Issue #366 – December 6, 2021

Click here to return to the main NACC Now page.

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

1. Executive Director’s Reflection *
When I read yesterday’s second reading from Philippians (1:4-6, 8-11), all I could do is say, AMEN!

Brothers and sisters:
I pray always with joy in my every prayer for all of you,
because of your partnership for the gospel
from the first day until now.
I am confident of this,
that the one who began a good work in you
will continue to complete it
until the day of Christ Jesus.
God is my witness,
how I long for all of you with the affection of Christ Jesus.
And this is my prayer:
that your love may increase ever more and more
in knowledge and every kind of perception,
to discern what is of value,
so that you may be pure and blameless for the day of Christ,
filled with the fruit of righteousness
that comes through Jesus Christ
for the glory and praise of God.

As this reflection being my second last one as your Executive Director, the verses above echoed within me.

“I pray always with joy…” You and this ministry, your ministry has filled me and lifts me with joy. How precious it has been to be let into your hearts and your lives. Thank you!

“Your partnership for the gospel…” Partnership is one my favorite words, as it captures the vital role of community and collaboration to advance the spiritual care profession. This is a partnership to continue the healing ministry of Jesus in the name of the Church. It truly is a “partnership for the gospel.”

“I am confident of this, that the one who began a good work in you will continue to complete it until the day of Christ Jesus.” Wow! Confidence in the future, your future, NACC’s future, the future of your good work fills me. Even as I prepare to leave, I find my prayer being, “God, you got this. You hold preciously and tenderly your loving servants. They will be amazed and filed with wonder at what you will do through them and because of their compassionate selfless gift of ministry.”

“I long for all of you with the affection of Christ Jesus.” I can’t deny there is a real tug in me. I will miss you. I will miss your stories of ministry that reveal to me your profound love for those to whom and with whom you minister. You were my daily nourishment. I am grateful for the longing for you with Christ’s affection.

“…that your love may increase ever more and more in knowledge and every kind of perception, to discern what is of value…” This prayer always struck me, as it is for love to increase in knowledge, not affection. It reminded me of Mother Theresa once remarking being willing to know someone is loving that person. Knowing is at the heart of loving; taking the time and risk to know another. As chaplains, that is what you do – dedicated listening to aid someone to share themselves in way that the in part reveal themselves to themselves in the sharing, and your knowing them is a byproduct of that mutual listening and discovering. What a gift you have! To increase in perception, not affection. This too struck me, as loving is noticing what can be overlooked or avoided. It’s the long, loving look at the real, your contemplative being with another that they experience from you. Your noticing is key to the process of discerning “what is of value.” Through your attentiveness, people know they count, life counts, faith counts. Thank you for your ministry.

So, my Advent prayer is filled with joy for you!

Blessings on you and your healing ministries,

David Lichter, D.Min.
Executive Director

2. Remembering our recently deceased member, Tamara Durand, killed in the Waukesha Christmas Parade tragedy. *
We continue to mourn the loss of Tamara Durand, who joined us just this past July and was planning on interviewing for certification in Spring. May the Lord embrace her! You can read more about Tamara below.

Tamara L. Carlson Durand energetically embraced faith, family, teaching, Ukrainian roots and dancing

Vigil for Waukesha parade victim recalls former teacher’s influence on Beaver Dam

Obituary for Tamara L. Carlson Durand

3. Welcome to our new NACC members who joined us in November 2021! *

Please join us in welcoming our new NACC members who joined us in November!

Chaplaincy Ministry
Debra A. Elizondo (Spring, TX)

Student
Fr. Bernard I. Dan (Geneseo, NY)
Chaplain Pamela R. Foreman (Norman, OK)
Ms. Leslie Rogers (Portola, CA)
Faith C. Scimecca (Washington, DC)

Volunteer Ministry
Mr. Michael P. Freeman (Houston, TX)
Mrs. Susan Kadota (Huntington Beach, CA)

4. Thank you to those of you who have already given to our 2021 Annual Member Campaign! Please join them! *
Our 2021 Annual Campaign will soon be completed! We are deeply grateful to all those who have been able to give to the Campaign this year! To date, we have actually exceeded our 2021 Goal of $57,000 with 460 gifts totaling $59,458. We still have couple of weeks left. 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. Answering the Call to Certification Interviewing Webinar, January 13, 2022, at 12:00 p.m. CT *
Interested in serving as a Certification Interviewer in 2022? If you have never served and are wondering what this service looks like, please join us for our free webinar on January 13, 2022, at 12:00 p.m. Central Time to learn about this role and discern if you would like to be part of a team for the spring interviews. Please register here: Answering the Call for Interviewing for Initial Certification to receive the link to join this webinar.

