Issue #346 – March 1, 2021
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(Items marked with a * are new or updated items)
NACC
1. Executive Director’s Reflection *
2. Welcome to our new NACC members who joined us in February 2021! *
3. Please sign up for the NACC Members Only Virtual Event: Just(-ice) Listening: A Pathway toward Healing, Saturday, March 13, 2021, 11:00 am – 2:00 pm central time *
4. In Vision: If you’re being introduced to a racist: What would Jesus do? *
5. Request for Vision writers: One year of pandemic *
6. NACC Networking Calls for March 2021 – All are welcome to participate! *
7. Member COVID Listening Calls will continue in March. *
8. Do you need a Listening Heart?
9. Healing Tree: a request for prayers
2021 NATIONAL CONFERENCE, OCTOBER 29 – NOVEMBER 1, 2021
10. Friday, October 29, to Monday, November 1, 2021, for NACC National Conference!
CHAPLAINCY NEWS, EDUCATION AND PROFESSIONAL SUPPORTS
11. Don’t forget to check the NACC Anti-Racism page for resources! *
12. Don’t forget to check the NACC Coronavirus page for resources! *
13. Register today for our NACC upcoming March webinar *
14. Learn more about our 2021 NACC Education/Formation programming approach *
15. USCCB video about certification, featuring NACC’s Board Chair and Executive Director *
16. Other educational offerings *
17. Recent job postings *
1. Executive Director’s Reflection
Some words or passages from the scriptures just stay with us, and become definitional for us, reminders that God speaks and remains present with us, loving and embracing us. Simple words from today’s Gospel, Mark’s version of the Transfiguration of Jesus (Mk. 9:2-10), caught my eye and triggered a memory for me. “Then a cloud came, casting a shadow over them; from the cloud came a voice, “This is my beloved Son. Listen to him.” (Mk 9:7)
Of course, it takes us back to Mark’s first chapter where he narrates Jesus’ baptism that ends with Mk.1:11 “And a voice came from the heavens, “You are my beloved Son; with you I am well pleased.”
We are reminded that the prefiguration of Jesus’s suffering with the Transfiguration is tied both to His baptism at the Jordan and His suffering and death. In both God embraces His beloved Son.
My memory surfaced an experience in spring 1977 with my Jesuit professor, Michael Buckley, SJ, who met with me at the end of the course “Religious Experience through Autobiography.” This final assignment was writing my own religious autobiography, my journey with God to that point in my life. It was a profound and revealing exercise. When I had my final meeting with Professor Buckley, he said to me simply, “David, make your mantra the words of God to Jesus, ‘You are my beloved’.” Seemed straightforward at the time, but he recognized, and I realized that I had not always believed and taken it to heart, and still do not at times believe and take to heart, those words as if they are spoken to me. They are spoken to me in the depths of my being in every moment, filling me with love and assurance.
Maybe this Gospel this Lent is a reminder to me, and maybe to you, of God’s loving assurance that we are the beloved in whom God is well pleased. Seems like a simple message, yet it takes me a lifetime to absorb it. Sometimes I think of the simple phrase, “I love you” as a lifetime journey of striving to move from the “I” through the passions, failures, joys, and sorrows of the “Love” experience to the ultimate gift of focusing on the other, the “You.”
Perhaps, this Lenten season need not be too complicated for me, for you. What does it feel like to hear again, “You are my beloved?” Do I let myself believe it to the depths of my being? Do I allow myself to recognize and forgive what stands in the way of fully embracing those words?
Beloved, blessings on your Lenten Journey!
David Lichter, D.Min.
Executive Director
2. Welcome to our new NACC members who joined us in February 2021!
Please join in welcoming our new NACC members who joined us in February! Welcome!
Chaplaincy Ministry
Mr. Venatius Agbasiere (Buffalo, NY)
Sister Marissa Butler (Marion, IA)
Mary J. Howard (Menasha, WI)
Katherine Loftin Kerzak (Morgantown, WV)
Monica-Lisa Mills (Brooklyn, NY)
Mrs. Nancy K. Nelson (Dover, MA)
Sister Gabrielle Nguyen (Williamsport, PA)
Agata Wyszynski (Independence, OH)
Professional Ministry Membership
Deacon Robert E. Barros-Bailey (Hidden Springs, ID)
Student Member
James D. Jones (Huntington, WV)
Ellen G. Mayer (West Hartford, CT)
Patrice Nerone (Chicago, IL)
Volunteer Ministry
Deborah J. Clifton (Carencro, LA)
3. Please sign up for the NACC Members Only Virtual Event: Just(-ice) Listening: A Pathway toward Healing, Saturday, March 13, 2021, 11:00 am – 2:00 pm central time
As part of NACC’s on-going strategy towards racial justice, we are offering a three-hour continuing education virtual event free of charge to NACC members. The virtual event was planned and will be facilitated entirely by NACC members.
