Please see announcement page with updates as of February 3, 2014, including the first in our "Spotlight on Institutional Chaplain Ministry" series.

The Association of Religious Endorsing Bodies (AREB) met on January 9-10, 2014 in Alexandria, Virginia.  Fr. Steven Voytovich, Director of OCA Department of Institutional Chaplains, chaired the two-day meeting.  As our formal endorsement process has been in place for ten years as of 2013, this is a wonderful development.  At this meeting the formal acceptance (May, 2013) of the OCA application to be a Faith Group Representative with the Association of Clinical Pastoral Education (ACPE) was related.  Fr. Steven's role as chair concluded with this meeting.

This is the first in our series of spotlights on the minstry of our OCA Institutional Chaplains, focusing on Fr. Paul Fetsko, in a write-up he has forwarded:

The past three years have been devoted to pursuing a masters degree from Loyola University in Chicago in the area of bioethics.  I am currently enrolled in my final class and then will spend this summer writing my final paper.  I anticipate graduating in August of 2014.  I continue to work for Mercy Health System as a Hospital Chaplain in Fort Smith, AR but am increasingly doing more and more work in the area of clinical ethics.  Currently, I serve on the hospital Ethics Committee as well as the Mercy Corporate Ethics Committee. 

I’ve been invited to attend the Catholic Healthcare Association’s Ethics Colloquium in March and will co-present at the NACC conference in May on our systems efforts in providing spiritual care in clinics.  I continue to serve as the priest-in-charge of Sts. George and Alexandra Mission here in Fort Smith.  Although I spend more time at my other duties, my first love is the priestly work in the mission and I greatly look forward to graduating and being able to spend more time in that service.