6. December 15th is the application deadline for Advanced Certification in Palliative Care and Hospice *
NACC in collaboration with APC offers Advanced Certification in Palliative Care and Hospice. This level of certification is available to all full members who have been Board Certified for at least one year, have over 3 years with at least 520 hours per year of direct clinical palliative care and/or hospice work experience and have completed an intensive palliative care and/or hospice course equivalent to three (3) credit hours (45 hours). Deadline for this application process is December 15, 2021, for an interview on Sunday, February 27, 2022. Please contact Lisa Sarenac at lisasarenac@nacc.org for more information.

7. Vision seeks articles on relationships

The November-December issue of Vision will cover the theme “Relationships: Social ties and spiritual well-being.” You probably already ask patients about any friends and family who can be a resource for them, but we want to take a deeper dive. How can we help patients build relationships, and how can we nurture our own relationships? We are looking for contributions on the roles of family, friends, colleagues, therapists; friendship in times of trauma; mentorship; challenges of friendship; limits of friendship; new forms of intimacy via technology; and other thoughts that our members may have. Please send a summary of your idea to Vision editor David Lewellen, dlewellen@nacc.org.

8. NACC Networking Calls for December 2021 – All are welcome to participate! *

Tuesday, December 7, 2021; 12 p.m. CT — NACC African/African American Networking Call
Wednesday, December 8, 2021; 12 p.m. CT — NACC Palliative/Hospice Listening Call
Thursday, December 9, 2021; 1 p.m. CT — NACC Nurse Chaplain Networking Call
Monday, December 13, 2021; 1 p.m. CT — CPE-E Community of Practice Call
Monday, December 13, 2021; 3 p.m. CT — NACC Member Listening 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, you will receive a ZOOM passcode to connect connection via internet or smartphone. 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 placed in a waiting room. Please be patient until the host joins the call and allows you access. THANK YOU!

9. The Member Listening Call for December will be Monday, December 13, 2021! *
It’s a strenuous time on health care staff and chaplains. Weariness, fatigue, changes in staffing and uncertainties continue to be with us. Preparation for the holidays can also be very stressful for us and for our patients. We continue to offer our listening sessions and remain grateful for the participation and sharing that is happening during these virtual communities. The NACC strives to support those who have found it helpful and healing to share their thoughts and experiences in these gatherings, as well to be there for one another.

We continue to have good participation for our Member Listening calls. Thank you. NACC will offer a listening session on December 13. We ask you to bring what is on your heart. Our topics vary to address what is important to you in the moment.

NACC Listening Call
Monday, December 13, 2021
4pm ET, 3pm CT, 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.

10. Healing Tree: a request for prayers *
The NACC holds the Healing Tree as a place for members to seek the supporting prayers of their colleagues. We prayerfully support and publish the names submitted by our membership for themselves or their family members. We also ask that you please include members and their families who have been affected by the COVID pandemic in your prayers

We continue to pray for our members: Rev. William Blum CSC, Sr. Andre Dembowski RSM, Mary Espitia, Denice Foose, M. Elizabeth Heffernan, Sr. Ellen Moore, Fr. Jim Radde SJ, Martiza Ramos-Pratt, Sr. Paula M. Tinlin SND, Rev. Henry M. Williams, and Sr. Louise F. Zaplitny SC.

For the intentions of: Robert Legato (for wife Claudia Legato), and Nicholas Perkins (for mother Pearl Marie Perkins).

For loved ones: Autumn Vaughn (great-niece of Linda Bronersky), Larry DuPlain (brother of Sr. Mary A. DuPlain SJSM), Brian Grasmick (husband of Victoria Grasmick), Fred Leas (husband of Charlotte Leas), Eleanor Morgan (mother of M. Kelly Catone), and Natalie (cousin of Sue Walker).

For the families of: Rev. Marc Angelo (on the death of his mother Felita Malave), Deborah Bradley (on the death of her father-in-law Jack Bradley), Nancy Cook (on the death of her husband Randy Heydenberg), Sr. Emily Demuth CSC (on the death of her sister Bernice Wagner), the family of Tamara Durand on her death, Sr. Margaret Oettinger (on the death of her godson John Consigli), and Michael Onuoha (on the death of his aunt Kuma Okonkwo).

There are those for whom their needs are personal, so please remember our members whose journey needs the support of your prayer.

If you would like our membership to pray for your health and healing, email Ramune Franitza (rfranitza@nacc.org). We will leave the person’s name on the Healing Tree list for three months unless you ask us to remove the name earlier. You can always request us to leave the name on longer.

