Issue #247 – April 24, 2017

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(Items marked with a * are new or updated items)

NACC

1. Executive Director’s Reflection*
2. NACC Board of Directors will meet this week prior to the 2017 National Conference.*
3. NACC Certification Commission will meet his week prior to the 2017 National Conference.*
4. NACC 2016 Annual Report is now available on NACC Website for your review.
5. Death of a member*
6. Read about the conference on our NACC blog!
7. Read in Vision: Putting egos aside to collaborate*
8. We are grateful to the many people contributing to the May 20-21, 2017 Certification Interviews!
9. NACC networking calls for May, June 2017

2017 NATIONAL CONFERENCE APRIL 28-MAY 1, 2017

10. Take advantage of the Live Streaming of the 2017 Conference this week!*

CHAPLAINCY NEWS, EDUCATION AND PROFESSIONAL SUPPORTS

11. Have you heard of MOOC?*
12. Healing Tree: a request for prayers*
13. Recent job postings*

1. Executive Director’s Reflection
“Jesus came and stood in their midst and said to them, “Peace be with you.” When he had said this, he showed them his hands and his side. The disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord. Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you.” And when he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit. Whose sins you forgive are forgiven them, and whose sins you retain are retained.” John 20: 19-23.

Peace be with you. Peace be with you. If there is a core message in our healing ministry, this is it. Is it not? We search for signs of peace, or lack thereof, as we seek to attend to the wholeness of the human person who is suffering, in pain, or towards the end of life.

I recently read a research article, “Are You at Peace?” One Item to Probe Spiritual Concerns at the End of Life by Karen E. Steinhauser, PhD; Corrine I. Voils, PhD; Elizabeth C. Clipp, RN, MS, PhD;
Hayden B. Bosworth, PhD; Nicholas A. Christakis, MD, PhD, MPH; James A. Tulsky, MD, (Arch Intern Med/ Vol 166, Jan 9, 2006)
jamanetwork.com/journals/jamainternalmedicine/fullarticle/409431

In it the authors cited another qualitative research study of “patients’, bereaved family members’, and health care providers’ perceptions of what is important at the end of life.” The study inquired about the perception what makes a ‘good’ or ‘bad’ death. (Steinhauser KE, Clipp EC, McNeilly M, Christakis NA, McIntyre LM, Tulsky JA., In search of a good death: observations of patients, families, and providers. Ann Intern Med. 2000; 132:825-832.) “Of the 70 attributes generated, participants frequently reported that a positive end-of-life experience was associated with having “come to peace” or “being at peace.” For many responding this carried a religious sense of “being at peace with God.” For those not referring to God it was a sense of tranquility. The article provided more analysis.

The conclusion of the “Are You at Peace” study is not surprising to us.

We realize that living in and out of peace is a lifetime journey. Being a minister of healing requires that we be at peace with and within ourselves. Pope Francis ended his message for January 1, 2017 World Day of Peace with a paragraph that included two of his quotes from prior talks, which highlights how profoundly central peacemaking is to his papacy.

So, today, this Easter season, in our lifetime, we can live and give this “peace be with you” at the heart of the healing ministry we have been gifted to live.

From one called to be an artisan of peace to another, blessings on you this Easter Season!

David Lichter, D.Min.
Executive Director

2. NACC Board of Directors will meet this week prior to the 2017 National Conference.
The NACC Board of Directors will hold the first of their two in-person 2017 meetings this coming Thursday, April 27, and Friday morning, April 28, at the 2017 National Conference setting prior to the Conference. The Board members will devote themselves to its strategic priorities of diverse collaborative initiatives and planning for NACC’s future. The Board members look forward to receiving NACC member counsel and feedback during the annual business meeting next Sunday at the National Conference.

3. NACC Certification Commission will meet this week prior to the 2017 National Conference.
The NACC Certification Commission will hold the first of its two in-person meetings this coming Wednesday evening, April 26, through Friday morning, April 28, at the 2017 National Conference setting prior to the Conference. The Commission has a joint meeting with the NACC Board of Directors on Thursday, April 27.

