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1. Executive Director’s Reflection
2. NACC Board Names New Board Officers for 2009
3. NACC Board Approves New Members to the NACC Certification Commission
4. Pastoral Care makes news during Pastoral Care Week
5. Prayer Cards for World Day of the Sick, February 11, 2009
6. In case you missed it, check out the NACC Website work!
7. Resources for NACC State Liaisons
8. December 4-5, 2008 San Antonio, Texas NACC Gathering
9. Come to Nazareth (Kentucky) on November 15, 2008!
10. Don’t forget to register for the Summit 2009!
11. Please note the many local gatherings in October, November, and December!
12. Healing Tree: a request for prayers
13. Recent job postings

After my prior reflection on the influence of the financial crisis on our ability to be a listening presence in ministry, I received some good comments and feedback. One chaplain copied my reflections and sent them to staff in his hospital. Please share any further reflections you might have on the impact of the financial crisis on your ministry.

I have been blessed in the past couple weeks to have been with large groups of spiritual care providers in a couple settings: with mission and pastoral care leaders and chaplains with Provena Health in Frankfort, Illinois, and with spiritual care leaders of all faiths at Calvary Hospital in Bronx, New York. You are remarkable men and women to deeply care for your patients and clients and their families. Your dedication and commitment to the healing ministry are inspirational. I want to make two observations and a plea, based on my ongoing meetings with chaplain groups this fall. They are:

Observation One: You are concerned about the future of Catholic Chaplaincy ministry. Where will we find the next generation of chaplains to follow us? Future chaplains will come to the ministry after fulfilling careers in other professional fields. Over the past three years, the average age of chaplains who were certified was 57!

Observation Two: Some chaplains I have met are uncertain as to whether they can encourage someone to consider chaplaincy for a career. These chaplains cite the financial constraints in healthcare that can result in decreases in spiritual care staffs and unlikely raises in compensation, and more time now spent in non-bedside activities that keep them from being with patients. As one chaplain put it, “This is not why I got into this ministry.”

My Plea: You are the face and hands of chaplaincy; and you are the key to the future of chaplaincy as you live your ministry today! Why you remain a chaplain, not why you got into chaplaincy, is what will interest others to consider chaplaincy in the future. Please share your story with others! Last week I was copied on an e-mail a chaplain sent to a hospital staff member who was thinking about becoming a chaplain. He was willing to meet with her, and share his story. Will you?

We now have on the front page of our NACC website a “Consider Chaplaincy” button that leads you to a variety of materials for sharing about the ministry. Please direct people you know to that site. Share your ministry! It’s the gateway to the future of chaplaincy!

What do you think? I would enjoy hearing from you at dlichter@nacc.org.

During their October 9-10, 2008 Board meeting, the Board appointed the following Board members to the Board officer positions and the Executive Committee effective January 1, 2009: Sr. Barbara Brumleve, SSND, PhD, BCC, Board Chair; Mr. Alan E. Bowman, M.Div., MBA, BCC, Chair-Elect/Secretary; Ms. Karen Pugliese, M.A., BCC, Treasurer. Sr. Barbara has been Chair-Elect, and Karen Pugliese is completing her term as Board Chair. Sr. Geraldine Hoyler, SCS is completing her term as Treasurer. We are so thankful for the excellent leadership these individuals provide the Association at this time! To view all board members, click here.

The NACC Board, upon the recommendation of the NACC Certification Commission, also approved the following NACC members to begin serving three-year terms to the Certification Commission, as of January 1, 2009. They include: Joseph G. Bozzelli, D.Min.; Sheila Hammond, RSCJ; Sr. Julie Houser, CSJ, and Jane A. Mather. Each has served in NACC leadership roles in a variety of ways. We are grateful to them for their generosity to serve the Association in this critically important capacity, as well as to Robert Scheri, Sr. Mary Skopal, SSJ, Dr. Rodger Accardi and Mary Carole Nelson for their admirable service to the Commission as they complete their terms on December 31, 2008. The Commission is blessed! Click here for the NACC Certification Commission’s role and current members.

The celebration of Pastoral Care Week (October 20-26, 2008) brought some wonderful and significant exposure to and appreciation for your pastoral care ministries. Several NACC members alerted us to selected examples of publications, programs, and visual presentations of spiritual care. Here are a couple examples:
www.mlive.com/saginawnews/living/index.ssf/2008/10/hospital_chaplains_listen.html
www.catholicstarherald.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=2612:a-pastoral-presence-when-its-needed-most.
If you can share yours with other members, please e-mail Phil Paradowski at pparadowski@nacc.org.

As you know, since 1992, the Catholic Church, under the sponsorship of the Pontifical Council for Health Pastoral Care (www.healthpastoral.org), has celebrated World Day of the Sick on February 11 — the day commemorating the feast of Our Lady of Lourdes. We are reminded to pray for the sick, reflect on the meaning of human suffering, and honor those who serve as caregivers. The NACC will again offer for 2009 two separate prayer cards: Prayer for the Caregiver and Prayer for the Sick. We encourage any chaplain to compose the text for one or both these prayer cards. If you would like to submit your composition, please do so by Friday, November 7, 2008 to cbridges@nacc.org. The selection will be made Monday, November 10th. The cards will be made available early December 2008.

