2022 Board Election
NACC Election for the 2 vacancies on the 2023 Board of Directors will take place July 5 through July 27.
We ask for your prayers for our three candidates: Patricia Crowley BCC, Caterina Mako BCC, and Sedona Montelongo BCC-PCHAC. We also request prayers of gratitude for our outgoing Board members Carolanne Hauck and Beverly Beltramo.
Meet our 2022 NACC Board of Directors Candidates: Patricia Crowley BCC, DM, Dr. Caterina Mako ThM, DMin, BCC, and Sedona T. Montelongo BCC-PCHAC!
2022 Board Candidate: Patricia Crowley BCC
Board Candidate video: Meet Patricia Crowley
When asked about the pathway to my chaplaincy and life in New Orleans, I usually smile and remark “God writes straight with crooked lines!” From my first job as an engineer in my hometown of Chicago, through 20 years practicing law in New Orleans, through 6 years in Denver as executive director and board of directors member of a non-profit membership association, and 2 years back in New Orleans as a parish liturgy director, God called me to complete my chaplaincy ministry education and become board certified. The many and varied gifts, skills and talents I have developed throughout the years have all brought value and richness to my chaplaincy, and to my NACC volunteer service.
I joined NACC in 2013, became board certified in 2014, have served as Louisiana state liaison since 2015, and Governance Committee member since 2017. I served on 2 certification interview teams and mentored several certification candidates. In 2018, I represented NACC at a meeting of the Louisiana Bishops to discuss professional chaplaincy and clinical pastoral education. I attended and volunteered at the 2015-2019 annual conferences.
I am passionate about Catholic chaplaincy and honored to be board certified. I am grateful that NACC provides to all Catholics the ability to be credentialed and publicly recognized by the Catholic Church. Through its education, spiritual support, encouragement and mentorship opportunities, NACC has helped me grow personally and professionally. As a Board member, I will foster the continued growth and development of NACC members.
On the Governance Committee, as NACC’s mission has evolved, I have used my legal, board of directors, and association management experience to revise and strengthen NACC’s constitution and bylaws. I want to continue to ensure to the good governance of NACC as a board member and as a resource for our new Executive Director and staff. I will focus on fulfilling the board function to “assure that the Association’s governance including its constitution and bylaws reflect its mission imperatives and values.”
Over the years, I have been intimately involved in all aspects of non-profit association management and operations, including governance, bylaws, legal affairs, finance, budgets, communications, publications, personnel and volunteer management. I want to continue to give NACC the full benefit of these skills, talents and experiences. Service on the NACC Board, helping to ensure a strong future for NACC, would be a welcome opportunity for me to thank and glorify God by using the gifts, talents and experiences with which I have been blessed.
2022 Board Candidate: 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.
I present myself to you now for consideration to serve on the Board of NACC because I finally feel that I am in a position to give back to an organization that gave so much to me. To be transparent I have not always agreed with the direction NACC took but I owe my success to the support and guidance that I received from NACC. I am ready to bring my experience, focus and dedication to the art and science of spiritual care to ensure that the NACC and chaplaincy continue to develop. A very hurting world needs chaplains. Our chaplains need support. I am ready to take up the task.
Please consider me as you make your choice and voice heard by NACC.
Respectfully, Caterina
2022 Board Candidate: 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.
Why do I want to join the NACC Board?
- I believe in our mission and the value we place on DISCIPLESHIP. Each of these letters describes what a professional chaplain is, and I personally connect with “Professionalism and Leadership.” I consider a Servant Leader and mentor.
- To help oversee the implantation of NACC’s 21-25 strategic plan. I am particularly interested in the Core Operational Assumption as we work towards partnering with other organizations and communities to become a national leader in Catholic ministry. The NACC has a strong goal and mission and to be a part of its growth brings me professional and personal satisfaction.
- Finally, as I think about how I have grown personally and professionally in the last 40 or so years, I now can say that the good Sisters of Loretto might be saying, “Well now…we knew it all along…”
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.
