April 28-May 1, 2017
Santa Ana Pueblo, New Mexico!
Dispatches from the 2017 Conference! Click here to read the NACC Blog.
If you are interested in purchasing 2017 conference recordings, please contact:
Jeanine Annunziato
Administrative Specialist/Education and Renewal of Certification
(414) 483-4898
jannunziato@nacc.org
CEH Certificate
Click here for the CEH Certificate
April 28 – May 1, 2017
Hyatt Regency Tamaya Resort and Spa
Santa Ana Pueblo, New Mexico
2017 Live Streaming Registration
For all other information about our 2017 National Conference, please see below.

Conference Theme
The Conference Planning Task Force is pleased to announce the theme for the 2017 National Conference is “Hearts on Fire, Our Own Emmaus Journey: Living Tradition, Sacred Stories, God Always with Us, Continually Transformed.”
In April, Catholic Chaplains and Chaplains of other faith traditions from across the nation, Canada, and beyond, will gather in New Mexico to be energized, supported, challenged and transformed personally and professionally. This year’s conference theme “Hearts on Fire, Our Own Emmaus Journey” will render the opportunity for each person to reflect on his or her own journey as Followers of Christ.
We will begin our journey with recognizing our Living Tradition – a Tradition that travels through time with a shared experience and history making us who we are as individuals and as chaplains. This Living Tradition is deeply rooted in faith and theology.
The road we travel is one in which we are continually developing our own story while we engage in the stories of those we minister to, as well as a global story. These stories are filled with challenges, struggles, brokenness, strife as well as joy, grace, peace and reconciliation. As we encounter the roads of life how do we as individuals, as a Church and as an organization, continue the Living Tradition through these Sacred Stories?
This road we travel and the ministry we engage are not done in isolation. As we continue on the road to our own Emmaus, we are constantly reminded that God is always present – ahead of us and beside us. This God is one of faithfulness who we are called by to continue the work of His saving action.
As we discover the meaning of our own Emmaus, we are transformed every step of the way. With the presence of God and Burning Hearts, we continually change and grow personally, professionally and as Followers of Christ. It is with Transformed Burning Hearts that we continue the mission of a Church with a Living Tradition and Sacred Stories always in the Presence of a Living God.
Plenary Speakers
Click here for information on our 2017 Plenary Speakers
2017 Day of Reflection (conference retreat)
In Step with the Grace of the Moment
Thursday, April 27, 2017
9:00 a.m. – 4:00 p.m.
Norbertine Hermitage Retreat Center
Overview
In the respite/breather between our daily ministry and the NACC conference, this day of reflection will provide time and space to be attentive to how the Holy One has “shown up” in our lives—in our encounters with patients, in our heart-to-heart or casual conversations with loved ones and colleagues, in passing meetings with strangers, and in solitude.
Often there is not time “in the moment” to appreciate how Holy Mystery is present to us. We are surprised when we look back on our journey to see God’s self-revelation to us in familiar or new ways. As Pope Francis says, “To be serenely present to each reality, however small it may be, opens us to much greater horizons of understanding and personal fulfillment.” (Laudato Si, 222)
The Road to Emmaus story gives us a real-life example of being in an in-between or liminal space—a place where we may get a glimpse of what is to come without yet knowing the new form our lives may take. Like the disciples on the road, sometimes we may feel disoriented, lacking in hope, or longing for the comforts of home. As we meditatively explore our current situation, with the grace available to us in the moment, a shift in perspective, an openness to change, a new insight, may break in and transform our hearts from broken to burning, as it did the disciples. Then, with renewed hope, we can better tend to the Holy in those with whom we journey.
The day will include time for individual reflection, opportunities for sharing, poetry, song and story, and the freedom to go down whatever road the Spirit leads you toward.
