Issue #334 – September 14, 2020

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We offer special prayers of support to our NACC members and all those affected by the devastation caused by the fires in California, Oregon, and Washington.

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

NACC

1. Executive Director’s Reflection
2. Register today for our Friday, September 25, 2020, 12:00-1:30 pm Central NACC Annual Meeting: Honoring the Mission of Chaplains!
3. Welcome to our new NACC members who joined us in August!
4. Thank you to those of you who have already given to our 2020 Annual Member Campaign! Please join them!
5. Death of a former NACC member, Sister Lucille (Mary Placid) Borengasser, OSB
6. NACC members in the news.
7. Last chance to nominate NACC Members, Professional Colleagues and Groups! Deadline this Friday, September 18th!
8. Reminder that Certification Applications deadline is tomorrow, September 15, 2020!
9. In Vision: Interracial marriage offers firsthand look at racism – and numbness
10. Vision seeks articles on chaplaincy, healthcare, and race
11. Member COVID Listening Call this week, September 16th at 3:00 pm central time
12. Do you need a Listening Heart?
13. NACC Networking Calls for September/October 2020 – All are welcome to participate!
14. Healing Tree: a request for prayers

CHAPLAINCY NEWS, EDUCATION AND PROFESSIONAL SUPPORTS

15. Don’t forget to check the NACC Anti-Racism page for resources!
16. Don’t forget to check the NACC Coronavirus page for resources!
17. Register today for Chaplaincy as a Ministry of the Church Presented by David A. Lichter, DMin
18. Seeking potential webinar presenters for the following topics
19. October 25-31, 2020 is Pastoral Care Week / Spiritual Care Week 2020
20. Other free continuing education opportunities
21. Seeking Chaplain experiences for research
22. Recent job postings

1. Executive Director’s Reflection
I was certainly very familiar with yesterday’s Gospel of Matthew 18:21-35 and Jesus’ expectation of forgiving seventy-times seven. Forgiveness is a life-giving act for oneself as well as for the other. I suspect most of us are familiar with the psychological studies on the healthy choice of forgiving another. It brought me back to the scientific research on forgiveness over the past 30 years, including the Catholic psychologist, Robert Enright, and his four stages of forgiveness and the psychological benefits of forgiveness. For a helpful article on looking at the past 30 years of this psychological study on forgiveness you can go to an easy read in a 2019 article in Psychology Today: https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/the-forgiving-life/201904/reflecting-30-years-forgiveness-science A simple read on Robert Enright’s proposed eight keys to forgiveness you can go to: https://greatergood.berkeley.edu/article/item/eight_keys_to_forgiveness. So much has been researched and written on this topic over the past three decades.

However, I found myself more taken by the images and questions from the first reading from ancient book of Sirach (27:30-28:7). Verse 30 was: “Wrath and anger are hateful things, yet the sinner hugs them tight.” Hugs them tight is a strong image. Later it uses “nurture anger” and “cherishes wrath.” These are strong verbs we use to describe in human relationships; not ones to describe how we relate to an emotion. Yet, many of us can relate to whether personally or in experiences with those with whom we minister. I think how I have hugged or nurtured anger, both in the sense of taking a discontented comfort in it or in the sense of not wanting to let go of it. It was the familiar emotion with which I identified when a memory returned, and it was rooted in the only way I wanted to interpret something that happened to me or someone who harmed me. It raises again from me the question, “What negative emotion am I still hugging, either because it’s familiar or I just don’t want to let it go?” Hugging hate and anger ultimately destroy me.

Sirach goes on to raise three questions that are not rhetorical but require my response.

All three questions make me think about what should I expect in return or as a result of my insistence on hugging hate and anger. It seems by my stubbornly insisting on perpetuating a broken bond, I have ultimately disabled my own ability to be in relationship to anyone. It seems not so much something someone will not do for me (pardon), but I have perpetuated in my own relatability its dysfunctionality. How does one relate to me with forgiveness and compassion when I have refused to cultivate within myself that type of relationality? It seems it is not that another, even the Lord would not want to pardon me (and I know God does this anyway), but I am making myself incapable of receiving it by not giving it. Hugging hate and anger is self-destructive.

