ACCSS Newsletter
June 2018
As the newly elected President, it is my pleasure to share with you what the Association of California Chaplains in State Service is about and the importance of the association for all of us chaplains. Additionally, I would like to try and explain what we stand for, as well as suggest ways we can help each other.
ACCSS exists for the professional development of all its members. To do this we strive
to:
- Develop and maintain professional standards for state chaplains to help us provide skilled and effective chaplaincy services in our workplaces.
- Develop better professional interfaith dialogue among our chaplains.
- Provide educational training to help keep chaplains up to date on professional and religious issues directly affecting their ministry.
- Work in establishing better lines of communication, partnerships, and cooperation with governmental, religious, and faith-based agencies and organizations to advance our profession.
What ACCSS does:
- ACCSS maintains very good and strong relationships with the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, Department of State Hospitals, Departmental Developmental Services, Cal Vet, Division of Juvenile Justice, the State Advisory Committee on Institutional Religion, and other organizations, in order to promote the professional nature and training of its state-employed chaplains. Partnering with these groups helps our chaplains professionally in their unique environments.
- ACCSS works to influence departmental policies to improve religious programming.
- ACCSS is directly involved in ensuring chaplains continue to receive the best training, tools, and development. Throughout the year ACCSS works to identify training needs and facilitates team building among chaplains.
Where your ACCSS membership dues go:
ACCSS is completely financed by our comparatively low membership dues, with no other source of income. Your membership dues provide all our chaplains with ongoing professional training, which is an enormous undertaking, and it’s an area in which ACCSS excels. Our goal is to ensure enjoyable and productive events.
Ways you can help ACCSS:
The strength of ACCSS is in its membership. The more members we have, the stronger we are as chaplains. We ask you to reach out to other chaplains and invite them to join.
ACCSS is a private, nonprofit, tax-exempt organization. We are not affiliated with any Union. We are politically non-partisan, and no money is ever given to any political party or candidate. We work for the most part behind the scenes caring for each and every member. It is
important to understand, however, we do not intervene in matters concerning individual chaplains or institutions unless requested and feasible.
We are working on updating the accss.org website to make it more user-friendly and intuitive by adding more resources and materials to better help you in your ministries. If you have any suggestions for this website, please don’t hesitate to contact us at accss@accss.org, we would love to hear from members.
Please keep in mind you can always contact ACCSS anytime there’s an area/issue we may be able to help you with.
I would like to take this opportunity to thank each of you for your support and commitment to the chaplaincy, and for the support and encouragement, you continue to give me in my capacity as President of ACCSS. It is my hope and prayer that we can continue to maintain our professionalism and devotion to those we serve, never losing sight of the tremendous gifts and blessings G-d has bestowed upon us. May G-d bless all of us in all areas of our lives, and guide us in our direction and in all our decisions.
Amen.