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1. Executive Director’s Reflection
2. NACC Episcopal Advisory Council to meet November 11, 2008
3. APC announces its new Board of Directors members and officers
4. Pastoral Care Summit Metrics Task Force recommends questions
5. Pastoral Care Summit Care Services Task Force recommends expectations
6. Pastoral Care Summit Education/Credentialing Task Force creates aid for graduate ministry programs
7. NACC Long Term Care/Nursing Home Chaplains in communication
8. November 4 St. Louis NACC gathering well received
9. Northern California NACC Gathered for professional sharing and friendship
10. More than 30 NACC members participated in Wisconsin Chaplaincy Association (WCA) October 26-28 event
11. In memoriam: Brother Richard Dube, C.F.A, long time NACC member dies
12. Did you register yet for the Summit 2009?
13. American Red Cross SRT Training at Summit 2009
14. Hospice Chaplaincy in the news
15. Please note the many local gatherings in November and December!
16. Healing Tree: a request for prayers
17. Recent job postings

Over the past month, I have been blessed to be with NACC chaplain groups throughout the country for days of professional and spiritual enrichment. I have been enriched by the ministries you provide and that you shared during these days.

I found myself hearing several recurring topics, issues, concerns in the midst of these gatherings. We want to finds ways to further discuss these and to help one another to advance the dialogue and develop strategies to address them. Some of these include:

• The growing presence of volunteers assisting in spiritual care departments, and the challenge to determine their role, training, accountability, supervision, and titles so that they are properly utilized. Some chaplains are anxious that, in tough financial times, these volunteers are viewed as a viable solution to providing spiritual care or substituting for certified chaplains. Learning good practices from each other is a high priority for many.
• Many have expressed the need to explore another level of certification, like an associate, in order to offer some highly experienced and competent ministers a way to receive a certification recognition valued both by themselves and the institutions which they serve.
• Finding adequate sacramental coverage by priests remains a challenge in so many institutions. However, while seeking sacramental coverage, members uphold the need for full-time priest chaplains to be certified and embrace their full chaplaincy role to minister to patients of all faith traditions.
• Members seek to learn from one another new models of providing spiritual care coverage. Who are the ministers being used? How are they employed? How do we structure our spiritual care departments? What do we do when we, like all healthcare departments, have to do with less? Given the trend toward shorter inpatient stays, how do we provide spiritual care where the patients are? Many members expressed the hope for finding a setting where concerns can be expressed and current practices can be shared.
• How do we present the value of spiritual care? How do we portray our services? How can we learn to speak the language of administration and leadership to help them understand what we do? These and other questions express the desire to learn from other members how to relate to and share an understanding of chaplaincy with those to whom chaplaincy reports.
• More chaplains and spiritual care providers are seeking to learn how to ask hospital and system leaders what they want to achieve, what their priorities are, and how spiritual care can help them accomplish these goals and be in partnership with the institutional mission.
• Many have expressed a desire to connect with other chaplains working in similar ministry settings (e.g. hospice, palliative care) and to create some type of networking and mutual learning/support system. (NACC members in nursing homes/long term care have now begun this. Also NACC CPE Supervisors have begun regular conference calls and want to be connected electronically/virtually.) Early in 2009, we want to focus on helping to make this networking happen.

These topics are samples of the many topics that local groups have shared. These listening sessions have been very important to me and our NACC staff as we continue to learn how to serve you best. Comments you might have on any of these topics are very welcomed. dlichter@nacc.org.

Also a remarkable array of local NACC gatherings has taken place that exemplifies the diverse and creative ways the gatherings have been organized. Here is a sampling of where and how they occurred:

• Northern California NACC chaplains convened their second gathering for 2008 after their first one in late June.
• The NACC Colorado chaplains partnered with APC to provide a day that included a morning with APC and an afternoon with NACC members.
• NACC partnered with the Wisconsin Chaplaincy Association to plan and offer two full days of professional development providing opportunity for more than thirty NACC chaplains to network with chaplains of all faiths as well as with each other.
• The Ohio Chaplaincy Association offered a day for chaplains with many NACC members participating.
• Missouri NACC State Liaisons worked with NACC to plan a renewal day. Ascension Health generously hosted the gathering and provided lunch at the St. Louis central offices.
• Our Lady of the Lake Medical Center in Baton Rouge, LA, provided a day for spiritual enrichment for their system chaplains and invited all NACC members in Louisiana to attend.

The NACC Episcopal Advisory Council will be meeting this Tuesday, November 11, during the USCCB Fall General Assembly in Baltimore. David Lichter and Bishop Randolph Calvo, our USCCB Episcopal Liaison to the NACC Board, will be hosting a breakfast meeting, sharing updates on NACC, and seeking the Council’s advice and support on a variety of issues. Go to www.nacc.org/aboutnacc/eacouncil.asp for current NACC Episcopal Advisory Council members.