I was really struck by the final recommendations of Sirach:

Remember; remember; think; remember. There is something melodically mindful in these recommendations. Remember last days; remember death; think of commands; remember Covenant.
It is not surprising the first two focus on end of life and dying. It reminded me of the enduring simplicity of Ira Byock’s Four Things That Matter Most. “Please forgive me.” “I forgive you.” “Thank you.” “I love you.”

Anyway, these are just few musing for this week. “Wrath and anger are hateful things, yet the sinner hugs them tight.” I am living with the question, “What negative emotion am I still hugging, either because it’s familiar or I just don’t want to let it go?” Hugging hate and anger ultimately destroy me.

David Lichter, D.Min.
Executive Director

2. Register today for our Friday, September 25, 2020, 12:00-1:30 pm Central NACC Annual Meeting: Honoring the Mission of Chaplains!
As a NACC member, you can register now for our Friday, September 25, 2020, 12:00-1:30 pm central, NACC Annual Meeting: Honoring the Mission of Chaplains! Please go to https://nationalcatholicwiassoc.wliinc32.com/events/NACC-Annual-Meeting-Honoring-the-Mission-of-Chaplains-189/details.

3. Welcome to our new NACC members who joined us in August!

Please join us in welcoming our new NACC member who joined us in August! Welcome!

Full Member
Rev. Michael O. Ajayi
Mr. Julian K. Anyaegbu
Mr. Preston A. Becker
Mrs. Jessica R. Devlin
Mr. James Engelbert
Rev. Abraham A. Kannampalackal
Sr. Thao Nguyen
Deacon Raul A. Perez
Rev. Chandra Sekhar Potnuru
Mrs. Julie A. Scott
Mrs. Marie T. Talley
Mrs. Denise Visconte

Ministry Volunteer
Rev. Theophilus U. Malachy

Student
Rev. Antonio A Almonte
Mr. Kent A. Stein

Affiliate
Rev. Bill N. Hawkins

4. Thank you to those of you who have already given to our 2020 Annual Member Campaign! Please join them!
Our 2020 Annual Campaign was delayed due to the pandemic but is now underway. We are deeply grateful to all those who have been able to give so far! To date, we have received 330 gifts totaling $33,932. If you have not yet been able to donate, please consider doing so today or this week! Thank you!

Please note: You can also make your donation online RIGHT NOW by going to the Annual Campaign webpage (www.nacc.org/donate) or just click here to donate.

Please give as you can! Blessings!

5. Death of a former NACC member, Sister Lucille (Mary Placid) Borengasser, OSB
We recently learned of the death of Sister Lucille (Mary Placid) Borengasser, OSB, who died on Tuesday, Aug. 25, 2020. She joined and was certified by NACC in 1975. One of our earliest certified religious women members, she served as a Chaplain, Manager, and then Pastoral Assistant in Missouri and Kansas. To read more about her, go to:
www.atchisonglobenow.com/obituaries/borengasser-lucille-1928-2020/article_41f43279-1185-5fa7-af62-f0577214b210.html

6. NACC members in the news.
We recently learned the following about our NACC members. Please share with us news of our members as you learn it!

• Allen W Siegel OFS, RN, MA, BCC, C-CISM is mentioned and quoted in “Baltimore-area hospitals begin to ease visitor restrictions amid coronavirus” (Baltimore Sun, Aug 22)
• Our member Rev. Leonard T. Chuwa BCC, PhD recently published “Bioethics of Nonexistence”
• Charles W. Sidoti, BCC, had published an OpEd in Cleveland Plain Dealer on July 27, 2020, “Cultural Humility’ in Health Care Offers a Useful Approach to Today’s Racial Turbulence”
• S. Frances Smalkowski CFSN BCC, pictured below, received an award for 35 years of service at St. John Paul II center in Danbury, CT.

7. Last chance to nominate NACC Members, Professional Colleagues and Groups! Deadline this Friday, September 18th!
Send us your nominations for the NACC Distinguished Service Award, Emergent Leader Award, and Outstanding Colleague Award to be awarded in 2021. The deadline is Friday, September 18, 2020. You can learn more and access the nomination forms at www.nacc.org/about-nacc/annual-awards.

