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1. Executive Director’s Reflection
2. NACC Membership Letter Arriving Soon!
3. Watch for an Important SCC Survey Coming Next Week!
4. Registration Deadline
5. NACC Member Workshops
6. NACC Pre-Conference Retreat
7. Volunteers at Summit ‘09
8. American Red Cross Spiritual Care Response Team Training (SRT)
9. Chaplaincy in the news
10. Out with the Old, in with the New: Updated and renovated NACC membership directory is ready for use
11. Please note the local gatherings in December!
12. Healing Tree: a request for prayers
13. Recent job postings

A Blessed Thanksgiving to all of you! And blessings on your ministries that share in the healing ministry of Jesus in the name of the Church!

I don’t know about you, but the national economic condition weighs heavily on people this Thanksgiving. Even with what most of us consider the historic and hopeful election of our president-elect, Barack Obama, everyone reads intently the prognosis of a long, challenging financial recovery. What does it mean for spiritual care services, for us and our families, for our places of employment and the people with whom we work, and for the patients/clients and their families to whom we minister? What does our faith bring to this environment? What type of ministers are we called to be in the midst of this? Here are some of my preliminary reflections that invite more and better reflections from you to share with our members.

• As to Spiritual Care Services, in the past weeks, I have learned from several mission leaders of healthcare systems or hospitals of their shared pain with the colleague leaders of their respective systems as deep cuts are needed to respond to the current financial system. As the case for the value of spiritual care services is made, it seems to be evaluated alongside all services that have had to be reduced. It is neither a sacred cow nor the first to go. Our ongoing efforts to advance the profession through our collaborative efforts with other SCC cognate groups and Catholic Health Association remain of highest importance. My sense is other professions are noting the significant efforts that are happening in this arena and encourage it. The SCC 2009 Summit will be another venue to showcase this activity.


• As to the impact on us and our families, our hearts and prayers go out to our members who have already been affected by position elimination, hours reduction, or having to retire earlier than anticipated. In the past weeks I have spoken with some of you about your situation. As you experience the loss and uncertainties, you have also expressed the need to move forward in faith, to network with colleagues, to look in other professional directions because your family circumstances will not allow you to move to seek other chaplaincy work for the time being. We encourage you to use the NACC network to help you. I just spoke with a member today who will use the state list to alert members of his job loss. We need to be supportive to one another in any way we can.


• As to our places of employment and the people with whom we work, how stressful this is for our colleagues who in many places have been the community of staff! I have heard from some of you the vital role you are playing as agents of faith, listening, compassion, strength, and healing as you are turned to and relied upon to be there for those who approach you. Perhaps it has happened and is happening while you are anxious about your own future. We thank you for living your ministry in ways you did not anticipate it. Yet you are where you are called to be. We could all benefit from learning from one another ways we have been called upon to care for the care and service providers in the midst of difficult times. I would like to devote a section in each NACC Now to share such stories of ministry, if any of you are willing to begin such sharing. We can be encouraged by one another. Can we learn from one another as to how we can best be a healing presence in such times?


• As for the patients/clients and their families to whom we minister, how intensified their pain/illness becomes when it is coupled with financial hardship! The ethical decisions are complicated by economic ones, as families struggle with important care options, as health services and options might be reduced, and levels of potential home care are less. You hear and grapple with the stories of distress. What a critical ministry you provide in these times! Here again might we explore the possibility of learning from one another what diverse situations we are encountering and what resources we might have used or might need to better respond to these more complex ministry environments.