The virtual event will feature a panel conversation with NACC members who identify from various racial backgrounds, asking them their personal experiences in their ministries, their communities, the Catholic Church, and the NACC.
The virtual event will be recorded and posted on the NACC website for members unable to attend the live presentation. Please join us! More information can be found on the NACC website.
4. In Vision: If you’re being introduced to a racist: What would Jesus do?
When a parishioner invited Fr. Dons Onyeke to his home and then apprehensively mentioned that his wife was a racist, it produced some uncomfortable feelings. But Fr. Dons was able to quickly process his own anxiety and make the encounter about others – just as Jesus might have. To read more in our latest Vision article, click below.
www.nacc.org/vision/january-february-2021/if-youre-being-introduced-to-a-racist-what-would-jesus-do
5. Request for Vision writers: One year of pandemic
The March-April theme for our weekly Vision articles will be “Holding Hope: Lessons learned from one year of pandemic.” As we mark the strangest 12 months of our lives, it is also an opportunity to reflect, to remember, and to assess what we have lost and gained and what looks different now. If your institution has worked to build greater system-wide resilience, if your department is planning to memorialize the one-year mark since your first COVID case, if you have found a new way to extend your healing hands – we would like to hear from you. Please send a summary of your idea to Vision editor David Lewellen, dlewellen@nacc.org.
6. NACC Networking Calls for March 2021 – All are welcome to participate!
Friday, March 5, 2021; 11 a.m. CT………………… Directors of Spiritual Care Networking Call
Monday, March 8, 2021; 1 p.m. CT ……………… CPE-E Community of Practice Call
Wednesday, March 10, 2021; 12 p.m. CT………… Palliative/Hospice Networking Call
To sign up or for more information, questions, comments, or concerns contact Ramune Franitza at rfranitza@nacc.org.
You must sign up 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. THANK YOU!
7. Member COVID Listening Calls will continue in March.
We continue to offer the COVID-19 listening/resource sharing sessions and invite you to participate. The listening sessions in March will be general listening sessions. Requested topics of importance include moral distress and compassion fatigue. We are not limited to these topics and also ask “What are you bringing that is on your heart?”
NACC COVID Listening Session
Tuesday March 9, 2021
3pm ET, 2pm CT, 1pm MT, 12pm PT
Please REGISTER HERE to receive your ZOOM link.
For more resources and blog updates, be sure to take a look at our Coronavirus resources page.
8. 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.
Listening Hearts is available for NACC members seeking a listening presence from a NACC retired chaplain colleague. You may be experiencing and feeling the cumulative impact of the present global Pandemic. For those providing support for others and navigating the new normal without the opportunity to gather with extended family/friends, visit a favorite restaurant or workout at the gym, we invite you to share the load by reaching out for a listening heart of an experienced and compassionate retired chaplain. Please contact Ramune Franitza (rfranitza@nacc.org) if you would like to speak with a Listening Heart.
9. Healing Tree: a request for prayers
We continue to pray for: the special intentions of Charlene Schaaf and her family (on the death of her mother Eva Scalzitti Schaaf), Maritza Ramos-Pratt BCC, Sr. Mary A. DuPlain SJSM, Susan Balling, Isabelita Boquiren, Fr. Jim Radde SJ, Denice Foose, Fr. Jose Hernandez, Barbara McKee, Mary Lou O’Gorman, Sr. Ellen Moore, Sr. Theresa Chiappa SSC, Rev. Richard J. O’Donnell MI, Robert Lopez, Daniel Retelle BCC, Victoria Lucas Fiegel and husband Lee Fiegel, Liam O’Neill (brother of Mary T O’Neill), Russell Butler (husband of Carole Butler), Hernando Salazar (father of Sr. Sandra Salazar) Kathy Ponce (on the death of her sister Marilyn Silkey), Sr. Emily Demuth CSC (on the death of her sister Marietta Ricke), Sr. Betty Keegan (on the death of her brother Joe Keegan), Sr. Mary Brigid and her family (on the death of her brother John Riley), Autumn Vaughn (great-niece of Linda Bronersky), Edward M. Torres (requests prayers for Walter Marston, Jorge Bermudez, Michelle Torres, Danielle Picchi), and Nolan (grandson of Br. Dale Recinella, in gratitude for healing).
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.
2021 NATIONAL CONFERENCE, OCTOBER 29 – NOVEMBER 1, 2021
10. Friday, October 29, to Monday, November 1, 2021, for NACC National Conference!
Mark your calendars for the NACC Conference in 2021! This conference will be held Friday, October 29 through Monday, November 1, 2021, at the Hyatt Regency Buffalo Hotel in Buffalo, NY. It will be preceded by preconference workshops and our NACC retreat. Plan to join us!
CHAPLAINCY NEWS, EDUCATION AND PROFESSIONAL SUPPORTS
11. Don’t forget to check the NACC Anti-Racism page for resources!
Please continue to check our NACC Anti-Racism page for resources.