11. Please look at, like, and follow our NACC Social Media meme graphics!
We continue to publish our popular social media meme graphics. The themes for this campaign are Chaplain Wisdom and Join NACC. They will post each Tuesday morning, and we would love for you to share them on your own personal social media channels, as you feel moved. Please make sure to like and follow us on Facebook (@choosechaplaincy), LinkedIn (@National Association of Catholic Chaplains) and on our new Instagram (@NACC_Chaplains).

12. We need you to promote chaplaincy as a ministry and profession in the Church!!
With church activity returning, remember that you can represent NACC and chaplaincy with materials for the narthex, Youth Groups, or other organizations within and outside of your church community. Check out our Choose Chaplaincy videos, Q & A, and materials on our website: www.nacc.org/about-nacc/choose-chaplaincy and www.nacc.org/about-nacc/choose-chaplaincy/materials or email Ramune Franitza rfranitza@nacc.org.

13. Great resources for those who want to learn of Chaplaincy! Stories from Chaplaincy & Paths to Chaplaincy
NACC’s most recent marketing efforts is pushing chaplaincy videos on Facebook. Please view and like and share to make others aware of the gifts and talents chaplains share and their stories of how their journey happened. www.facebook.com/choosechaplaincy.

MARK YOUR CALENDAR NOW FOR OUR NACC 2022 NATIONAL CONFERENCE!

14. Save this date for our Buffalo National Conference! Friday, March 25 through Monday, March 28, 2022!
Some time ago our NACC members received a special notice that we changed the date of our next annual National Conference from end of October 2021 to Friday, March 25, 2022, through Monday, March 28, 2022. While we are disappointed that we needed to change the date again, the NACC Board of Directors appreciated the survey of our members that gave us convincing data that a fall 2021 date would not provide the attendance needed to make a National Conference successful. So, mark your calendars for 2022! We will meet in 2022!

15. 2022 Conference Theme and Objectives
The NACC is pleased to announce the theme and objectives for the 2022 National Conference is “Stretched by Life, Lifted by Faith.”

Our National Conference will be taking place two years after the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic and the subsequent violence born of racism and other biases. Multiple forms of polarization and discord have further divided our country, family, friends and even our Church. Trauma in many manifestations has needed to be identified and addressed. We are being stretched by life. Yet, as NACC members, we are ones who continue the healing ministry of Jesus in the name of the Church. The Paschal Mystery marks our lives and our profession. We know and experience that we are lifted by our faith. This Conference is devoted to gathering with one another to be a safe and sacred space to support one another in courageous and honest dialogue on those areas that challenge and stretch us to own our common humanity and destiny, as well as to identify and celebrate what makes and sustains us as healing ministers.

Chaplains will be able to:

Initiate, renew and deepen relationships with colleagues (OL2, OL2.1).
Attend to their own physical, emotional, and spiritual well-being through personal reflection, professional sharing, and communal ritual (PIC3).
Ascertain and incorporate new pastoral care strategies and creative spiritual care practices developed in a pandemic and post-pandemic environment (PPS2, PPS5, PPS6, PPS9, OL1).
Identify unconscious bias and racism in self, community, and culture, implementing tools to facilitate and foster greater awareness, effective spiritual support, and collaborative professional relationships (PIC1, PIC2, PPS3, OL2.1, OL4.1).
Distinguish and articulate elements from the Catholic tradition which ground their personal spirituality and professional ministry as well as develop responsible strategies to deal with elements of the Catholic tradition causing personal and professional challenges (ITP2.1, ITP2.2, PIC3, PIC3.1, PIC5.1).
Further articulate their identity as Catholic chaplains and ministers of the church (ITP2.1, ITP2.2, PIC5.1).

CHAPLAINCY NEWS, EDUCATION AND PROFESSIONAL SUPPORTS

16. Register today! Our final NACC 2021 webinar December 16, noon-1:30 pm central time *

To Place Ourselves in the World of Another Person: How Historical Discernment Paves the Road to Transformative Love and Racial Justice, Presented by Sheri Bartlett Browne PhD, BCC

Overview and Objectives
In a country divided and broken by racial injustice and violence, how do we talk about race and racism with each other? How can we create and sustain meaningful relationships with people who do not look like us? This webinar connects the tools of the historian with those of chaplains to explore a necessary first step: that of studying and listening to our nation’s racial past. We will explore together how such historical engagement and discernment, combined with the radical love demanded by our Christian faith, can equip chaplains to lead needed transformation in their places of ministry, churches, and communities.