Do you know someone who has inspired you in the work and profession of chaplaincy? We want to know. Now is your chance to express your gratitude and nominate this person. Two (2) awards, Distinguished Service Award and Emergent Leader Award, recognize NACC members for outstanding dedication and service to NACC or to the field of chaplaincy. One (1) award, Outstanding Colleague Award, is presented to a non-NACC member individual or group whose work has proven complementary to, supportive of, or otherwise has contributed to the advancement of the profession of chaplaincy.

Please consider nominating. These awards will be presented 2021.

Distinguished Service Award Nomination Form
Emergent Leader Award Nomination Form
Outstanding Colleague Award Nomination Form

8. Reminder that Certification Applications deadline is tomorrow, September 15, 2020!
DEADLINE September 15, 2020 – Initial Certification, Certified Associate Chaplain. Palliative Care and Hospice Advanced Certification (Track 1-Interview) applications.
We are accepting application portfolios for initial certification, certified associate chaplain for the September 15, 2020 deadline. The application portfolios must be postmarked by tomorrow, September 15. We also have an online upload option for the Initial Board Certification (BCC) Application on our website: https://www.nacc.org/certification/certification-submission-form/.
Advanced Certification applications are taken on an ongoing basis and can be submitted at any time.
If you have any questions or would like informational materials on initial, associate, or advanced certification, please contact Lisa Sarenac at lisasarenac@nacc.org or call (414) 483-4898 Ext. 304. Please keep our applicants and those considering Board Certification in your prayers.

9. In Vision: Interracial marriage offers firsthand look at racism – and numbness
As a white man married to a Black woman, Dan Waters has seen plenty of racism. But he was shocked, on reflection, to realize that he had learned to live with it and had become used to being treated differently by himself than when he was with his wife. To read more of his thoughts in Vision about where we go from here, visit www.nacc.org/nacc-blog/.

10. Vision seeks articles on chaplaincy, healthcare, and race
Our Vision blog is shifting its emphasis to examine how racism affects healthcare and spiritual care. If you have ideas for articles about disparity in treatment, structural inequalities, and barriers to access, representation within our profession, or other topics — or if you have had spiritual care encounters that clarified the issues for you — we would like to hear from you. Please send a summary of your idea to Vision editor David Lewellen, dlewellen@nacc.org.

11. Member COVID Listening Call this week, September 16th at 3:00 pm central time.
We did not have a call on September 9th. We will resume the COVID Listening calls on September 16th at 3pm CT (NEW TIME). This is a general listening session asking for you to bring what is on your heart.

The coming week’s general session is at the NEW TIME!
Wednesday, September 16 2020, 3pm – 4pm Central Time (4pm ET, 2pm MT, 1pm PT)

ATTENTION: You will need to register HERE for this call. You will be sent automatically the ZOOM information to access this session. If you have trouble registering please let us know at info@nacc.org.

Due to increased security from ZOOM, you may be placed in a Waiting Room. Please be patient until the host joins the call.

For more resources and blog updates be sure to read the latest update on our Coronavirus resources page.

12. Do you need a Listening Heart?

We recognize that these are unusual and uncertain times. You are being stretched in new ways and faced with challenging choices. We have a resource called, “Listening Hearts,” to provide you one on one support.

Would you like to meet with other chaplains to process your experience during these times? “Sharing of Feelings for Chaplains in the Field” will be a 50-minute bi-weekly group ZOOM session offering an opportunity for our members to express personal feelings and stresses related to ministry in this era of dramatic health care crisis.

Please contact Ramune Franitza (rfranitza@nacc.org) if you would like to speak with a Listening Heart or participate in Sharing of Feelings.

13. NACC Networking Calls for September/October 2020 – All are welcome to participate!
In addition to Listening Session with Emphasis on Self-care and Grief scheduled for Wednesdays at 3 p.m. CT (NOTE NEW TIME), NACC is offering these Networking calls in September and October:

