Advancing Chaplaincy: Volunteer of the Month for Nov/Dec 2008
Name:
Leszek Baczkura
Work:
System Director, Spiritual Services, Resurrection Health Care, Chicago, IL
NACC member since:
1999 (I was certified in 2001)
Volunteer service:
I love being with people. I love conversations. I love to listen to people’s life stories that become alive in our conversations. I also love being with children. I do try to spend as much time as I am able with others, being truly present to them. My formal volunteer work at this time is working with the NACC/CHA Metrics Committee and helping with NACC certification interviews.
Book on your nightstand:
I love reading books that talk about relationships; relationships with God, relationships with self, and relationships with others. So the one book that I read daily is the Bible. It is full of relationships and relationships that matter, that help me grow as a person, and that open me up to the new.
Book you recommend most often:
I have recommended many different books, depending on the needs of another, but one that comes to me now is
Joshua by Joseph Girzone.
Favorite spiritual resource:
Wiola, my wife, nature and people. Wiola has blessed me tremendously on my spiritual and personal life journey. She is my wife of two years now, Oct. 21.
Favorite fun self-care activity:
Enjoying nature with Wiola, being with our friends, and riding our “hot” red sports motorcycle and sailing.
Favorite movie:
"The Mission"
Favorite retreat spot:
A retreat center of the Pauline Monks in the Tatra Mountains, Bachledowka, Poland. Awesome beauty of God’s life.
Personal mentor or role model:
John Paul II. I was blessed to be with him a few times during his visits to Poland as pope. On Aug. 15, 1991, at 11:45 a.m., I shook hands with him. I will never forget this moment, the handshake and his words — “Be good to yourself.” I admire his way of being with others.
Famous/historic mentor or role model:
St. Francis of Assisi, St. John Vianney and St. John Bosco are also role models for me. I admire them because of the ways they related to and with people and nature: emotionally, personally, professionally and spiritually.
Why did you become a chaplain?
For years I studied in different seminaries, both in my home country of Poland and in the United States. I wanted to become a priest and I loved the ministry part of my life then, but I also wanted to have a family – a wife and children. I knew I could not have my own family and be a priest at the same time. Eventually I realized that I could care for God’s people and still care for my personal, emotional, psychological and relational needs by having a wife and children. During my seminary studies in Providence, RI, I took one CPE unit. This turned out to be providential as I decided to do a CPE Residency after my graduation from the seminary. I love being able to be present and journey with others, especially during their most growing moments and experiences. I recall then many of those moments in my personal life, and I thank God for others being present to me and journeying with me at those times.
What do you get from the NACC?
I value professional relationships much. We are blessed at RHC to have over 90chaplains and CPE students. But to be able to be connected to even many more chaplains, whose chaplain ministry is the essence of their lives, is truly a blessing. NACC provides connections to those relationships, a network to build upon from personal, professional, and theological perspectives.
Why do you stay in the NACC?
Because of the personal, professional, spiritual and theological “food” NACC provides through relationships, networking, articles, conferences and meetings. It is the nurturing aspect of our association that helps me grow.
Why do you volunteer?
I need to be with and minister to others in order to grow, to become fuller and better, to learn. I also want to give of myself to others.
What volunteer activity has been most rewarding?
Through my work on the Metrics Committee I have seen and experienced the true and genuine dedication of so many chaplains and other healthcare professionals. This has been very rewarding to me.
What have you learned from volunteering?
I have been blessed by being with people on their “holy ground.” To be able to be on that “holy ground” of others is most precious.
Take me back to the main Volunteers page.
