2022 Board Election
The election has ended. Thank you for your votes!
We welcome and congratulate Sedona T. Montelongo BCC-PCHAC and Dr. Caterina Mako ThM, DMin, BCC, newly elected members of the NACC Board of Directors!
Sedona and Caterina will serve a three year term starting in January, 2023. Both have a long history with NACC and have contributed greatly to the advancement of our profession.
Dr. Caterina Mako ThM, DMin, BCC
Director of Pastoral Care
Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania
Board Candidate video: Meet Dr. Caterina Mako
Hello. My name is Caterina and I thank you for giving me this opportunity to introduce myself. Having lived many lives already it is difficult to choose just a few things to share about myself. The following are seminal moments for me. I am an immigrant from Romania. I arrived in New York with my family on July 4th 1976. As a 12 year old I had no idea of the significance of that day for the United States or that 25 years later I would be standing in the rubble of those iconic World Trade Center towers ministering to the fire fighters and medical personnel conducting the recovery effort of 9-11-2001. I began my chaplain residency in August of 2001 and by the middle of the next month was providing spiritual support to the men and women who were pulling bodies out of the rubble and to those working round the clock to identify the victims. Our collective grief was like a tsunami that spared one. That experience shaped me in ways that I am still discovering but at the time it crystalized my calling to be with people during the darkest of times.
I completed my training at Calvary Hospital, then the first inpatient Palliative Care facility, caring for adults with end-stage cancer the following year. Our student research project was about spiritual pain as it correlates with physical pain. I continued the research after graduating CPE and ultimately published it in 2006. I received my certification from NACC in 2004, after completing my masters of theology.
I served 10 years at Catholic Health located on Long Island NY. As system director of Spiritual Care and Education I was blessed to work with some of the most caring and dedicated pastoral care providers. Currently I am director of Spiritual Care and Education at Hospital University of Pennsylvania, Penn Medicine. Philadelphia was my first home in the United State, and I am delighted to now serve the good people of Philadelphia as a chaplain and to continue my advocacy for good spiritual care.
I am married to Josh Osowski, a park superintendent for Northern New Jersey. We are both avid hikers and love wilderness camping. Nature is a big part of my spirituality. My son Anton, who was 4 when I began my training is now 28 and in the middle of his doctoral work in psychology.
Sedona T. Montelongo BCC-PCHAC
Chaplain, Palliative Care
Board Candidate video: Meet Sedona Montelongo
My story begins in the early 60’s in El Paso, TX, where I was raised by my Irish-American father and Mexican-American mother. Seeking better opportunities for my brother and me, my parents sacrificed to send us to parochial schools where I attended Loretto Academy High School. Reflecting on my experience there, I often think how the “good Sisters” of Loretto must be “turning in their graves” if they realized what I grew up to be. This is because I was then a mischievous rebel — think Maria, “How do we solve a problem like Sedona…” from the Sound of Music but a tad worse.
Much has happened since then, but my professional turning point was my graduate school experience at Washington Theological Union in Washington, DC. It completely changed the trajectory of my life leading to my desire to become a Board Certified Chaplain. I accomplished this goal in 2007 when I received my initial certification and again in 2014, with my Palliative Care and Hospice Advanced Certification. While rigorous, I found my initial interview process to be rewarding and in 2008, I volunteered to be a “Pastoral Presence” for interviews held at Holy Cross Hospital in Silver Spring, MD. In 2009, I became an interviewer and served on interview committees every year until 2016, when I was invited to join the Certification Commission. Currently, I am the Chair of the Certification Commission as well as a member of the CHOT, CAC and PCHAC committees.
2021 Final results
Thank you for voting! Congratulations to Ruth Jandeska and Fr. Lawrence Chellaian on their election to the Board of Directors.
2020 Final results
We thank all members who voted in the election. Please join us in congratulating Rev. Richard J. Bartoszek and Austine Duru on their election to the Board of Directors.