Wednesday, September 9; 12 p.m. CT —– NACC Palliative Care/Hospice Networking Call
Monday, September 14; 1 p.m. CT —– NACC CPE-E CoP Networking Call
Monday, September 21; 11 a.m. CT —– NACC New Member Networking Call
Tuesday September 22; 2 p.m. CT —– NACC Behavioral Health Networking Call
Wednesday September 23; 10 a.m. CT —– NACC Student Networking Call
Thursday, September 24; 10 a.m. CT —– NACC Dir of Spiritual Care Networking Call
Friday, September 25; 12 p.m. CT —– ANNUAL NACC MEMBER MEETING
Monday, September 28; 11 a.m. CT —– NACC Deacon/Chaplain Networking Call
Tuesday, September 29; 2 p.m. CT —– NACC Hispanic/Latino Chaplain Networking Call
Wednesday, September 30; 10 a.m. CT —– NACC African Member Networking Call
Thursday, October 1; 2 p.m. CT —– NACC Long Term Care Networking Call
Monday, October 5; 11 a.m. CT —– NACC Under 45 Member Networking Call
Tuesday, October 6; 10 a.m. CT —– NACC One-Person Dept. Networking Call
Wednesday, October 7; 10 a.m. CT —– NACC Outpatient Settings Networking Call
Thursday, October 8; 2 p.m. CT —– NACC Nurse Networking Call
Monday, October 12; 2 p.m. CT —– NACC Pediatric Networking Call
Tuesday, October 13; 10 a.m. CT —– NACC Purposeful Retirement Networking Call
Wednesday, October 14; 12 p.m. CT —– NACC Palliative Care/Hospice Networking Call
Thursday, October 15; 10 a.m. CT —– NACC Corrections Networking Call
Monday, October 19; 11 a.m. CT —– NACC Trauma Networking Call
Tuesday, October 20; 1 p.m. CT —– NACC State Liaison Networking Call

To sign up or for more information, questions, comments or concerns contact Ramune Franitza at rfranitza@nacc.org.

You must reply to participate and receive the ZOOM code for the call. If you replied, we will forward ZOOM passcodes for a video connection via internet or you may still call in using your phone. Registering for the call, even if you cannot participate, will allow you to receive notes of the conversation and resources shared.

Calls with less than 5 participants may be postponed.

Due to ZOOM Security requirements, you may be place in a waiting room. Do not disconnect. Please be patient until the host joins the call and allows you access. If you have difficulty in joining calls using ZOOM please let Ramune Franitza (rfranitza@nacc.org) know so that we can address the difficulty. THANK YOU!

14. Healing Tree: a request for prayers *
We continue to pray for: Christy Medina’s recovery from surgery, her mother Flor Veneracion’s recovery from COVID 19, and for the soul of her father Jose Veneracion who died of COVID-19, for the special intentions of Sr. Mary A. DuPlain SJSM, Susan Balling, Isabelita Boquiren, Fr. Jim Radde SJ, Kathy Ponce, Denice Foose, Sr. Mary I. Powers DC, Rev. George J. Henninger, Fr. Jose Hernandez, Marybeth Harmon, Barbara McKee, Mary Lou O’Gorman, Joe Keegan (brother of Sr. Betty Keegan), Sr. Emily Demuth CSC (on the death of her sister Patricia), Liam O’Neill (brother of Mary T. O’Neill), and Pamela Jones, her daughter Erin and husband Eric on the loss of their unborn child Liam.

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.

CHAPLAINCY NEWS, EDUCATION AND PROFESSIONAL SUPPORTS

15. Don’t forget to check the NACC Anti-Racism page for resources!
Please continue to check our NACC Anti-Racism page for resources.
www.nacc.org/resources/antiracism-resources

16. Don’t forget to check the NACC Coronavirus page for resources!
Please continue to check our NACC Coronavirus page for resources.
www.nacc.org/resources/coronavirus-resources.

17. Register today for Chaplaincy as a Ministry of the Church Presented by David A. Lichter, DMin *
On Thursday, September 24, 2020 – 12:00 noon to 1:30 p.m. Central Time, David A. Lichter, DMin will present on Chaplaincy as a Ministry of the Church.

IF YOU CANNOT AFFORD THIS OR ANY OF OUR REMAINING WEBINARS DUE TO FINANCIAL DIFFICULTIES OF BEING FURLOUGHED, REDUCED HOURS, OR UNEMPLOYMENT, PLEASE LET US KNOW! CONTACT US AT INFO@NACC.ORG

Program Summary
Our NACC mission states: The National Association of Catholic Chaplains advocates for the profession of spiritual care and educates, certifies, and supports chaplains, clinical pastoral educators, and all members who continue the healing ministry of Jesus in the name of the Church. Chaplaincy is a profession, but also a ministry of the Church. This webinar will explore how chaplaincy is understood as an “ecclesial ministry,” NACC relates Church leadership, and how, as members, we might reflect on our chaplaincy profession as a ministry of the Church.