• So what does our faith bring to this environment? None of us tread gingerly on this ground, or seek or offer quick responses to this question. While many of us might first turn to the resources of faith and hope born of the Paschal Mystery, we want to believe that God suffers with us, embraces us in trying times, is present in absence, and assures us that new life is hidden in the dark. We know Christmas is real when we stand with our God who embraces, suffers with, is present to, and assures others through us. As Karl Rahner said years ago in the wake of the holocaust and other mid-20th century atrocities, we still proclaim the Word and dare to utter God’s word to allow God to work as God will; or in the words of T.S. Eliot, “prayer, observance, discipline, thought, and action.” I find myself reflecting on how our faith in these times is intentionally living each of Eliot’s nouns with trust that God is with us in this act. Last Saturday, at the Kentucky gathering, Jonathan Montaldo, the noted editor of Thomas Merton’s personal writings, shared inspiring reflections based on Merton. He also re-introduced us to the prayer of Merton that most of us were acquainted with and perhaps relied upon at an earlier stage of our life journeys. I share it with you here again:
  
  My Lord God,
  I have no idea where I am going.
  I do not see the road ahead of me.
  I cannot know for certain where it will end.
  Nor do I really know myself, and
  The fact that I think I am following your will
  Does not mean that I am actually doing so.
  But I believe that the desire to please you
  Does in fact please you.
  Any I hope I have that desire in all that I am doing.
  I hope that I will never do anything apart from that desire.
  And I know that if I do this you will lead me by the right road
  Though I may know nothing about it.
  Therefore I will trust you always
  Though may seem to be lost and in the shadow of death.
  I will not fear, for you are ever with me,
  And you will never leave me to face my perils alone.†
  
  
  In a sense it embodies well the dedicated dailyness that our lives reflect at this time. So what does our faith bring at this time? I again invite reflections that you are willing to share with our members. People look to us. What are we grounded in? What can you share?

Appreciatively, David A. Lichter, Executive Director

Please watch for a letter from the NACC right after the Thanksgiving weekend that will explain to you some changes to the membership categories, as well as some fee changes. We look forward to partnering with you to continue fulfilling the NACC mission to advocate for the ministry of spiritual care.

You will also be contacted next week regarding an important SCC survey that will help the SCC Steering Committee determine the future direction and projects for the SCC. Your feedback will be very important to us! Please participate. The HealthCare Chaplaincy will be administering and supporting this web-based survey. We appreciate their involvement and support.

Don’t forget to register for Summit ’09 “Health and Hope: The Hard Reality of Living Intentionally in a Village of Care,” February 1-4, 2009 at Disney’s Coronado Springs Resort and Convention Center in Walt Disney World® Florida. You can register online at www.spiritualcarecollaborative.org/scc_summit09.asp. The postmark deadline for Early Bird Registration is Friday, December 5, 2008. Join the six associations of the Spiritual Care Collaborative in this historic gathering!

NACC Member Workshops will take place on Sunday, February 1, 2009 at 12:30 pm at Summit ’09. You can choose from five NACC workshops including: Certification with the NACC; Renewal of Certification with the NACC; CPE Supervisor Renewal; NACC Certification Interviewer Training, and The NACC and You: Bringing Your Gifts to Leadership. You can sign up for these special workshops at no extra cost when you register for the Summit ’09. For descriptions of these workshops, please see www.nacc.org/conference/2009_nacc_workshops.asp.

NACC will once again host a pre-conference retreat at Summit ’09 on Saturday, January 31, 2009 from 9:00 am – 4:00 pm. Please see your registration form to sign up for this experience. Transportation will be provided to and from the retreat facility. Lunch will be provided. Our facilitator is Bro. Ed Smink, BCC. PhD, ABD, Vice President – Mission Integration and Compliance at Dubuis Health System in Houston, Texas. The theme of the retreat is “Food for the Journey: The Stories that Transform and Sustain Us” - focusing on recognizing and discovering your own inner resources within those moments of darkness that lead to transformation.

We need your help! Many hands are needed to help with NACC specific events at Summit ’09. If you are attending the Summit and would like to volunteer your assistance for NACC specific events, review the events and times at the NACC website at www.nacc.org/conference/2009volunteers.asp, then use the sign-up form to notify us of your selections. You will be contacted prior to the conference with instructions. If you have any questions, please contact Susanne at schaw@nacc.org.

January 29-30, 2009
Disney’s Coronado Springs Resort and Convention Center
Walt Disney World®, Florida

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 Thursday, January 29, and 8:00 am on Friday, 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 travel 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 at www.spiritualcarecollaborative.org. Email completed applications to: Earl Johnson, BCC, at JohnsonEa@usa.redcross.org. For questions, also contact Earl Johnson.