Day of Reflection Facilitator
Meg Ashcroft is a Norbertine Oblate and the Director of the Norbertine Spirituality Center at Santa Maria de la Vid Abbey in Albuquerque. She moved to New Mexico in 1994 to serve on the staff of the Center for Action and Contemplation. Meg has served in campus, parish and retreat ministry for over 25 years. She has a BA in Religious Studies, and MA in Theology, and a certificate in spiritual direction. Meg has facilitated retreat days for hospital/hospice chaplains and other groups, and has worked in spiritual direction with chaplains, ministers and laypeople of many Christian denominations. Her passion is accompanying people as they live into their identity as beloved adult children of God. Meg lives with her husband, Don, seven chickens, two dogs and a horse in the South Valley of Albuquerque.
2017 Conference Workshops
Click here for information on our 2017 workshops.
2017 Conference Task Force
Chair
Dr. Elizabeth A. Lenegan, PhD, BCC
Plenary Speaker Chair
Mr. Thomas J. Chirdo, BCC, ACPE Supervisor
Workshop Chair
Mr. Alex Chamtcheu-Tchamtcheu BCC
Liturgy Chair
Rev. Richard J. Bartoszek, MDiv, BCC
Local Arrangements Co-Chair
Mrs. Eve Kelly Corcoran, MA, MS, BCC
Local Arrangements Co-Chair
Ms. Mary C. Casey, MDiv, BCC
Board Liaison
Rev. Michael R. Saxton, MDiv, BCC, ACPE Supervisor
Ex-Officio
David A. Lichter, DMin
Ex-Officio
Jeanine M. Annunziato
Ex-Officio
Andris J. Kursietis
Conference Sponsors
AMITA Health
Conference Workshop (SU6)
Ascension Health
Plenary Speaker ~ Dr. Emmanuel Lartey
Beaumont Hospital Grosse Point
Conference Workshop (SU4)
Bon Secours Health System, Inc.
Pre-Conference Workshop (P3)
Catholic Health Association of the United States
Plenary Speaker ~ Dr. Dianne Bergant CSA
Catholic Health Initiatives
Membership Luncheon
CHRISTUS Health
Awards Banquet
Dignity Health
Conference Workshop (SA16)
Essentia Health, St. Mary’s Medical Center
Conference Workshop (SA1)
Franciscan Missionaries of Our Lady Health System, Inc.
Pre-Conference Workshop (P4)
Franciscan Sisters of Chicago
Conference Friend
Leadership Formation Partners
Conference Friend
Mercy Health
Day of Reflection
Presence Health
Awards Banquet
Sisters of St. Joseph of La Grange, Ministry of the Arts
Sculpture
Conference Scholarship donors
We thank the following people who have given conference scholarship donations:
Msgr. Stephen Adu-Kwaning BCC
Mrs. Elizabeth F. Baine BCC
Ms. Mary C. Bomba BCC
Sr. Rita A. Cammack OSF, BCC
Rev. Gerald A. Connealy BCC
Ms. Nancy K. Cook BCC
Ms. Mary Denise Davis BCC-S
Ms. Virginia A. Day MDiv, BCC
Rev. Alin N. Dogaru BCC
Ms. Davlyn A. Duesterhaus
Rev. Akajiaku P. Eluka BCC
Mrs. Alycia M. Gorman BCC
Sr. Colette Hanlon SC, BCC
Mrs. Marijo Heffner
Ms. Victoria A. Lucas BCC
Dr. Mary Beth Moran BCC
Dr. Apolinary J. Ngirwa
Sr. Ellen M. O’Connor ASCJ, BCC
Ms. Mary Lou O’Gorman BCC
Dr. Jennifer W. Paquette BCC
Ms. Christine E. Picchi BCC
Ms. Louise Anne Pinette de Siller BCC
Mrs. Maritza Ramos-Pratt BCC
Sr. Maryanne Ruzzo SC, BCC
Mr. Thomas R. Sanger BCC
Rev. Arthur B. Schute BCC
Ms. Glenda R. Spearman BCC
Dr. Kathleen D. Sweeney
Mrs. JoAnn Thiele BCC
Mrs. Kathleen T. Ullmann BCC
Deacon Roger J. Vandervest BCC
Ms. Barbara F. Zahner BCC
Sr. Andrea Zbiegien SFCC, DMin