Letter from IACC's President - February 2018

Dear Members of the International Association of Christian Chaplains:

Greetings! I wish everyone well. As you know there are many people sick with the flu all around the United States of America (USA.) and across other countries we serve. Please keep chaplains and those that are within our care in prayer. God’s grace, healing, and blessing be upon you, your families and those you serve.

I am writing to provide a brief update regarding some new information about IACC in this New Year.

As many of you know, the IACC website has received a facelift! Please take some time to visit us. Go to: www.christianchaplains.net. You will find that it is user friendlier in regards to getting the information you need quicker and clearer. Significant items to locate on the website that is useful to you are the following:

·       Annual Renewal and Re-Certification requirements

o   Click on “Forms” and you will access the following forms and procedures you will need to renew and re-certify your membership annually

§  Guidelines for Local Chapters

§  Membership and Board Certification Process

§  Members Annual Update Report Form

§  Continuing Education Form

·        Facebook Page

o   We also just created a Facebook page. This will help us get the word out about IACC through Facebook users and also allow for greater connectivity among our members. Feel free to join it any time. Click on: https://www.facebook.com/Internationalassociationofchristianchaplains/

·       Members Directory

o   We have listed members in 24 states in the US and 5 countries around the world on our new Membership Directory. This directory can help you locate other members that are in your state and region. I encourage to contact them and see if there is a local chapter to join or even begin one of your own. You can locate guidelines for local chapters both in the “Forms” section as well as in the “About” section. To access the directory for reasons stated above please let us know and we will provide you with the password. Please exercise confidentiality when using the directory. The contact information is for members only to form community. It is not to be used for inappropriate sharing outside of our IACC communities.

·       Updates

o   We update continuing education opportunities and we provide an opportunity for IACC members to post a blog on the “Updates” section.  On this note, we would love to hear from you and about your ministry!  It is our hope within the next couple of months to highlight the various ministries that our IACC members are engaged with.  

·       About

o   Listed in the “About” section is the following:

§  Mission and Philosophy of IACC

§  Code of Ethics

§  IACC Board of Directors

§  Contact

§  Local Chapters

·       Contact

o   Please feel free to stay in touch with us via e-mail at: info@christianchaplains.net

o   Our mailing address continues to be: 5804 Babcock Rd. PMB 189, San Antonio, Texas 78240-2134, USA.

Lastly, if you know of a colleague in chaplaincy, pastoral care/spiritual care practitioner, pastor, minister, or missionary who is interested in becoming a member of IACC please direct them to our website and our e-mail. For those who are interested in board certification as a professional chaplain, please have them click on “Board Certification” from our website. Recently IACC has adopted the Common Qualifications and Competencies for Profession Chaplains revised in 2017. As part of the requirements for board certification, and in addition to two written essays about their theology of pastoral care and autobiography, the candidate will need to submit 30 essays that reflect the 30 common competencies outlined on our website.

For IACC members already board certified, we have increased the amount of continuing education hours to 50 per year. In addition to seminars, workshops, local IACC chapter meetings, symposiums, academic classes, etc., the hours can be accomplished in several other ways. MNT2: Document fifty (50) hours of annual continuing education. (Recommendation that written reading reports be included as continuing education. Also, personal therapy, spiritual direction, supervision, and/or peer review be acceptable options for continuing education hours.)

Please feel free to be in touch with me or any of the members of the IACC Board of Directors.

The peace and shalom of our Savior and Lord Jesus Christ be with you, and our Lord’s love connect you with the people of God’s community on earth!

Blessings,

Rev. Dr. Paul D. Kraus

President, IACC

A Valentine's Ash Wednesday by Chaplain Paul Kraus

Dear Friends,

I don’t recall in the past, at least in my life time, when Valentine’s Day and Ash Wednesday both fell on February 14th. Next week is the case. So of course, this has gotten me to ponder the meaning of both and what perhaps they have in common. Well, I have written several articles on the meaning of both so allow me to share and intersect them:

As the song goes, “Love is in the air…” I think Love reaches new heights just in time for Valentine’s Day (actually the whole month of February). Many of us just hover a few inches above ground as we go about our day. Love lifts us above all reality. In other words, there’s not too much thinking going on these days, just day dreaming . . . I guess that’s not all that bad. 