As a result of this webinar, participants will be able to:
1. articulate their shared yet separate past realities to create a world of racial justice.
2. narrate stories from the past connecting white privilege with unconscious racial biases.
3. identify connections between spiritual care and historical praxis.

NACC Certification Competencies Addressed in this Webinar
ITP4, PIC2, PPS3, OL4.1

Presenter: Sheri Bartlett Browne, PhD, BCC is a historian, biographer, educator, and Catholic chaplain. She is a professor of history at Tennessee State University in Nashville and holds a Master’s degree in Health Care Mission Leadership from Loyola University Chicago. As a health care chaplain, Sheri has worked for Vanderbilt University Medical Center and Monroe Carell Jr. Children’s Hospital at Vanderbilt, primarily in pediatric intensive and palliative care.
Sheri’s historical and health care research analyzes the impact of racial-ethnic, socioeconomic, and gender inequalities on women’s lives and well-being. She is the co-author of “Racial Disparities at the End of Life and the Catholic Social Tradition,” in Catholic Bioethics and Social Justice: The Praxis of U.S. Health Care in a Globalized World, 2019.

Sheri has facilitated professional development training for the NACC Certification Commission and Interview Team Educators on implicit bias and structural racism. Committed to racial justice adult education, Sheri is co-creator and facilitator, with M. Therese Lysaught, PhD, of Antiracism and Me: How I Impact Inclusion, an intensive racial justice workshop for health care chaplains and mission leaders. For more information on this ministry, visit mthereselysaught.com/chrism.

Click here to register for 2021 webinars.

17. NACC newly certified member, Dominic Anaeto, publishes book *
Our recently certified member, Dominic Anaeto, published the book, Human Sexuality: Precious Gift and Perilous Challenge with Particular Reference to the Sexual Abuse Scandal in the Church. You can read about the book or purchase it at Amazon.

18. Resources from Catholic Prison Ministries Coalition (CPMC)

Holding Still: Centering Prayer and the Spiritual Journey, is a riveting, candid and insightful documentary film about practicing centering prayer while incarcerated in Folsom Prison. You can view the film and download a reflection guide at https://www.catholicprisonministries.org/holding-still-2
The PBS series Searching for Justice explores criminal justice reform unfolding across the country, as leaders from both sides of the political aisle attempt to end mass incarceration by rethinking laws that some say have become barriers to work, housing, and economic stability. www.pbs.org/newshour/tag/searching-for-justice
CPMC continues to host town halls and offer webinars monthly on topics vital to prison ministry, but many pertain to all chaplaincy ministries. These are all available without cost. Browse the titles at: www.catholicprisonministries.org/webinars

19. 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

CERTIFIED BILINGUAL RC PRIEST
Orange, CA – Providence St. Joseph Hospital

CHAPLAIN
Rochester, MN – Mayo Clinic

CHAPLAIN – PASTORAL CARE
Everett, Washington – Providence Regional Medical Center

MANAGER of SPIRITUAL CARE
Baltimore, Maryland – Ascension Saint Agnes Hospital

ACPE CERTIFIED EDUCATOR
Eau Claire, WI – Mayo Clinic

MANAGER of MISSION SERVICES and SPIRITUAL DEVELOPMENT
Riverside, CT – St. Catherine of Siena Parish

DIOCESAN PRIEST
Hastings, MN – Benedictine Living Community of Regina

WOMEN & INFANTS STAFF CHAPLAIN
Milwaukee, WI — Ascension Wisconsin Spiritual Care

Click here to browse all job listings.

Issue #366 – December 6, 2021

NACC

MARK YOUR CALENDAR NOW FOR OUR NACC 2022 NATIONAL CONFERENCE!

CHAPLAINCY NEWS, EDUCATION AND PROFESSIONAL SUPPORTS

MARK YOUR CALENDAR NOW FOR OUR NACC 2022 NATIONAL CONFERENCE!

CHAPLAINCY NEWS, EDUCATION AND PROFESSIONAL SUPPORTS

Job Listings

Free Publications

Donate Now

Issue #366 – December 6, 2021

NACC

MARK YOUR CALENDAR NOW FOR OUR NACC 2022 NATIONAL CONFERENCE!

CHAPLAINCY NEWS, EDUCATION AND PROFESSIONAL SUPPORTS

MARK YOUR CALENDAR NOW FOR OUR NACC 2022 NATIONAL CONFERENCE!

CHAPLAINCY NEWS, EDUCATION AND PROFESSIONAL SUPPORTS

Job Listings

Free Publications

Donate Now

Connect with us