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Contents:
1. Executive Director’s Reflection
2. Please note change in NACC office hours for July-August
3. So how are we doing on our NACC Strategic Plan implementation?
4. Get to know your NACC board candidates
5. NACC Awards Task Force seeks nominations for award recipients!
6. Share your wisdom and experience with Vision!
7. Online version of Vision debuts
8. CHA and “I Can’t Wait” Video
9. National Depression Screening Day (NDSD) October 8, 2009
10. Request: Brooklyn Chaplain looking to host a book gathering
11. Request: CHA/NACC seek samples of using volunteers in healthcare settings
12. Request: Ideas for Local Community Ministerial Association
13. Request: Tracking activity and spiritual assessment in a small hospital setting
14. Local/regional event dates
15. Other educational events
16. Healing Tree: a request for prayers
17. Recent Job Postings
18. Positions wanted
“This is a request for your help. I would like to learn more about what being a Chaplain is all about. The new brochure stated that you would be able to put me in contact with an experienced NACC Chaplain to discuss the realities of being a Chaplain.” This was the core content of an e-mail I received this past week. A handful of such requests have arrived. I have been able to connect these individuals with board certified NACC chaplains who live near them.
This is good news. In June we sent information and brochures to heads of theology and pastoral ministry programs. They are sharing this information. Chaplaincy is being considered. Another wrote, “I am writing about becoming a Catholic Chaplain sometime in the near future. I worked with dying children for 9 years and I loved visiting with them in the hospital. There were times that I assisted them on their journey of leaving this world into another.” Does the divine draw sound familiar to you? How God tugged at your heart to lead you to the ministry of healing you offer?
We hope each of you consider inviting an individual you know who you believe has the gifts for chaplaincy. In the coming weeks we will be sending you a copy of the brochure also. However, if you want copies before that, please ask. For a view of this brochure, go to www.nacc.org/docs/promo/NACC-Brochure-Chaplaincy.pdf.* Also this week, Jim Castello, Mary Lou O’Gorman, and I will be working with the Ascension Health video crew on a chaplaincy video that can be used for recruitment purposes. It will be another resource for you to use with the hope that you can share this ministry with others.
While our employers and we experience negative ramifications from lingering economic woes, leading at times to job diminishment and/or loss, and causing us serious concern for ourselves, our colleagues, and the profession, we also know that the healing ministry of Jesus must and will continue and the future of the chaplaincy profession is integrally connected with our present efforts to share God’s gift of this ministry with others. When we are tempted to be discouraged, our encouragement of others to consider this ministry is our act of hope, and of faith in God’s promise.
Remember the last sentence of the NACC Vision statement? NACC is a light of hope, whose members are persistently advocating for those dedicated to the spiritual care of people experiencing pain, vulnerability, joy, and hope. Our encouragement of others to consider chaplaincy and doing all that we can to advance the profession certainly are acts of “light” today.
Please note change in NACC office hours for July-AugustPlease note for the months of July and August, the NACC central office will be closed Friday afternoons. Monday-Thursday office hours remain 8:30 a.m-5:00 p.m. Central Time. Friday office hours will be 8:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m. Central Time. The NACC staff is honored to serve you.
So how are we doing on our NACC Strategic Plan implementation?At the end of 2009 we will be half way through our 2007-2012 Strategic Plan. Over the summer, the NACC Board has requested the Vision and Action Committee Members to provide feedback on the NACC plan implementation. We also invite any NACC member to provide your perspective. Go to www.nacc.org/resources/publications.asp for a copy of the Strategic Plan and see below for the questions to respond to.
E-mail responses to David Lichter at dlichter@nacc.org.
1. What changes in the external environment (settings within which NACC and chaplains exist) have occurred or are occurring that are having an influence (positive or negative) on how NACC should evaluate its plan focus and implementation?
2. Regarding the implementation of the Plan’s seven goals:
a. What steps so far have met expectations? How?
b. What has been the single most positive plan implementation so far? How should it influence our ongoing plan implementation/adjustment?
c. What has been less than expected so far? Or disappointing? How should it influence our ongoing plan implementation/adjustment?
d. What has become more important/urgent?
e. What has become less important/urgent?
3. What would be your most important counsel to the NACC Board of Directors for their September 2009 meeting?
This fall NACC members will be voting for one of three candidates to fill a seat on the NACC board of directors. Get to know these candidates. Go to www.nacc.org/aboutnacc/board_election.asp for their photos and comments.
NACC Awards Task Force seeks nominations for award recipients!The NACC Awards Task Force is seeking nominations for the Distinguished Service Award and the Outstanding Colleague Award. Submission deadline is September 1, 2009. Please go to www.nacc.org/aboutnacc/awards.asp for more details about the awards, their criteria, and the process of submission.