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.
Some recent additions include:
- ‘We need to get in the room’: Hospital chaplains struggle to balance Covid safety with patients’ spiritual needs – Hospital chaplains, barred from patient rooms and bedsides during Covid-19, say it’s been gut-wrenching not to be able to hug, to clasp hands, and to pray together.
www.statnews.com/2021/02/25/chaplains-struggle-to-balance-covid-safety-patients-spiritual-needs - Two short videos featuring our NACC members, Sandra Michocki, BCC.
- How nurses can combat compassion fatigue https://nursejournal.org/articles/combating-compassion-fatigue-in-nursing/
13. Register today for our NACC upcoming March webinar
The March webinar will be on March 18, 12:00 pm central, with Ms. Danielle M. Brown, Esq. Associate Director, Ad Hoc Committee Against Racism, addressing “USCCB US Bishops, Racism, and Implications for the Pastoral Care Healing Ministry.” REGISTER
14. Learn more about our 2021 NACC Education/Formation programming approach
As shared earlier with you, our 2021 Education Program is offering a thematic approach to each quarter that will include webinars, days of reflection, and an extended learning experience.
The second quarter is devoted to Behavioral/Mental Health. Here are the presenters for our April, May, and June Webinars!
- April 15 – Thomas Rea, BCC; Cory Mitchell, D Bioethics, MA; Anne Dohrenwend, PhD: The Mental Health / Behavioral Health toll on Chaplaincy Ministry During a Pandemic
- May 20 – Sarah Cledwyn, MA: Self-Care: Body, Mind, Spirit
- June 17 – Amittia Parker, PhDc, LMSW, MPA: Closing the Gap: Cultivating a Racially Equitable Mental Health Practice, and Implications for Spiritual Care[RF1]
Watch for more detail at www.nacc.org/education-resources/nacc-webinars-and-audio-conferences/2021-webinar-series-overview-and-registration.
15. USCCB video about certification, featuring NACC’s Board Chair and Executive Director
USCCB Subcommittee for Certification of Ecclesial Ministry and Service has published a recent video on the benefit and value of certification. Among those interviewed were NACC Board Chair, Carolanne Hauck, and David Lichter, Executive Director. Here is a link to the video.
youtu.be/QGCV7uSUen0
16. Other educational offerings
- “Professional Chaplaincy Strategies for Building Value and Promoting Well-being, “ Presented by Rev. John Simon, BCC, APC Webinar, March 23, 2021, 1:30-3:00 pm CT. www.professionalchaplains.org/calendar_day.asp?event=339&date=3/23/2021
- Transforming Chaplaincy is seeking participants in a research study to Explore African American/Black Chaplains’ Experience with Chaplaincy and Healthcare
We are conducting a study of African American/Black chaplains’ experiences within chaplaincy and healthcare. More specifically, we would like to hear about African American/Black chaplains’ experiences in chaplaincy education, the board certification process, and administrative and leadership roles. We are looking for full time, board certified, healthcare chaplains to participate in an interview. This study is being conducted by Transforming Chaplaincy. Study participation will consist of a video or telephone interview, scheduled at your convenience that will take between 45 – 60 minutes.We believe the results of this research will provide stories and information for professional chaplaincy organizations, chaplaincy departments, and healthcare organizations to address the manifestation of systemic racism within their existing policies and practices.
If you are willing to participate in this interview, please provide us with some basic information here: Sign Up by Clicking Here. We will use this information to select a diverse group of participants in terms of age, gender, geographical location, and years of experience. Of those who are interested, we will schedule interviews with 20 individuals. If selected, you will receive an email with a link to schedule the interview at your convenience.
Further, if you have any colleagues who you think would qualify to talk about their experiences, please feel free to forward this invitation.Thank you very much for your time and consideration. Should you have any additional questions, please contact study team member Marilyn J.D. Barnes at marilyn.barnes@aah.org or phone at 630.240.1091.
Interested? Just scan this QR Code with your phone!
17. 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
PRIEST CHAPLAINS
Boston, MA – The Archdiocese of Boston
CHAPLAINS
Kalamazoo and Saginaw, MI – Ascension Michigan
CHAPLAIN
Santa Rosa, CA – Santa Rosa Memorial Hospital
MANAGER, PASTORAL CARE
Galesburg, IL – OSF HealthCare
FT PRIEST CHAPLAIN + PT PRIEST CHAPLAIN
Paterson, NJ – St. Joseph’s Health
ASSOCIATE CHAPLAIN
Indianapolis, IN – Franciscan Health
DIRECTOR OF PASTORAL CARE
Farmingdale, NY – Good Shepherd Hospice
DIRECTOR of PASTORAL CARE
Bangor, ME – St. Joseph Healthcare
CHAPLAIN
Canton, OH – Canton Mercy Medical Center
HOSPITAL CHAPLAIN PDM
Denver, CO – St. Joseph’s Hospital
