For your professional ethics edification in November

Once a month the ACPE Professional Ethics Commission (PEC) posts a couple of statements from our Code of Professional Ethics for ACPE Members. Each posting is accompanied by a brief personal reflection from a member of the PEC discussing some ways this person lives these commitments.*

In conducting business matters, ACPE members:

1. Distinguish private opinions from those of ACPE, their faith group or profession in all publicity, public announcements, or publications.
2. Accurately describe the ACPE center, pastoral services, and educational programs.  All statements in advertising, catalogs, publications, recruiting, and academic calendars shall be accurate at the time of publication.  Publications advertising a center’s programs shall include the type(s) and level(s) of education offered and the ACPE address, telephone number and website address.
3. Accurately describe program expectations, including time requirements, in the admission process for CPE programs.

Cristina Stephenson, ACPE Educator in Saint Louis, MO, and 2020-2021 Professional Ethics Commission Chair, writes, “These statements in the Professional Ethics Code point to the interface between the individual and the organization.  At this interface, stand many expectations, responsibilities and privileges. As an educator, I live and work within the tension of “I am ACPE” and “I am not ACPE” – a tension which at times is difficult to negotiate. I believe that we want and need to be prophetic within our organization. This is particularly important at the present time especially in light of the growing awareness of how white supremacy affects the structures and relationships within ACPE. Knowing who we are and what we are about is at the center of many crucial conversations. While there are many personal beliefs and opinions in the ACPE membership, we all ascribe to the values (diversity and inclusion; integrity; curiosity; process; service) guiding our organization. These values may call us to challenge the organization to be congruent with how we live those values in our own lives. Conversely, while we do not want and cannot compromise our own individual beliefs and opinions, we need to be open to the Spirit of the ACPE community at work in its totality via its leadership and membership. For example, standards 5.b and 5.c call us to accurately describe the CPE center, its programs and expectations. Under this standard, it is our ethical and our educational responsibility to make sure that students have accurate information about a CPE unit’s demands which of course include time, assignment, expectations, number of hours and schedule.  Both processes – our responsibility to accurately describe these kinds of practical duties and discerning/balancing our individual and organizational identities - are at the very heart of conducting business matters in an ethical way.

*Every situation is unique, and any member should not act based solely on the comments in the article but to base action on an independent review of the ethical standards applicable to his/her situation.