Many years ago, the Reverend John Nentwick, a Catholic priest and founder of The Twelve, Inc. in Massillon, Ohio, had an idea.  He had founded the agency to help children who were in trouble and needed a safe place to be treated and grow.  But Fr. John was always looking forward.  He envisioned a farm-based program for youths in trouble who had no place to go, who nobody was willing to taking a risk on, and who the system struggled to understand or serve well.  He called his vision Halbec; an acronym for ‘Helping Another Life Betters Each Community.  Like many idealistic visions, Halbec never got off the ground, but Fr. John devoted his life in service to others, and The Twelve, Inc continues to serve children and families today.  I was fortunate to have worked with Fr. John and other equally dedicated people.

One of my ongoing memories was that, as a Catholic priest, Fr. John freely offered the spiritual gifts he held, without any expectation or demand that others adhere to Catholic dogma.  If you found his way good, you were welcome to be part of his circle without expectation and receive the blessings of the God he faithfully served.  Fr. John touched many lives and gave people faith in themselves to go on toward normal life.  Many benefitted and have gone on to good lives, some as believers and others as atheists or agnostics.  However, they have all benefitted and shared the beauty of Fr. John’s service with others.  While his story could fill many pages, I appreciated the simplicity of his faith.  Since that time, I have used the Halbec acronym as the name of my pastoral services; in respect for the blessings he shared with me.

Halbec slowly took form in my brain as a nondenominational service which could meet people at their own level and support them in a way which was inherently spiritual, but which required no acceptance of any formal religious belief or participation in any structured religious activity.  While most of my career has been in clinical services as a psychotherapist, it seemed many people were put into my path as part of my spiritual life’s work and have deepened my awareness of Fr. John’s approach to service.  Without planned intent, I found myself providing spiritual counseling, coaching, and guidance for people seeking to find a better, stable path, but who didn’t feel success after multiple attempts within traditional services.  This led to life coaching, performing of faith-based and secular activities from weddings and other ceremonies which mark significant events on our journey through life.  While my professional career flourished, most of my ceremonial work was done for family and friends.  At this point in my own journey, I now am broadening my work to offer ceremonial and coaching services to the general community.

Many have gone on and followed their own unique journeys, others have become part of my larger spiritual family and, in their own way, witness to others the blessings they have found helpful, and share that path.  I choose to understand this as the blessing of our Creator, who is the source of us all.  However they understand that, few know or understand the magic that Fr. John brought to the lives of others.  They are, nonetheless, part of a living spiritual life that offers the best that every historic religion, philosophy and/or secular representation of them offers.  Halbec welcomes you to become a part of that life.  The rest of this website is broken out into content areas, initial contact forms and some pictures of past events.  We hope you will find it both interesting and useful.