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1. Executive Director’s Reflection
2. Order Prayer Cards for World Day of the Sick, February 11, 2009 by this Wednesday.
3. Who’s been talking about chaplaincy?
4. What are a chaplain’s essential functions?
5. NACC special online discussion sites set for use
6. What do you think about the NACC website?

7. You can still register on site!

8. Several local/regional event dates have now been set!
9. Let us know your plans or need for help with events!
10. Healing Tree: a request for prayers
11. Recent job postings

I received yesterday an e-mail from one of our NACC chaplains. She was responding to an e-mail inquiry I had first sent to her. She ended the e-mail with:

Two of our employees died last week (one in a car crash and the other from cancer) plus we had the ball dropped that 300 some people were losing their jobs at the hospital. We lost one through attrition and are down now 3. Between memorial services and employee support I and my crew were kept busy.
Hope your New Year is better than ours!

I have learned over the past months from many of you that your daily chaplain experience puts you in people’s lives to stand compassionately with them. What a call and grace! I am reminded what Little Sister Magdeleine of Jesus shared with her sisters about the essence of their vocation: “to manage the difficult task of finding a place in our hearts for all those people we are in close contact with in our day-to-day life, those whom the Lord places on our path – and to do it as though they were the only friend we had…” In these days and weeks, those losing loved ones and jobs seem to be the ones the Lord is putting in your path. I pray for you daily. Your ministry feeds and directs my ministry. I am blessed by your call, and am daily fed by the power of God’s healing ministry to you.

And so much of my ministry these first couple weeks of 2009 has been involved in several conference call meetings with diverse groups within and beyond the NACC that provide a sense of NACC’s mission and focus as we head into 2009. Let me share with you a glimpse of these calls and activities:

NACC Board of Directors, Executive, Governance, and Finance Committees, and the Commissions on Certification and Standards: These groups are all preparing for their in-person meetings in Orlando prior to the 2009 Summit. The Executive, Governance, and Finance Committee all had calls to finalize their priorities and materials for the Board meeting. Staff and leaders of the Commissions have had calls to finalize agendas, documents, and details for their respective meetings. The Board only meets twice per year in person, so these meetings are of highest importance. We have scheduled also a joint meeting of the Board and Commissions on Saturday, January 31st, to ensure our collaborative efforts on behalf of the NACC. Also members of the Ethics Commission, who are attending the 2009 Summit, are planning to meet informally during the Summit.

Spiritual Care Collaborative (SCC): The SCC Steering Committee also had its monthly call that was dedicated to final preparations for the 2009 Summit and its Monday, February 2nd, facilitated meeting to review the results of the SCC Survey that many (most?) of you participated in and to reflect on the future focus and activities of the SCC. I was also involved with an Endorsement Task Force of SCC, represented by all SCC cognate groups, that is exploring common issues and solutions to endorsement.

Pastoral Care Summit Task Forces: Both the Care Services and Recruitment Task Forces of the Pastoral Care Summit conducted conference calls to review documents and set priorities for 2009. The Care Services Task Force is working on the content for the professional leadership development of chaplains. This NACC Now offers to the membership one document from this Care Services Task Force. The Recruitment Task Force will be devoting itself over the coming months to the completion of a video with the sponsorship of Ascension Health, to strengthening the relationship to graduate programs that prepare chaplains and aid students who are discerning their future ministry. In February the Education/Credentialing Task Force will meet with the Recruitment Task Force to combine their efforts to create greater awareness of chaplaincy as a profession and assist those who might discern this ministry.

NACC CPE Supervisors have also had one of their ongoing conference calls for communication, issues identification, and support. They also now have an online discussion site to continue these conversations between the calls.

State Liaison calls with North and South Carolina, Georgia, and Louisiana that continue to network state liaisons and to work strategically to plan local/regional events.

As you can see, these conference calls/meetings represent the heart of the mission and 2009 focus of NACC. What is your impression about these activities? Any comments? Are we about what we need to be about? What do you think?

Of course, we are also so aware of the bigger world within which we live and minister, as we commemorate with our country the life of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and the Inauguration of President Barack Obama! What a week!

