wrote a beautiful reflection, entitled, “Making a difference. Do you remember me?” published this past week in Plainviews, 4/18/12, Vol. 9, No. 6. If you subscribe to Plainviews, you can access at. http://plainviews.healthcarechaplaincy.org/Issue6/Making-a-Difference-Do-You-Remember-Me.aspx.
Two helpful resources for offering reflections/prayers in your ministry settings *In case you are not aware of these two resources, they come highly recommended by other members who utilize them. Healing with Heart: Inspirations for Health Care Professionals, Martin Helldorfer, D.Min. and Terri Moss, Moss Communication, 2007, and To Bless the Space between Us: a Book of Blessings, John O’Donohue, Double Day: New York, 2008. If you have other suggestions, please let us know so we can share them with members. Send to Cindy Bridges (cbridges@nacc.org).
Making plans to bless/honor nurses during National Nurses Week, May 6-12, 2012? *May 6-12, 2012 is both National Hospital Week and National Nurses Week. We have learned that several of our members are planning blessings of hands ceremonies and other events to recognize their nurses during that week. Do you have plans? National Nurses Week is an annual celebration. This week begins with May 6th, National Nurses Day, and ends with the 12th, Florence Nightingale’s birthday.
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Request: how are spiritual departments responding to childhood trauma? *Amie Schumacher, a chaplain in a Catholic hospital, would like to discover what services other spiritual/pastoral care departments are providing with regard to the experience of trauma, specifically the experience of childhood traumas, and how these can impact spiritual development, relationship with God, and image of God. She would like to develop more services, particularly within the behavioral mental health and rehabilitation departments. She would appreciate any ideas or guidance on this issue. She can be reached at schumacheramie@centracare.com. Thank you!
New book by Dr. Ira Byock recently releasedThe Best Care Possible: A Physician’s Quest to Transform Care through the End of Life by Ira Byock, MD, has recently been released. As we approach the 5th Annual National Healthcare Decisions Day, Dr. Byock’s book is a convincing and a passionate appeal made with story after story for more listening, more individualized care through family dialogues, and more advance directives to lessen the needless suffering and wasteful expenses around end-of-life care. It’s a great book for our profession. Read more and order through www.irabyock.org/reviews.htm.
2012 NACC local/regional events *We continue to add 2012 local events to the calendar. Scheduled so far are the following. Mark your calendars today!
Please see below our program for 2012. As an added benefit this year, we will be continuing the audio conferences focusing on theological topics, but have added a four-part series on Spiritual Care Leadership. Mark your calendars for the following dates.
For more information on the audio conferences and to download the registration form, click here.
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Spiritual Care Champions Series 2012-2013 Webinar Series continues! *On Wednesday, May 9th, the second of the 2012-2013 Spiritual Care Champions Series will be offered by Catholic Health Initiatives’ Alan Bowman, VP, Ministry Formation, and Rose Shandrow, System Director, Mission Operations and Spiritual Care, Franciscan Health System, Tacoma, WA. For more information go to www.che.org/mission/index.php?id=46.
APC webinarsPlease 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
Look for ACPE offerings by going to: acpe.edu/ACPEAcademy.htm
The New SCC 2011 Salary Survey is now available!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
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.
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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: Elizabeth A. Walsh (treatment of bone marrow cancer), Marybeth Harmon (breast cancer surgery), Joe Floryance, husband of Melissa Casanta-Floryance (cancer), Francesco Marshall, Glenn and Pat Teske (recuperation from injuries suffered in car accident), Anna Maria Marabella (Surgery), 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 postings *The following positions have been posted recently on our Positions Available page. Please go to www.nacc.org/positions/available.aspx for more information.
MAYO CLINIC CPE
Rochester, MN - Mayo Clinic
CHAPLAIN
Merced, CA - Mercy Medical Center
RESIDENCY
La Crosse, WI - Gundersen Lutheran Health System
DIRECTOR of SPIRITUAL CARE SERVICES
Baraboo, WI - St. Clare Hospital
DIRECTOR, CENTER FOR SPIRITUAL CARE
Fresno, CA - Saint Agnes Medical Center
ASSOCIATE CHAPLAIN/PRN
Pensacola, FL - Sacred Heart Hospital
CATHOLIC PRIEST
Gilbert, AZ - Mercy Gilbert Medical Center
CHAPLAIN II
La Grange Park, IL - Resurrection Health Care
Get your ad posted on a page that sees hundreds of visitors each week. A 100-word ad costs only $225 to run for two full months on our Positions Available page and is also included in two successive issues of NACC Now. For more information and a complete table of ad rates go to www.nacc.org/positions/adinfo.asp.
Positions wantedIn 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.