4. NACC 2016 Annual Report is now available on NACC Website for your review.
As part of our accountability and stewardship to our members, we annually prepare and present to you an Annual Report on the NACC. This includes summary of activities by various NACC leaders, including Board Chair, Mary Lou O’Gorman, and Executive Director, David Lichter, as well as the financial review of 2016. Please take the time to read this report. We are grateful to all our members for their commitment to the NACC mission.

5. Death of a member
Our NACC member, Sr. Jenni L. Skerk, HM, BCC, died on March 16, 2017. Sr. Jenni joined NACC in 1993 and was Board Certified in 1995, and remained a member of NACC until her death. Please join us in commending Sr. Jenni to the Lord. Please read her obituary.
www.legacy.com/obituaries/news-herald/obituary.aspx?page=lifestory&pid=184555508

6. Read about the conference on our NACC blog!
To provide our members with more timely conference coverage in the May-June issue of Vision, we are experimenting this year with a new NACC blog. Vision editor David Lewellen will post several articles about the conference before members have caught their flights out of Albuquerque, and more coverage will follow during the following week as you settle back into your daily routines. To read all about it, remember to visit www.nacc.org/nacc-blog. You can find the blog from our home page by clicking About NACC>Blog.

7. Read in Vision: Putting egos aside to collaborate
When representatives of four associations revised the writing guide for certification applicants, the first step was to get past egos and agendas. The process worked, and the result has been well-received. Mary Davis writes about the collaboration in the current issue of Vision.

8. We are grateful to the many people contributing to the May 20-21, 2017 Certification Interviews! *
The National Office and many volunteers have been busy completing preparations for the May 20-21, 2017 certification interviews. The interviews are being held in five locations: Milwaukee, WI; Middletown, CT; Indianapolis, IN; Omaha, NE; and Torrance CA. There are at least 120 people involved in the interview weekend: 47 applicants, 51 interviewers, 11 Interview Team Educators, 5 Site Coordinators, 1 Certification Commissioner-on-Call, and 5 Pastoral Presence Volunteers as well as Other Volunteers. Thanks so much for all our volunteers’ hard work and dedication to the NACC Certification process! Please keep our certification applicants, and all of those involved, in your thoughts and prayers as they prepare for certification interviews.

9. NACC networking calls for May, June 2017

If you wish to participate on any of these calls and are not already on that particular call list, please contact Ramune Franitza at rfranitza@nacc.org.

• NACC Outpatient Group Call – Monday May 15, 2017 – 10 am CT
• NACC Palliative Care/Hospice Call – Thursday, May 25, 2017 – 10:30 am CT
• NACC Canadian Group Call – Tuesday, June 20, 2017 – 2 pm CT
• NACC Palliative Care/Hospice Call – Thursday, June 22, 2017 – 11 am CT

2017 NATIONAL CONFERENCE APRIL 28-MAY 1, 2017

10. Take advantage of the Live Streaming of the 2017 Conference this week!

Hello NACC members and all those serving in spiritual care,

This year’s annual Conference is being held April 28-May 1, 2017 at the Hyatt Regency Tamaya Resort and Spa in Santa Ana Pueblo, New Mexico, just outside Albuquerque. Around 400 of our members will come together to celebrate, learn, worship, and network together.

For those who cannot attend the conference, we have arranged for live-streaming* of the four plenary speakers, along with the welcome and opening prayer service. This will provide you with the opportunity to view the sessions “live”, as they take place. The sessions are also being recorded and the recordings will be available to registrants after the event.

If you have not yet registered to receive access to the live-streamed events, there is still time to do so. All registrants who participate in the events “live” will also receive a link to the recordings after the conference is over.

The charge for accessing the live streaming and/or recordings is $80 for NACC members and $100 for non-NACC members. The fee covers the welcome/opening prayer service and all four plenary speaker sessions. Please note that this is a package deal that includes all the four plenary sessions and welcome/opening prayer and we do not offer separate registration for individual sessions.

We hope you will take advantage of the opportunity to view these sessions.