Share your wisdom and experience with Vision!Vision’s Editorial Advisory Panel seeks input on the following themes for upcoming issues of Vision:
The latest issue of Vision will arrive in members’ mailboxes soon. Along with this issue, we are debuting a new website feature: online content from each issue of our newsletter. Regular features such as “Seeking & Finding” and “Research Update” will appear bimonthly alongside other selected articles from each issue. The posted material from each issue will be archived and indexed, allowing the content of articles to be found via Google searches (which is not the case with the current system of storing issues of Vision in PDF format). To view the new issue, visit www.nacc.org/vision/July_Aug_2009/default.asp.
CHA and “I Can’t Wait” VideoAt the CHA Assembly in New Orleans, CHA debuted a video to promote the urgent need for healthcare reform. The video, "I Can't Wait," features a diverse group of caregivers, men and women religious, families, children and others expressing their hopes for a healthcare system that serves everyone. With the momentum building in Washington for health reform legislation in the coming months, CHA hopes to use the video as part of a "viral" campaign to encourage grassroots support for action on Capitol Hill and in the White House. NACC members help out by watching the video and sending the link around to friends, family members, colleagues and community leaders to keep the momentum going and collectively raise our voices for health reform. CHA is also featuring photographs on the CHA web site and will continue to add new ones, so please also visit the CHA web site where you can add to our growing collection. View the "I Can't Wait" video on YouTube and share it with your friends at www.youtube.com/catholichealthassoc. Also see the photo collection and learn how to submit photos at www.OurHealthCareValues.org.
National Depression Screening Day (NDSD) October 8, 2009NDSD, a health-fair style mental health screening and educational program that helps provide emotional support to community members, is Thursday, October 8, 2009. The NDSD program offers in-person screening kits that include screening forms that screen for depression, generalized anxiety disorder, bipolar disorder, and post-traumatic stress disorder as well as educational brochures on these mental health issues, and materials on coping with stress, self-care, and the economy and mental health. We also offer an online screening for the mental health issues mentioned above as well as for alcohol misuse and eating disorders. Click here for registration brochure.
Request: Brooklyn Chaplain looking to host a book gatheringElaine Chan is interested in hosting a book gathering for When Crickets Cry in the Brooklyn, NY area. Please contact her directly at echan@chpnet.org if you would like to participate, have fellowship with other chaplains, and earn some continuing education hours!
CHA/NACC seek samples of using volunteers in healthcare settingsCHA and NACC are working together on reviewing current practices and trends regarding the use of volunteers in spiritual care staffing models. If you are willing to share your policies on the use of volunteers within your staff structure and your practices on (we already asked for this last year – I would focus on the use rather than the training) introducing, using, and supervising volunteers, please send them to Cindy at cbridges@nacc.org. We look to provide information/education on these trends/practices in the near future.
Request: Ideas for Local Community Ministerial AssociationSr. Joanne VanderHeyden is searching for new ideas for their local community ministerial association. Their mission is to provide support and educational opportunities for individuals in church or church related ministries. The association is 30 years old, and she’s been a member for 17 years. The association has provided many fine opportunities for support and education supplied by local programs. As president of the association, she senses a need for "fresh air." Please email her at joanne.vanderheyden@provena.org with any ideas you have that have proven or may prove effective in her role.
Request: Tracking activity and spiritual assessment in a small hospital settingKathy Heffernan is in a small, 150-bed, community hospital, and seeks to learn what chaplains in similar settings are using to track their services, as well as to conduct a spiritual assessment. If you would like to share with Kathy, she and NACC will make available to all who participate what is shared. Please email her at Kathleen.Heffernan@nwhsea.org.
Local/regional event datesMore local gatherings are being set. Please review the list below, and mark your calendars. More details of events will be in future NACC Now's.
We have been alerted to other educational events that you can find on the NACC website. They include:
Please let us know if you would like our membership to pray for your health and healing. We continue to pray for Kelly Elizabeth Sexton (cancer: daughter of NACC member Melyssa Sexton), Raymond Kelleher (heart surgery); Fr. Bill Spacek (detached retina and other eye issues); Sr. Nancy Crane, OP (cancer treatment); Sr. Hilda Mallet, MHS (cancer treatment); Sr. Rita Rzeppa, IBVM (recovering/rehab from knee surgery), and Dennis Eldridge (Kathy's husband, for cancer treatment).
Recent Job Postings
CATHOLIC SISTER CHAPLAIN
St. Paul, MN – St. Joseph’s Hospital/HealthEast Care System
CHAPLAIN/SPIRITUAL CARE COORDINATOR
Davenport, IA – Heartland Hospice
HOSPITAL CHAPLAIN
Bakersfield, CA – Mercy Hospitals of Bakersfield
In 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.
*if the brochure won't open from the link, right-click on the link instead and "Save as" to download a copy of the pdf for offline viewing