The Association of Professional Chaplains has announced its new Board of Directors members and officers. NACC looks forward to collaborating with their leadership. For the announcement click here.

The CHA/NACC Pastoral Care Summit Metrics Task Force, after much deliberation with Press Ganey, developed and now recommends for adoption the following Patient/Resident/ Customer Satisfaction Question, “If you were visited by a hospital chaplain during your stay, rate your satisfaction with the spiritual care the chaplain provided.” They also developed and recommend for adoption the following Associate Satisfaction Question, “This organization offers me opportunities for spiritual and personal growth.” The Task Force will be working with the NACC and CHA to share these questions with hospitals and systems. For a current list of Metrics Task Force membership click here.

The CHA/NACC Pastoral Care Summit Care Services/Professional Development Task Force has worked with healthcare leaders over the past months to develop and test a set of fundamental responsibilities/expectations for a certified chaplain. These are intended to aid pastoral care leaders to better understand the role of certified chaplains, as well as to identify/design spiritual care services/standards and position descriptions for their departments. You can access these responsibilities here. For a current list of Care Services Task Force membership click here.

The CHA/NACC Pastoral Care Summit Task Force on Education/Credentialing developed a very useful tool that will be sent to graduate ministry programs to help them to understand the NACC Standards for Certification and how they can relate to and be covered in graduate courses. This will be sent to graduate programs by the end of the November. For a current list of membership of the Education/Credentialing Task Force click here.

Remember back in September when NACC member Jeanne Childs put out a request to be in contact with other NACC members working in long term care/nursing homes? We now have thirty-four of our members on email with each other to share experiences, questions, and insights! We will work with them to find a way to best be in contact. For a list of those thirty-four, click here. If interested in joining the group, contact Jeanne Childs at jeannechilds@verizon.net.

More than twenty-five NACC members gathered on November 4 to be engaged in an excellent interactive learning session with Fr. Thomas Nairn, OFM, Senior Director, Ethics, CHA, on the Ethical and Religious Directives for Catholic Health Care Services. The group also identified future education topics and began planning for future events. Thanks to Angie Vorholt and Margot Hover for their leadership, For Fr. Nairn’s PowerPoint presentation, click here.

The Northern California NACC chaplains gathered last week in San Jose for a time of friendship and sharing. Nancy Cook, one of the California NACC State Liaisons, offers her reflections on the event. To read her reflections, click here.

More than 30 NACC members participated in the Wisconsin Chaplaincy Association Annual Conference held in Green Lake, Wisconsin. NACC members came from Illinois and Iowa, as well as Wisconsin and had an opportunity to learn of each other’s call to chaplaincy and their current ministries. All were looking forward to next year already! There was a great turnout, excellent program, and time for education and spiritual renewal.

Br. Richard Dube, C.F.A., Provincial of the Immaculate Conception Province of the Congregation of Alexian Brothers, passed away on October 12, 2008. Brother Dube, an NACC member since 1998, was a strong supporter of chaplaincy and the NACC. Please remember him and his community in your prayer. For more information click here.

Hope the e-mail alert to register for the Spiritual Care Collaborative Summit 2009, February 1-4, 2009 at the Coronado Resort in Disneyworld did not get lost! Join your professional colleagues from all six SCC associations for this historic gathering. To learn more about the event and to register, visit www.spiritualcarecollaborative.org/scc_summit09.asp.

The American Red Cross Spiritual Care Response Team (SRT) is an integral part of the ARC Critical Response Team and is deployed following aviation and other transportation disasters, mass casualties, WMD/Terrorism events, and by government request. The training begins at 1:30 pm on Friday, January 29 and 8:00 am on Saturday, January 30. Participants are required to attend both days. This training is offered free of charge, although all accepted participants are responsible for their own training and maintenance. Given the limited class size and necessity for a formal application process we cannot guarantee that every request to attend will be able to be honored. Members in good standing from our collaborative associations may apply. Therefore, it is imperative that you submit your application prior to December 10, 2008. Applications and membership requirements are available on the 2009 Summit website. Email completed applications to: Earl Johnson, BCC at JohnsonEa@usa.redcross.org. For questions contact Earl Johnson.

Click here to view article from the NY Times.

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 event calendar. These include:

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 (recovering from 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 Positions Available page for more information about them.

CPE RESIDENCY
      Rochester, MN – Mayo Clinic

PRIEST CHAPLAIN
      Fresno, CA – Saint Agnes Medical Center