The current issue of the Hastings Center Report includes an essay set, "Can We Measure Good Chaplaincy?" from the Center's research collaboration, Professional Chaplains and Health Care Quality Improvement, funded by the Arthur Vining Davis Foundations. The full text of the essay set, "Can We Measure Good Chaplaincy?" can be downloaded from the project's web page: www.thehastingscenter.org/Research/Detail.aspx?id=1212 Selected essays are also featured on the Report's web page: www.thehastingscenter.org/Publications/HCR/Default.aspx

In keeping with our commitment to continued communication among members, we have recently updated our membership directory. We’ve made this a priority to address in 2008 due to the ever-increasing importance of communication and networking within both the NACC membership and in the field of chaplaincy. Starting this week you can visit the NACC website at www.nacc.org/directory/member_directory.asp to see a brand new and up-to-date directory. The directory is available to NACC members only, as before, and must be accessed via your 'members-only' website login. To access, use your default credentials: type your NACC membership number into the "Username" field and then your last name*, in all lower-case letters, into the "Password" field.

The first part of this project is complete: the development. The next part needs to be done by the NACC members. Please take a moment to browse the directory and see whether we have correct information for you. If not: call, write, or email us with any corrections.

Note that this new website feature is still in its testing or “beta” phase. This means that it is ready for NACC members to view, but is still being fine-tuned as well as being monitored for errors and performance issues. Unlike the version this will replace, this is a “live data” version, meaning that the entire directory can be updated at once, in a relatively short time. The different ways of viewing the directory (by name, by state, and by type of employer (institution) that were possible in the past have been preserved: there are actually three pages, and three databases, that make up the directory.

For those interested in the technical details, note that this Directory uses only six files (three .asp pages and three databases) and about 150 lines of code. In contrast, the old Directory uses over 3,400 files and well over 100,000 lines of code. In this case, less is more. As a somewhat famous programmer once said:
       Measuring programming progress by lines of code is like measuring aircraft building progress by weight. (Bill Gates)

Comments, questions, details of any errors encountered, etc. are strongly encouraged. Please send any feedback to Phil Paradowski, NACC Webmaster/developer, at webmaster@nacc.org.

*If your name has an apostrophe or hyphen, you should ignore those characters. So O'Sullivan becomes osullivan and Johns-Henley becomes johnshenley. If you have an unusually long hyphenated name, note that your password may be only the second half of your last name (you may have to try it both ways to see which works). For example, Mary Whittington-Rajagopalachari would probably have only "rajagopalachari" as her password.

NACC members are gathering in December in Illinois and Texas. If you haven’t reserved a spot at these gatherings, please do. For details, go to our Calendar of Events and Opportunities. These include:

December 4, Oblate Retreat Center, San Antonio, TX

December 6, Loyola Institute of Pastoral Studies, Chicago, IL

Please continue to keep in prayer Judy Novak (radiation treatment for colorectal cancer), Sr. Rose Grabowski, SSJ-TOSF (stomach surgery), Bro. Brian Boyle, CPPS (broken foot); Rev. Jim Radde, SJ (recovering from surgery), Mary Pawicz, NACC Staff member (recovering from heart surgery), Teddi Tomsic (major surgery), Sr. Hilda Mallet, MHS (undergoing cancer radiation treatments which followed chemo), Sr. Paula Jacobs, SSM (terminal cancer), and Dennis Eldridge (Kathy’s husband, for cancer treatment).

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

STAFF CHAPLAIN
     Billings, MT – St. Vincent Healthcare

DIRECTOR OF SPIRITUAL CARE
     Billings, MT – St. Vincent Healthcare

PART-TIME ASSOCIATE CHAPLAIN -- PRIEST PREFERRED
     Clearwater, FL – Morton Plant Mease Health Care

CHAPLAIN
     Grand Rapids, MI – Spectrum Health

PRIEST CHAPLAIN
     Grand Forks, ND – Altru Health System

†Merton, Thoughts in Solitude (New York: Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 1976)