You know love does have a way of knocking our legs out from underneath of us. It’s amazing to me that the One who invented Love in the first place was not only the first to love us but the One who keeps on loving us! Now that will keep my feet off the ground for sure! In fact, I John 10 says, “. . . not that we loved God, but that God first loved us. . .” God never gives up on us. I wonder how many times we give up on God. The same goes with our human relationships. Is our love for that special someone pure and unconditional, or are we waiting for him/her to make the first call? Paul (the apostle) after writing a lengthy list about what characterizes love says in verse 8 of I Corinthians 13 “Love never ends.” Couples during their wedding ceremony cherish these three words (at least for the first 24 hours). 

I’m glad that God’s Love never ends. Although God is infinite and we are finite we can learn to be more like God. I wonder how our relationships would improve if we would try loving others the way God loves us. “Love is patient, love is kind, love is not envious or boastful or arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice in wrongdoing, but rejoices in the truth. It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, and endures all things.” I Cor. 13:4-7 

Sometimes we push ourselves to the limit as we care for others. As we give the deepest part of our selves in helping others I hope you find ways to push the pause button every once in a while to reflect, meditate, and contemplate. 

Next Wednesday is Ash Wednesday. Let this day begin a new process for you to rejuvenate, refresh, restore, recreate, and replenish. You may not include Ash Wednesday among your practices and rituals, but perhaps from a different tradition or perspective you can still take a moment to reflect on your life. Are there changes that need to be made; People to forgive; Forgiveness for you; Stressors that need to be reduced? As you restore your spiritual well, clear waters will naturally flow making your human existence whole again.  
   
Ash Wednesday Explained

According to the Liturgical Calendar of the Christian tradition, next Wednesday, February 14th  is Ash Wednesday. Christians from around the world mark this day as the first of forty days of Lent. Ashes are distributed and placed on believers’ foreheads in a shape of a cross to signify the meaning of Christ’s sacrifice, death (passion) and resurrection for each believer. The ashes become a sign of humanity’s mortality (limitedness and finitude) and our need to be dependent on God who is limitless and infinite.  
Self-examination and repentance by prayer, fasting, and self-denial is at the heart of the meaning of this first day in the Lenten Season. Ashes are used as symbols of the Christian faith (ashes are gathered after the Palm Crosses from the previous year's Palm Sunday are burned and are then used to mark the sign of the cross on the believer’s forehead). In other words, the ashes help us literally and symbolically get in touch with a deeper understanding of our human existence. It is the Church’s way to remind believers that we are not God. We strive to be like God, but we will never be God. Our good nature which was created from the very beginning of time purposely and appropriately includes being imperfect, limited, and finite. 

Next Wednesday (Ash Wednesday) helps us to celebrate and embrace our humanity with all its imperfections; and it also reminds us that our goal is never to be God. Lastly, Christians celebrate their true dependence on our Creator knowing that when it comes down to it we are mere dust in the ground in comparison to who God is. This is why Christians receive these words: “Remember that you are dust, and to dust you shall return—(Genesis 3:19) Turn away from sin and be faithful to God.”

Now to bring them together. Valentine’s day usually brings couples together to celebrate their love for each other. Roses and/or a box of chocolates is the fragrance and sweetness that symbolizes the relationship between them. Ash Wednesday is a day to begin or re-establish a life long journey of the love we have for God and humans. Ashes are symbolic of our re-dedication of our relationships through self-examination and humility. 

I believe both Valentine’s Day and Ash Wednesday helps us to be grounded. How many times has our significant relationships gone bitter due to power struggles or the lack of forgiveness? Why has it come to this? The underside of believing we have power over our significant other is the fear of having no power. Similarly, what lies behind the lack of forgiveness is the risk that forgiveness brings with it the lack of power. If Ash Wednesday does not teach us anything else, it is does teach us the life of humility. It is how (in most religious traditions) that God was able to identify with humans in a much more meaningful way. If God (our Maker) finds humility to be the substance for a significant relationship I can only imagine that it is true for human relationships. So I encourage us to unite these symbolic days together by finding ways to reduce the powers we have over or under each other, by committing to empower each other with a love that goes deeper than roses and chocolates, but with a love that never ends! 

Love,
Chaplain Paul         
 

Continuing Education: The Journal of Pastoral Care Publications

The Journal of Pastoral Care Publications has long been a "must read" for Chaplains seeking to stay abreast of continuing research in our field of work.  This particular journal is published on a quarterly basis and has been since 1947.  Here is a blurb from their website, along with a link to their site to see their other publications. http://www.jpcp.org/ 

"The Journal dates its origin back to 1947 when the Journal of Clinical Pastoral Work, published by the Council for Clinical Training, and The Journal of Pastoral Care, published by the Institute of Pastoral Care, began publishing separately. In 1950, the two groups joined together to publish The Journal of Pastoral Care. The Council for Clinical Training, Inc, the Institute for Pastoral Care, The Association of Clinical Pastoral Educators and the Department of Institutional Chaplaincy and Clinical Pastoral Education of the Lutheran Council in the U.S.A. merged to form the Association for Clinical Pastoral Education (ACPE) in 1967, and The Journal ownership was transferred to ACPE.