Program Objectives
As a result of this webinar, participants will:
1. Understand the meaning of professional chaplaincy as an “ecclesial ministry”
2. Learn of NACC’s diverse ecclesial relationships and how our members might foster relationships within the Church community
3. Explore way to reflect on one’s own professional chaplaincy as a ministry of the Church

About the Presenter
David Lichter, DMin is the Executive Director of the National Association of Catholic Chaplains.

NACC Certification Competencies Covered by the Webinar: ITP2.1, PIC2.2, PIC3.1, PIC3.2

To register for this webinar go to: https://nationalcatholicwiassoc.wliinc32.com/events/NACC-2020-Webinars-Audio-Conferences-134/details

18. Seeking potential webinar presenters for the following topics
I was recently asked to suggest webinar presenters on the following topics. I am reaching out to you, our NACC membership, for recommendations for presenters in these areas, whether yourself or someone else. Please let me know as soon as you can. Blessings, David Lichter (dlichter@nacc.org).

• The longer-term effects of living in this para-COVID environment.
• Post traumatic growth.
• Spiritual care assessment during COVID. Any changes in degrees of spiritual distress?
• Spiritual care screening.
• Tele-chaplaincy.

19. October 25-31, 2020 is Pastoral Care Week / Spiritual Care Week 2020
Pastoral Care Week gives opportunities for organizations and institutions of all kinds and types to recognize the spiritual caregivers in their midst and the ministry which the caregivers provide.

This year’s dates are October 25-31, 2020. This year’s theme is Collaborative Healthcare: Chaplains Complete the Picture. Learn more at Our Pastoral Care Week page.

20. Other free continuing education opportunities

• God Was in This Place, and I Did Not Know
  As communal religious leaders we too seek answers to these questions. In examining Jacob’s encounter with God (Genesis 28:10) we will have the opportunity to explore ‘Predicate Theology – not where is God, rather WHEN is God’.

  Friday, October 2, 2020 – 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.
  Featured speaker: Rabbi Steven E. Kaye, BCC, MSW
  https://www.roswellpark.org/cancer-care/support/spiritual-care/upcoming-events/god-was-place-i-did-not-know

• McDonald Agape Virtual Conference – “I Was Sick and You Came to Visit Me: Reflections on the State of Pastoral Care” November 6 @ 8:00 am – 4:00 pm
  The Pellegrino Center for Clinical Bioethics and the McDonald Agape Foundation would like to welcome you to participate in the upcoming webinar, “I Was Sick and You Came to Visit Me: Reflections on the State of Pastoral Care,” scheduled for Friday, November 6th, 2020. This conference is the fifth and final in a series of annual conferences on controversies in Christian thought about care at the end of life, called, “Dying a Christian Death.” The webinar will be moderated by Farr Curlin, MD, Duke University, and Daniel Sulmasy, Acting Director and André Hellegers Professor of Biomedical Ethics at the Kennedy Institute of Ethics at Georgetown University.

  Info and registration information at https://kennedyinstitute.georgetown.edu/events/mcdonald-agape-virtual-conference-i-was-sick-and-you-came-to-visit-me-reflections-on-the-state-of-pastoral-care/

21. Seeking Chaplain experiences for research
Rev. Carol Barrett, MDiv, BCC is seeking chaplain experiences for a research project. If you have incorporated Ignatian Spirituality into your chaplaincy OR if you have provided for spiritual care of individuals suffering with PTSD (from any type of traumatic events), you may contact Rev. Carol at cjbarrett44@gmail.com

22. 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

CHAPLAIN
Waterloo, Iowa – Waterloo Medical Center

DIRECTOR of PASTORAL/SPIRITUAL CARE
Notre Dame, IN – The Sisters of the Holy Cross, Inc

CHAPLAIN
Santa Maria, CA – Marian Regional Medical Center

DIRECTOR MISSION INTEGRATION
Henderson, NV

SPIRITUAL CARE MANAGER
Billings, Montana – St. Vincent Healthcare / SCL Health

DIRECTOR OF SPIRITUAL CARE
Cleveland, OH – Cleveland Clinic Marymount Hospital