The sessions that will be the subject of live streaming are:

• Friday, April 28, 2017 at 2:00 pm: Conference Welcome/Opening Prayer
• Friday, April 28, 2017 at 3:00 pm: LIVING TRADITION: Were Not Our Hearts Burning. Presented by Dr. Dianne Bergant, CSA
• Saturday, April 29, 2017 at 10:15 am: REMEMBER! AND THEN JESUS WALKS AND TALKS US BACK INTO LIFE. Presented by Dr. Megan A. McKenna
• Sunday, April 30, 2017 at 8:30 am: WHO IS THIS? Encountering God in Other People and Traditions. Presented by Dr. Emmanuel Lartey
• Monday, May 1, 2017 at 8:30 am: Catalytic Conversions with Conversing Narratives: Alchemical Traditions that Transform Us. Presented by Dr. Raymond Reyes

Please note that all times listed are Mountain Time Zone.

7 CEH hours (1.75 hours per plenary session) are offered.

To view the streamed sessions requires a computer with Internet access. Please take a few moments to register online: Register. Once registered, you will receive a confirmation e-mail with a link to the site where the plenary sessions may be viewed.

*Streaming is the transmission or reception of live video and audio coverage of an event over the Internet.

For news and information on our 2017 National Conference, go to:
www.nacc.org/conference

11. Have you heard of www.MOOC.org as a free professional resource?
If you are looking for more free educational offerings, a fascinating resource is www.mooc.org. While most of its free courses are offered in economics, management, and data and computer sciences, if offers several quality courses in communications also. For instance, they have a 45- minute mini course on communication skills to bridge the divide. https://www.edx.org/course/communication-skills-bridging-divides-catalystx-ildiv1x-0
When you have a moment, check it at www.mooc.org.

12. Healing Tree: a request for prayers
Please let us know if you would like our membership to pray for your health and healing. We will leave the person’s name on the Healing Tree list for three months, unless you ask us to remove your or the person’s name earlier. You can always request us to leave the name on longer.

We continue to pray for: Bernadette Bolton (mother of NACC member, Patrick Bolton), Sr. Marie V. Janousek CSJ, Sr. Romona Nowak, OP, Sr. MariaTheresa Hronec, Sr. Mary Thecla Kuhnline, Fr. Jim Radde, SJ, Mason Richter, Shane Rebholtz, Rosemary Benya BCC, Julie Bablin, Marie Coglianese, Nancy and Sheila Amrich (nieces-in-law of NACC member Sr. Paracleta Amrich), Isabelita Boquiren, Sister Stephanie Morales, FMI, Susan Balling, Jim and Frances Castello, Marga Halala, Glenn and Pat Teske, Gloria Troxler, and Kelly Elizabeth Sexton (daughter of NACC member Melyssa Sexton).

13. Recent job postings
The following positions have been posted recently on our Positions Available page.
For more information go to www.nacc.org/resources/positions.

CATHOLIC PRIEST (Full-Time)
Saint Louis, Missouri – Barnes Jewish Hospital

DIRECTOR of PASTORAL CARE and MISSION
Waterville, Maine – Mount Saint Joseph Residence and Rehabilitation

CHAPLAIN
Park Ridge, Illinois – Presence Resurrection Nursing and Rehabilitation Center

SPIRITUAL CARE MINISTERS
Green Bay, Wisconsin – St Vincent Hospital

CHAPLAIN
Miami, Florida – Miami Children’s Hospital

FT PRIEST CHAPLAIN
Paterson, New Jersey – St. Joseph’s Healthcare System

DIRECTOR of PASTORAL CARE
Baltimore, Maryland – Bon Secours Health System

CHAPLAINS – PA & NJ
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania – Holy Redeemer Health System

CATHOLIC PRIEST CHAPLAIN
Blue Springs, Missouri – St. Mary’s Medical Center
Kansas City, Missouri – St. Joseph’s Medical Center

CHAPLAIN I – PRIEST
Evanston, IL – Presence Health

DIRECTOR of PASTORAL CARE
Fraser, Michigan – Fraser Villa

CHAPLAIN
Baltimore, Maryland – Mercy Medical Center

View these jobs and more at: www.nacc.org/resources/positions.