NACC: Vision Online

Vol. 19, No. 5
September/October 2009

ARTICLES

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

Butterfly flutterings abound;

watch for long-term effects

By Sr. Barbara Brumleve, SSND, Ph.D.
NACC Board Chair

In my reflections on our NACC 2008 Annual Report, (Vision, May-June 2009), I closed with “I wonder what were our 2008 ‘butterfly effects,’ those small variations in a living system like NACC that in the long run may produce large variations.” I cited a few and invited NACC members to add to the list. Today I want to mention a few “butterfly wing flutters” that I have sensed in the past few months.

NACC continues to work with CHA (Catholic Health Association), with schools of theology and health systems across the country. Some of the effects are already seen -- advocacy, a brochure, a video, and planning for joint educational offerings. Small flutterings of wings: what will be their long-term effect?

Sue Wintz, APC president and member of the Spiritual Care Collaborative, continues to be deeply involved in the Joint Commission’s revision of standards and design of an implementation guide to help hospitals make the standards come alive. Not only is she focusing on the spiritual components of health care, but she has solicited the help of all six SCC organizations -- including NACC. More flutterings!

Several months ago, Deryck Durston, ACPE associate director, researched and published for all ACPE members (ACPE e-News, April 21, 2009) a list of ACPE Board motions about ACPE-NACC cooperation, dating back to fall 1995. Let me summarize them:

ACPE recognizes NACC units of CPE (Board motion, Fall 1995.
In dually accredited centers (accredited by both USCCB/CCA and ACPE):

NACC supervisors are able to supervise ACPE students, sign the students’ evaluations, and register the unit with ACPE (Board motion, Fall 1995).
An ACPE supervisor shall oversee compliance with ACPE Standards for all units and insure that the NACC supervisor has agreed to abide by the accreditation and ethics standards of ACPE. When an ACPE supervisor is no longer employed by the center, then an ACPE consultant shall be employed by the center to assess this compliance. (Board motion, Spring 1996).
NACC supervisors are able to report their own units electronically to ACPE when necessary. Directions for using the Online Student Unit Reporting System can be found in the ACPE e-news, April 21, 2009.

Effective Jan. 1, 2001, ACPE recognized the certification of any active fully certified NACC supervisor who was in good standing and applied for ACPE certification. The NACC supervisor must have been fully certified by May 1, 2001 (Board motion, Fall 2000).
A joint task force was established (2001) to address Supervisory CPE (Candidacy and Associate) in NACC and ACPE. This task force was discontinued, however, after NACC chose not to continue in this direction. So further discussion of possible reciprocity was also discontinued. In the spring of 2006, the ACPE Board voted to end the opportunity for NACC supervisors to apply for ACPE certification through this reciprocity agreement (Spring, 2006).

Where do you sense the “butterfly effect” in your ministry? In NACC?

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