The NACC website is currently undergoing a bit of renovation – not a redesign, but instead a renovation and restructuring intended to improve the structure of the site and optimize the use of the site as a resource for our members. Although the most obvious change to our main page is the addition of a photo, the important changes are in the area of navigation. There are new quick-links in the header and footer which make the most sought-after sections of the site accessible with a single click from any page. A less obvious but just as fundamental change has been made, beneath the surface, to the navigational structure and organizing principle of the entire site. Taking a cue from our new Mission statement, “The National Association of Catholic Chaplains advocates for the profession of spiritual care and educates, certifies, and supports chaplains, clinical pastoral educators, and all members who continue the healing ministry of Jesus in the name of the Church,” we are reorganizing the content of the site (and making space for new content) around four main ideas.

The first is advocacy. An all-new section of the website will be used as a place to promote, advocate, and champion the profession of chaplaincy. Expect much growth and development in this section in the months to come.

The second main idea is threefold: Education, Certification, and Support. Under the already-familiar RESOURCES button, website visitors will now find a much smaller and more efficient list of sub-headings, all organized under educational topics. Academic programs, our calendar of events and opportunities, the annual conference, prayer resources, career development, and many more resources are available via this gateway, with many more to come. Topic headings like Ethics, Theology, Chaplain’s Tools, and Online Resources will guide users through a collection of essential materials.

The Certification section of the website, it will be noted, has not changed in any essential way apart from the continued expansion we’ve seen over the past few years. Today’s members use this part of the site to prepare for certification and renewal, to download essential documents, and to obtain contact information for crucial point persons in the interview process. In 2008 we’ve not only streamlined the download process for both candidates and interviewers; we’ve also added an Interviewer training process that has supported and supplemented the work already being done by our ITEs and other certification volunteers. We expect the website’s role in the processes of certification and renewal to continue to increase in importance.

We are still preparing to debut an updated and streamlined membership directory to replace the outdated website directory (which has been only sporadically updated since 2004). Watch NACC Now or your email for news about that update.

Lastly (and perhaps most importantly), we are inviting member input about the restructuring of the navigation menus and the reorganizing of website content. Specifically, we would love to find out:

• What do you like about the changes? Dislike?
• What do you miss?
• What else do we need?
• What made sense, organizationally/navigationally?
• What did not?

Send your feedback to webmaster@nacc.org. Thanks!

Over the coming weeks we will prepare more planning resources for our NACC State Liaisons, and host several conference calls of state liaisons to introduce them to each other and begin national networking of our liaisons to explore how better to connect and serve our members. Thanks to all who have volunteered to be the first liaisons; they will help us develop this invaluable networking. In the meantime, click here for current resources.

Fr. Baaju Izuchi and other Texas NACC members have finalized plans for the first time NACC Texas gathering to take place December 3-4, 2008 at the Oblate Renewal Center in San Antonio, Texas. Please join your Texas sisters and brothers! For details go to our calendar of events and opportunities.

NACC Kentucky members have worked hard to prepare an attractive day for professional and spiritual renewal for NACC members of Kentucky and neighboring states on Saturday, November 15, 2008 at the Nazareth Motherhouse in Nazareth, Kentucky. See details at our calendar of events and opportunities (scroll down to Nov. 15th).

You recently received an e-mail alert that registration for the Spiritual Care Collaborative Summit 2009, February 1-4, 2009 at the Coronado Resort in Disneyworld, is now available online. Please consider joining and meeting professional colleagues from all six associations from the United States and Canada at this historic gathering. To learn more about the event and to register, go to the SCC website.

NACC members are gathering in October, November, and December in many states throughout the country, often in collaborative settings with state chaplain organizations, health systems, and APC. If you haven’t reserved a spot at these gatherings, please do. For details go to our calendar of events and opportunities. These include:

October 26-28, Wisconsin Chaplaincy Association, Green Lake, WI
October 28, Odyssey Hospice, Campbell, CA
October 30, Our Lady of the Lake Regional Medical Center, Baton Rouge, LA
October 31, Saint Francis Medical Center/Centura Health, Colorado Springs, CO
November 4, Ascension Health, St. Louis, MO
November 4, Mercy Community Health, West Hartford, CT
November 12, Bon Secours Spiritual Center, Marriottsville, MD
November 14, Hammons Heart Institute, Springfield, MO
November 15, Nazareth Motherhouse, Nazareth, KY
December 4, Oblate Retreat Center, San Antonio, TX
December 6, Loyola Institute of Pastoral Studies, Chicago, IL

Please continue to keep in prayer Rev. Jim Radde, SJ (recovering from surgery), Mary Pawicz, NACC Staff member (heart surgery), Teddi Tomsic (major surgery), Rev. Mike Burns, SDS (eye surgery), Sr. Hilda Mallet, MHS (undergoing cancer radiation treatments which followed chemo), Sr. Joyce Troyer, CSC (recovering from surgery), Sr. Albertine Kramer, CSC (recovering from extensive surgery, is in rehabilitation, and is in transition after serving for 18 years at St. Joseph Medical Center in South Bend, IN), Sr. Paula Jacobs, SSM (terminal cancer), Dennis Eldridge (Kathy’s husband, for cancer treatment), and Laurie Hansen Cardona – NACC Vision Editor (recovering from surgery).

The following positions have been posted in the last two weeks. Please go to our job board for more information about them.

CATHOLIC PRIEST CHAPLAIN
     Miami, FL – Catholic Health Services

CHAPLAIN
     Yonkers, NY – St. Joseph's Medical Center

CHAPLAIN, FULL-TIME
     Ann Arbor, MI – Saint Joseph Mercy Health System

PT BEREAVEMENT COORDINATOR, PT CHAPLAIN
     Parsippany, NJ – Compassionate Care Hospice

CPE RESIDENCY
     La Crosse, WI – Gundersen Lutheran Health System