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1. Executive Director’s Reflection
2. NACC Awards Task Force seeks nominations for award recipients!
3. A reminder of change in NACC office hours for July-August
4. Get to know your NACC board candidates
5. NACC Board elections will be conducted with E-Balloting
6. Please consider submitting a workshop proposal for NACC 2010 Conference
7. NACC June and July audio recordings available
8. Request: CHA/NACC seeks samples of using volunteers in healthcare settings
9. Request: Saginaw, MI, Chaplains looking to host a book gathering
10. Local/regional event dates
11. Other educational events
12. Recent job listings
13. Positions wanted

Over the past weeks, we have convened by conference call our members who were part of the Vision and Action Team (VAT) that guided NACC’s strategic planning process that resulted in the 2007-2012 Strategic Plan. Since we are nearly half way into the time period of the plan implementation, the NACC Board of Directors considered it an important time to review how we are doing. Our conference calls with members of VAT focused on the following questions:

1. What has happened or is happening in the external environment that is most affecting our plan implementation?
2. What has been most successful in the plan implementation?
3. What needs more attention, given higher priority?

Let me highlight items from the gathered wisdom of our VAT members.

External environment: When examining the external environment, you can most likely guess what was at the top of the list – yes, the economic downturn. Financial pressures on the institutions we serve have impacted jobs, work responsibilities, and educational support. It has impacted NACC as members have limited financial means to continue membership or complete CEH’s. Healthcare reform was also noted, with urgency to ensure that spiritual care is considered an integral part of the healthcare delivery. One VAT member noted that the prior election emphasized the value and impact of networking, and virtual communal conversations on critical topics, and appreciated NACC’s attempts to link interested groups via audio conferences on a regular basis.

Positives of plan implementation: Renewed communication and networking among members through NACC Now, conference calls, list serves, and local gatherings were emphasized. As one participant noted, “…Gatherings took off like wildfire – pumped renewed energy in those that had not been able to participate. We have done a better job of reaching out to people.” Another remarked, “good steps (have been taken) in promoting chaplaincy, but we have more work to do.”

Areas needing more attention: Relationship with the bishops to help them better understand the ministry and endorsement, the accessibility of CPE both through distance learning and connecting to graduate programs, the feasibility of administrative efficiencies with other SCC participants, continued emphasis on the professionalization and advocating for appointments of certified chaplains in positions of pastoral leadership were highlighted.

Do these comments resonate with you? What are your perspectives on the NACC plan implementation? I await and appreciate members’ input/feedback. Please e-mail me at dlichter@nacc.org.

To view the strategic plan, please go to www.nacc.org/aboutnacc/strategicPlan.asp.

David A. Lichter, D.Min.
Executive Director

Please consider submitting nominations to the NACC Awards Task Force for the Distinguished Service Award and the Outstanding Colleague Award. Recipients of these awards will be honored at the NACC 2010 Conference. 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.

Just a reminder: that the July-August NACC national office hours Monday-Thursday remain 8:30 a.m-5:00 p.m. Central Time. Friday morning hours will be 8:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m. Central Time. We will be closed Friday afternoons. We are honored to serve you.

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.

Beginning this year the NACC will be conducting its voting for the NACC Board of Directors candidates via e-balloting. Votenet is the reputable company we will be using. Elections will be held mid-September to mid-October. We will be sending you in the September-October Vision and NACC Now instructions on how to vote. It will be easy, swift and simple.

The NACC invites you to consider submitting workshop proposals for the 2010 Conference in St. Paul, Minnesota, March 20-23, 2009. Our theme, Winds of Change, Spirit of Promise, invites interested colleagues to share their special expertise by presenting workshops that will challenge and stimulate the learning process of attendees. For more information and the workshop proposal submission form, please go to www.nacc.org/conference.