In 1969, the American Association of Pastoral Counselors, Inc (AAPC), began purchasing subscriptions for its members. The Canadian Association for Pastoral Education (CAPE) did likewise in 1972. Then ACPE invited AAPC and CAPE each to name a member to the Journal’s Board of Managers.

In 1982, the Board of Managers invited other pastoral care groups to join in publishing The Journal of Pastoral Care. The Association of Mental Health Clergy, Inc, the American Protestant Correctional Chaplains, Inc, and the College of Chaplains of American Protestant Hospital Association, Inc, joined in this publication cooperative.

The formation of Journal of Pastoral Care Publications Inc in 1994 is the result of deliberations of these founding pastoral care groups. Its mission is to continue providing a forum through publications for sharing professional knowledge, experience and innovative developments in pastoral ministries. The list of current Member Associations can be found here. These associations are involved in support of JPCP Inc and name the members of the Board of Managers of JPCP Inc.

In addition to publishing The Journal of Pastoral Care & Counseling (name change instituted in 2002), JPCP Inc has published several books and monographs. Some of these have been converted to “print on demand” – and newer books are being published in that way with an e-book option."

Continuing Education: The Journal of Spirituality in Mental Health

A CEU Recommendation and Review from Chaplain Matthew Hoffman:

In our desire for the chaplains of IACC to grow in ongoing education we will post links to various journals and articles that might be of interest to you.  One of those such resources is "The Journal of Spirituality in Mental Health."  I have read several of the articles in this journal and have found them to be both informative and shaping in my own practice as a healthcare chaplain.  They typically publish articles and book reviews on a quarterly basis.  There you can read specific articles and also use them as "springboards" for more of your own personal study.  Here is the link to the journal's home page, along with a copy of their "Aim and Scope" published on their website.

http://www.tandfonline.com/toc/wspi20/current 

"The Journal of Spirituality in Mental Health is an interdisciplinary professional journal (retitled from American Journal of Pastoral Counseling to better reflect its broader scope) that is devoted to the scholarly study of spirituality as a resource for counseling and psychotherapeutic disciplines. This peer-reviewed quarterly journal seeks to enhance the understanding of spirituality as a core component of human well-being in individual, relational, and communal life. Leading authorities provide insights into research and effective therapy in an interdisciplinary dialog that crosses the disciplines of psychology, spirituality, theology, sociology, cultural analysis, and other fields. 

The Journal of Spirituality in Mental Health is a crucial forum that provides deeper insight into human meaning-making within therapeutic and growth-fostering activity. The primary spiritual experience is explored as it occurs either for practitioners or clients, with an examination of therapeutic meanings. Expert contributors explore the impact of cultural life patterns within issues of race and gender, ethnicity, sexuality, and relational structures as they contribute to both human wholeness, and to its loss and therapeutic recovery. This journal is challenging, inspirational, and superbly beneficial to all who desire perspectives and ideas extending beyond their own scope and field of focus.

Peer Review Policy: All research articles in the Journal have undergone peer review based on initial editor screening, and anonymous refereeing by at least two anonymous double-blind referees.

Publication office: Taylor & Francis, Inc., 530 Walnut Street, Suite 850, Philadelphia, PA 19106"

Meet IACC's Executive Director, Daniel Davila

Chaplain Daniel Davila

Executive Director

EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR - CHAPLAIN DANIEL DÁVILA, M.DIV., MAR, BCCC

Chaplain Daniel Dávila is the Interim Director of Spiritual Care at Austin State Hospital and supervisor/trainer of chaplain interns at Austin State Hospital. Chaplain Dávila is a Board Certified Chaplain with the International Associaiton of Christian Chaplains and a Board Certified Clinical Chaplain and Diplomate with CPSP (College of Pastoral Supervision & Psychotherapy). Chaplain Dávila also serves on the Austin State Hospital Spanish Language Interpreter Program.

Chaplain Dávila is ordained and endorsed by the Christian Church, Disciples of Christ.

