By David Lichter
Executive Director
This issue of Vision is dedicated to the revised Common Qualifications and Competencies for Professional Certification and our specific NACC qualifications. We appreciate so much our members who have contributed articles highlighting some of the specific new competencies. In this column, I will provide some contextual observations about the revised CQCs, and the NACC additions.
As you might recall, we started this process in late 2013, since the NACC needed to submit for re-approval to the USCCB Subcommittee on Certification for Ecclesial Ministry and Service. In early 2014, the NACC Standards Commission completed a revision of the specific Catholic standards based on USCCB National Certification Standards. These revisions were approved by the NACC Board of Directors in April 2014 and submitted to the USCCB in July 2014, along with our entire NACC 2014 Report. These were approved by the USCCB SCEMS in September 2014. I refer you back to the January-February 2015 Vision issue with my article that provides the background for those specific Catholic standards added to the 2004 Common Standards.
However, with the 2015-2016 collaborative work on the revision of the 2004 Common Standards with our strategic partners (ACPE, APC, CASC, and NAJC) and the subsequent renaming and renumbering of what became the Common Qualifications and Competencies, we also had to renumber those specifically Catholic competencies. You can now see them by visiting this page of the website that offers several background documents. Click the live link to the document noted as These NACC additions to the CQC’s are highlighted in yellow in this document.
In the March-April 2017 Vision, I wrote about the exceptional partnerships with ACPE, APC, CASC, and NAJC as we revised the 2004 Common Standards that have become the CQCs. I am excited about the ongoing collaboration with APC as our two Certification Commissions continue to explore together ways to strengthen one another’s processes. In fact, those responsible for the APC’s Hospice and Palliative Care Specialty Certification and our NACC Advanced Certification of Hospice Palliative Chaplaincy have begun to explore how our members can better prepare themselves for this specialty certification. This effort includes reviewing/revising the competencies together; an online education format for part of the requirements; and exploring approaches to evaluating one who has prepared for this specialty certification.
Finally, our Certification Commission, our Interview Team Educators, and our office staff, Ramona Zeb and Jeanine Annunziato, have dedicated themselves to not only determine how best to educate you, our members, on the revised Qualifications and Competencies, but also to improve the entire certification process for all involved. We all want well-prepared applicants to submit their materials with a confidence of being ready to be certified, and to have well-prepared interview teams who will provide a high-quality, consistent, fair interview experience.
I hope you will join me in thanking our many members who have dedicated themselves to our certification process. Ultimately, we want to ensure the highest quality spiritual care to the most vulnerable — those seeking the healing ministry of Jesus through us.
