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Vol. 19, No. 6
November/December 2009
Vision is published six times a year by the
National Association of Catholic Chaplains.
Its purpose is to connect our members with
each other and with the governance of the
Association. Vision informs and educates
our membership about issues in pastoral/
spiritual care and helps chart directions for
the future of the profession, as well as the
Association.
ISSN: 1527-2370
Executive Editor
David A. Lichter, D.Min.
Editor
Laurie Hansen Cardona
lcardona@nacc.org
Graphic Designer
Gina Rupcic
The National Association of Catholic
Chaplains advocates for the profession of
spiritual care and educates, certifies, and
supports chaplains, clinical pastoral
educators and all members who continue
the healing ministry of Jesus in the name of
the Church.
NACC Editorial Advisory Panel:
Sr. Michele LeDoux Sakurai; Michelle Lemiesz; Linda
Piotrowski; Rev. Freddy Washington, CSSp;
and board representative Norma Gutierrez,
MCDP.
NACC National Office
4915 S. Howell Avenue Suite 501
Milwaukee, WI 53207-5939
(414) 483-4898
Fax: (414) 483-6712
info@nacc.org
www.nacc.org
When the Board of Directors met this fall, a major part of the agenda was identifying priorities for 2009-2010. What is the 20% of our NACC activities that should get 80% of time and energy from the executive director, staff and board? After considering 2.5 years’ implementation of Vision and Action (the five-year strategic plan) and the reflections of the executive director, board members, and Vision and Action participants, the board identified five priorities for NACC in the next 12 months.
First is the current and future financial health of NACC. You are probably not surprised, because in our homes and ministry settings we have all taken long looks at income and expenses. The NACC is no different. Our largest sources of income are membership fees, certification and renewal of certification fees, and CPE unit registrations.
We don’t want to keep raising those. We continue to study how we can reduce expenses. For example, if you are receiving Vision electronically you are contributing to expense reduction. If you do not currently have an e-mail address on file with NACC, you could help reduce NACC expenses by getting and sending your e-mail address. (Your action would also speed your communications from the NACC.)
Second priority is to increase the number of NACC members in all categories. The NACC is a membership organization, so renewal of membership is critical to the organization. Each of the past five years, the NACC has lost approximately 150 members, mostly through retirement. How can you participate in this priority? Re-read the categories of membership available on the NACC website. Whom can you invite to become a member? Colleagues? Persons enrolled in ministry formation programs or schools of theology? Parish nurses? Stephen Ministers? Share the new NACC video or brochure. Share NACC Now and some of the resources on the NACC website. Remember the phrase used by some of our brothers and sisters: Each one reach one.
Third priority is to further develop the NACC’s relationship with the Catholic Church. Through the action of Bishop Calvo, our episcopal liaison, the NACC Episcopal Advisory Council now has a representative from each of the country’s regions. In early November David Lichter will be meeting with the Episcopal Advisory Council. David is also taking the leadership with several other church-related matters that will serve the membership.
The last two priorities are more process-related, how we want NACC to function. The first process priority is to work collaboratively with other related organizations. The focus in this priority is on collaboration: to support other organizations; to work together and thereby strengthen the collective impact, and to avoid duplication. Topping the list of related organizations would be the Spiritual Care Collaborative (SCC) with its member organizations (AAPC, APC, ACPE, CAPPE, and NAJC) and Catholic Health Association (CHA). In addition, NACC has existing partnerships with a number of organizations and common interests with others.
The second process-related priority is to move the leadership of NACC activities wherever possible to groups/states/areas of the country or to individuals. This priority is about subsidiarity and delegation. It’s also about freeing up the executive director and national staff to focus on tasks that they need to do. The priority builds on the current involvement of many NACC members in various activities. The process implements the Whitehead four-step model of leadership: do the task yourself, find someone else to work with you on the task, let the other person take the lead on the task but help him or her, and have the other person take leadership of the task.
The five priorities indicated above are NACC’s “elevator talk” that any one of us can give between two (or at least three) floors. How can you contribute to each priority? What feedback and ideas do you have for implementing these five?
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