In June and July 2009, NACC broke new ground by presenting its first audio conferences. The audio conferences were received well by participants with the first conference on The Mystery of God and Human Suffering reaching maximum participation of 150 lines. The NACC is pleased to offer recordings of these audio conferences as an educational resource. These audio files are recordings of the actual audio conferences which took place in June and July. Each audio conference consists of three sessions – generally the first two sessions are a presentation and the third is a dialogue session. When you purchase the audio recordings you will receive all three sessions of the audio conference you select. For each audio conference session participants are eligible for 1.5 continuing education hours which include reading and preparation time. If you listen to all three sessions you would be eligible for 4.5 continuing education hours. For more information on purchasing the audio conference recordings, please click here to download the purchase order form.

We have begun to receive from members their policies on the use of volunteers within their spiritual care staffing models and their practices on introducing, using, and supervising volunteers. By end of August, CHA and NACC compile and make available this information to those who have contributed. If you would still like to share yours, please send them to David Lichter at dlichter@nacc.org. We already asked for this last year – please focus on the use rather than the training.

Sr. Anne Brietag, OP, and Sr. Margo Tafoya, MMSp, are interested in hosting a book gathering for When Crickets Cry in the Saginaw, MI, area in October. Please contact Anne directly at abreitag@chs-mi.com if you would like to participate, have fellowship with other chaplains, and earn some continuing education hours!

More 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.

• Thursday, August 27, 2009, Birmingham, AL. See details.
• Saturday, August 29, 2009, Maywood, IL. See details.
• Wednesday, September 16, 2009, Phoenix, AZ. See details.
• Friday, September 18, 2009, Spokane, WA, See details.
• Thursday-Friday, September 24-25, 2009, Alexandria, MN, North Central Prairie, See details.
• Friday, October 9, Buffalo, NY, details to come.
• Saturday, October 10, Nazareth, KY, details to come.
• Saturday, October 17, 2009, Boston, MA, details to come.
• Sunday-Tuesday, October 18-20, Green Lake, WI, details to come.
• Thursday, October 22, 2009, Sacramento, CA. See details/register.
• Friday, October 30, 2009, Charleston, SC, details to come.

We have been alerted to other educational events that you can find on the NACC website. They include:

• Monday-Wednesday, August 3-5, 2009, Livonia, MI, Madonna University, "Good News Unleashed: Being Catholic in a Secular Society" Fr. Ronald Rolheiser, OMI. See details.
• Thursday, August 6, 2009, Milwaukee, WI, Third Annual Symposium in Lay Ecclesial Ministry, Cardinal Stritch University Saint Clare Center for Ministry Formation, “The Holy Spirit’s Call in Ordering Lay Ecclesial Ministers within Our Church” with Edward Hahnenberg, Ph.D. See details/register.
• Saturday, October 3, 2009, Lisle, IL, “Spirituality in the New Millennium” with Rev. Richard Rohr, OFM. See details/register.
• Friday, October 9, 2009, Albuquerque, NM, “Health and Wholeness: Finding Harmony in a Stressful World.” See details/register.
• Monday-Tuesday, October 26-27, 2009, Mahwah, NJ, “RTS Bereavement Training in Early Pregnancy Loss, Stillbirth & Neonatal Death” See details/register.
• Monday-Tuesday, November 2-3, 2009, Springfield, VA, 11th Annual Josefina Magno Conference - "Pain Has a Measure: Suffering Has a Story." See details.
• Tuesday, November 3, 2009, Hartford, CT, Rabbi Bonita Taylor and Rabbi David Zucker, “Using Lamentations to Lament,” Connecticut Chaplains. See details.
• Thursday, November 19, 2009, Milwaukee, WI, Dr. Daniel P. Sulmasy, OFM, the Bartholomew Lecture Series, Cardinal Stritch University. See details/register.
• Chicago, IL See various summer program offerings at Loyola's Institute of Pastoral Studies at www.luc.edu/ips/.
• Los Angeles, CA Loyola University Marymount offers certificate and degrees in bioethics. See details.

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); 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).

CHAPLAIN, PART-TIME
     Hartford, CT – St. Francis Hospital and Medical Center

DIRECTOR, CPE PROGRAM
     Portland, ME – Mercy Hospital

CHAPLAIN
     Apple Valley, CA – St. Mary Medical Center

PRIEST CHAPLAIN
     Tarzana and Burbank, CA – Providence Health & Services

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.