Appreciatively, David A. Lichter NACC Executive Director

The NACC has received several orders for the two 2009 World Day of the Sick prayer cards in both English and Spanish: Prayer for the Caregiver, Prayer for the Sick. We still have some available. We have extended the deadline to this Wednesday, January 21st to place your order to assure timely shipment. After that day, the order will need to be expedited at higher cost. You can view sample cards and order them today by going to www.nacc.org/resources/wds/default.asp.

The Pastoral Care Summit Recruitment Task Force wants to find out who of us has been giving presentations on chaplaincy and what approach/content you have been using. We want to include on our NACC Website, under “Consider Chaplaincy,” more resources for our members to make presentations on chaplaincy. We also want to create a special communication for members to exchange with one another on their presentation approaches. Please e-mail cbridges@nacc.org to let us know about activity in this area and your interest in becoming part of the communication link!

The Pastoral Care Summit Care Services Task Force has completed its work on drafting the essential functions of a chaplain. Please go to www.nacc.org/resources/career/ to access both the introduction and essential functions. Our plan is to disseminate/communicate over the coming months these functions to our ministry leaders. Please share them with your leaders also.

Over the past weeks, we have set up two discussion sites: one for Nursing Homes Chaplains (www.quicktopic.com/42/H/H6reVhEwDfhZ) and one for CPE Supervisors (www.quicktopic.com/42/H/feRdKRMCzJeR). These are easy to access and use. Please sign on, and be an active contributor. Also, we are considering more such sites. Please let pparadowski@nacc.org know what group you would like to see created.

The input of our members, as well as that of nonmember website visitors, is highly valued. We are always seeking to improve our site and increase the value to our members. If you'd like to participate in the online discussion about the NACC website and offer praise, suggestions, or criticism, visit the link below.
www.quicktopic.com/42/H/LN6zPtgTDERf

If you were not able 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 still register on site. If you have a last minute opportunity to come, also let us know so we can anticipate your attendance. Contact schaw@nacc.org to let us know.

Several state liaison groups have been working hard to set dates for gatherings. Please review the list below, and mark your calendars. More details of the events will be forthcoming in future NACC Nows.

• Saturday, March 7, 2009, Mulcahy Center, Loyola University Medical Center, Maywood IL. For details (brochure) go to www.nacc.org/docs/resources/The_Mystery_of_God_and_Human_Suffering_Flyer_03-07-09.pdf.
• Friday, April 24, 2009, Saint Joseph's Hospital, Atlanta, Georgia. Details to follow.
• Monday, May 18, 2009, Assumption College, Worcester, MA.
• Tuesday, June 9, 2009, New Orleans, LA. Details to follow.
• Thursday, July 23, 2009, Omaha, NE. Joint APC/NACC, details to follow.

The NACC office staff continues to convene state liaison calls to help liaisons network among one another to assist with plans for local/regional events. Please contact cbridges@nacc.org if you want assistance with local events or want to set a planning call with other liaisons. We can’t always anticipate your need, so let us know! We are here to help! Also visit the state liaison area on the NACC website at www.nacc.org/volunteers/state_reps.asp.

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), Teddi Tomsic (major surgery), Sr. Hilda Mallet, MHS (undergoing cancer radiation treatments which followed chemo), Sr. Rita Rzeppa, IBVM (recovering/rehab from bilateral knee replacement surgery), and Dennis Eldridge (Kathy’s husband, for cancer treatment).

The following positions have been posted in the last two weeks. Please go to www.nacc.org/positions/available.asp for more information about them.

CATHOLIC CHAPLAIN
     St. Petersburg, FL – Bon Secours Maria Manor

CHAPLAIN - ROMAN CATHOLIC PRIEST
     Camden, NJ – Our Lady of Lourdes Medical Center

CHAPLAIN RESIDENT
     Buffalo, NY – Sisters of Charity Hospital

DIRECTOR OF SPIRITUAL CARE
     Corpus Christi, TX – CHRISTUS Spohn Health System

PASTORAL CARE MANAGER
     Colville, WA – Mount Carmel & St. Joseph’s Hospitals