Chaplain Dávila received his BA at Evangel University, M.Div. at Philipps University Graduate Seminary, MAR at the Iliff School of Theology and he also did graduate work at St. Thomas Catholic Seminary in Denver and Wesley Theological Seminary in Washington, D.C. His clinical pastoral education was done in Tulsa Hillcrest Medical Center, Corpus Christi Memorial Medical Center and Driscoll Children’s Hospital. 

Chaplain Dávila has made presentations at the San Antonio Ecumenical Center, Austin State Support Living Center and the Austin State Hospital on “Principlism and Ethics” to physicians, social workers and clergy and has also made presentations to physicians, social workers and clergy on “Awareness of Cultural and Interfaith Diversity” at Memorial Medical Center in Corpus Christi.  Daniel also has his pastoral counseling private practice at the African American Harvest Youth Foundation in Austin. 

Chaplain Dávila has taught pastoral care and counseling in the United States, Canada, Mexico and Central America. He has served as President in the Weslaco Ministerial Alliances and in the Austin Latin Ministerial Alliance.   Most recently, Spring 2016, he served as adjunct professor of Pastoral Counseling at the Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary. 

Chaplain Dávila came to ASH as a volunteer serving Spanish speaking persons in 2004; then as full time temporary in May 2005-2006, while Chaplain Ron was on US Army duty in Afghanistan. He was hired as permanent employee in Sept 2006 and has been essential to serving the persons and staff at ASH since.

Meet IACC's President - Paul Kraus

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(Throughout the next couple of months we will be introducing you to various members of our board as well as other members of IACC.  We begin this series of blog entries introducing you to our President, Rev. Dr. Paul D. Kraus.)

PRESIDENT - REV. DR. PAUL D. KRAUS, BCC (SINCE 1999)

Dr. Kraus has spent over three decades in pastoral ministry and pastoral care & counseling serving parishes, healthcare facilities and academic institutions. He is currently the director of pastoral care services at the Austin State Supported Living Center within the Health and Human Services Commission of Texas (HHSC-TX), and adjunct professor at the Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary, Seminary of the Southwest, and didactic instructor for the CPE Center at Austin State Hospital, Austin, Texas. Dr. Kraus is a board member with Humanitarians in the Arts, member of the state chaplains’ association advisory committee of HHSC of TX, and member of the seminary of the southwest master of chaplaincy and pastoral care and spiritual formation advisory council.

Dr. Kraus came to Austin nine years ago from San Antonio where he was the director of pastoral care and CPE coordinator for the Baptist Health System, as well as a faculty member and administrator with the Baptist University of the Americas for eight years. While in San Antonio, he held the position of partnership coordinator/ professor for the Texas-Mexico Pastoral Care and Counseling Conferences for fourteen years. Before moving to Texas he held a range of ministerial positions in Presbyterian and Baptist churches in the Philadelphia and New Jersey areas.

Dr. Kraus authored and peer reviewed over 20 professional publications in his career highlighting three distinct national and international publications – (1) Author - “Pastoral Care” A Computer Assisted Instruction for Nursing and Allied Health, A.S.K. Data Systems, Paul D. Kraus. (2008); (2) Reviewer - “The Practice of Community Nursing”, A Computer Assisted Instruction for Nursing and Allied Health, A.S.K. Data Systems, Battey, B.W. (2006); (3) Academic Journal Reviewer - “New Zealand nurses’ perceptions of spirituality and spiritual care: qualitative findings from a national survey” Religions, 2017.

+Ordained and Endorsed by the American Baptist Churches (ABC-USA)
+ACPE-Clinical Pastoral Education – 1,600 clinical hours
+BA, Eastern University, St. David’s, PA
+M.Div., Palmer Theological Seminary, Philadelphia, PA
+D.Min, Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary, Austin, Texas

Annual Membership Up-Date Report Form

Greetings members of IACC!  As a reminder, to keep your membership and Board Certification current you must submit your annual paperwork and membership dues.  For Board Certification requirements click here for the Common Standards, scroll down and follow the links at the bottom of the page for the information needed, along with the "Annual Membership Up-Date Report Form" that you will need submit.  Blessings to you and thank you so very much for your Gospel ministry!

Doctor of Ministry in Christian Spirituality and Chaplaincy - Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary

From time to time we will make you aware of various educational opportunities provided by different institutions that are committed to the advancement of chaplain education.  We are so very glad to inform you of Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary's new DMin program in Christian Spirituality and Chaplaincy.  The program consists of two, one week classes for the Chaplaincy concentration.  Each year there is typically a week in January & August where students must be present at APTS to take classes and then are given particular assignments before and after those weeks.  Click here for more information about their The Doctor of Ministry program.