News

Implementation Workgroup Election

Jul 23, 2021

Colleagues, we are blessed. Our association is full of talented and passionate members. The Leadership Development Committee (LDC) received a great response to our call to serve on the Implementation Workgroup. Regardless of the election outcome, ACPE will be well represented in our continued conversations with APC.

Thank You Retired (and Retiring) ACPE Members!

Jul 23, 2021

As we quickly approach #ACPEproud week, (August 3-5, 2021) the Foundation for ACPE would like to recognize all of our retired members. The Foundation for ACPE is the legacy of trailblazing ACPE members who responded to the need for nurturing spiritual care professionals for generations to come. Over the years, many retired members have contributed donations to our endowment. We continue to reap the benefits of those gifts today. Income from our endowment has helped us to not only provide continuing education through the Glaz-Plummer plenaries, but has also given us much needed financial support to navigate the economic volatility caused by the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic, and other tumultuous events.

2021 Annual Member Meeting

Jul 21, 2021

Per our bylaws, an annual meeting of the members shall be held on the Members Annual Meeting Date established by the Board of Directors. ACPE will host the 2021 Annual Member Meeting via Zoom on August 19, 2021 at 3:00pm eastern. Registration opens on July 26th.

A Time of Rest

Jul 14, 2021

This year marks my eighth year with ACPE. While it goes without saying, there really hasn’t been a pause since I arrived. We have seen major changes to our organizational structure, to certification, and to accreditation. We consolidated with AAPC and launched the Spiritually Integrated Psychotherapy certification. We have endured the COVID-19 pandemic, responded to the call to dismantle white supremacy and address racial injustice, and explored a potential merger with APC. We have seen new associations rise, new international relationships form, and new contexts become possibilities for programs. As the NPR show says so well, “It’s been a minute.”

Summer Learning

Jul 9, 2021

One of the distinct pleasures I’ve had this summer has been watching my five-and-a-half-year-old daughter learning to swim. I’ve been a swimmer and a water lover my whole life, and so my heart feels warmed by her growing skills and confidence in the water.

#ACPEproud 2021

Jul 7, 2021

#ACPEproud, August 3-5, 2021, is a celebration and advocacy event to encourage support of the spiritual care community. Limited edition merchandise now available!

For your professional ethics edification in July

Jul 7, 2021

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

The Curriculum Resource Room opens July 23

Jul 7, 2021

Moral Distress arises when a person feels constrained from taking what they believe is a correct moral action. Moral Injury may be described as a more extreme form of distress when one acts, witnesses or fails to prevent actions that transgress one’s moral standards. Of course, it is more complicated than simple definition permits. Spiritual caregivers are not immune to moral injury or distress, and yet are often in a position to encounter the morally distressed. We all have heard or seen examples arising during the Covid 19 pandemic.

Trust the Process

Jul 6, 2021

Life is filled with opportunities for adventure, and fraught with expectations that do not always come to fruition. Sometimes our expectations pale in the light of the actual experience. Some of us will remember ACPE’s 2005 Annual Conference in Hawaii. In anticipation of that experience and as a gift to celebrate my recognition as a fully certified ACPE Educator, my husband and I decided to become Certified Scuba Divers to take advantage of the opportunity to dive in a magnificent environment. We grew up watching Jacques Cousteau’s adventurous exploration of the sea on educational TV programs. Although I wanted to dive, I had negative expectations and self-doubts. While I knew I could swim, I did not have confidence in my swimming abilities. So, my expectations included hard work and hard swimming. My expectation proved to be wrong. I imagined I would always hear myself breathing through the regulator. That too was an error.

Important ACPE-APC Merger Process Update

Jun 25, 2021

During our legal due diligence process, our attorneys advised us that we could not proceed with our published timeline. According to Illinois state law, where APC is incorporated, any membership vote must include the proposed bylaws and governance structure.

Responsive Reading for Pride Month

Jun 25, 2021

ACPE CPE students Katie Hoyer and Rabbi Joshua Ackerman co-authored a responsive reading for Mary Washington Hospital's Pride Month flag-raising, the first event of its kind at the hospital in Fredericksburg, VA.

The Foundation’s Support of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion

Jun 23, 2021

This year’s annual conference themed “Creating Room to Breathe” challenged all of us to reflect how we as an organization and as individual members can commit to anti-racist practices.

A Transformational Period of Discernment

Jun 15, 2021

Over the past several months, the ACPE board has been communicating about a possible merger with the Association of Professional Chaplains (APC). For some members, this has been a conversation that dates back to the 1980s. For others, this is a new idea that has raised important questions. Every week since March 18, 2021, when the Board of Directors approved a motion to bring the vote to merge to the membership, we have worked to provide videos, Q & As, town halls, and meetings with CoPs to address questions, concerns, hopes, and curiosities about what this will mean.

Return to…Normal?

Jun 14, 2021

A couple weeks ago I had the chance to spend a few days at the beach with my family. It was a welcome break, and I remembered how important it can be to step away from the regular, daily demands of work and home, and make space for rest and creativity.

Centering Peace Education (CPE)

Jun 8, 2021

Shawn Moore Israel is a chaplain who serves with The International Fellowship of Chaplains, Kairos Prison Ministry, Indy Vineyard Missional Food Pantry&Racial Reconciliation Ministry, and Ascent 121. She finished her first unit of CPE at Ascension St. Vincent Hospital in Indianapolis, Indiana- April 2021. Shawn can be reached at shawnisrael49@gmail.com

Summertime and the living is busy!

Jun 7, 2021

The summer is upon us, which for many of us means the beginning of summer CPE units. Some will end this unit in celebration of a year well done. Others will welcome new students beginning a single unit in their summer break from theology school. Certified Educators, Educator Candidates, and staff members will welcome new faces with high expectations. For some of us, this represents a refreshing return to a summer routine interrupted last year by COVID-19. In my shop (my primary experience is in a healthcare environment), the summer means a bit of shuffling to accommodate the summer group into the physical space, revisiting classroom scheduling, and lots of orientation before sharing of clinical responsibilities. Oh, and on-call. Within a couple of weeks, the new folk will be welcome care providers for our patients, their families, and the staff who attend them.

I Look Forward to the Merger with APC

Jun 7, 2021

It seems like yesterday that members of the American Association of Pastoral Counselors were beginning a process of discerning whether or not to consolidate with The Association of Clinical Pastoral Educators. Deciding to merge with an organization of professionals from a related but different discipline was challenging, and we weighed the possible advantages of coming together. I had the privilege of participating in a summit of AAPC members who considered our needs as an organization, and what it might be like to join with another association.

Leadership Development Opportunities in ACPE

Jun 7, 2021

Having come to the end of our historic annual conference, I am reflecting on the talent among us, how that is nurtured and encouraged. What a gift to hear the voices of newer educators and particularly those who are pushing and leading us to make anti-racist commitments in our lives and ministries. I am also reflecting on the way that CoPs both already are and can become instruments to nurture new leaders and operationalize our anti-racist commitments.

For your professional ethics edification in June

Jun 4, 2021

For June, instead of commenting on specifics about our ethics standards, I would like to share some resources for learning about professional ethics as well as, create a space where we might give attention to a question I have been grappling with, “Why, racism is ethically/morally wrong?”

A Journey to Myself - A Resident Chaplain’s Reflection

Jun 2, 2021

At the beginning of my CPE journey, I asked myself a question I am sure every CPE student has asked themselves in the past. Why am I doing this? I'm sure at the beginning we all have an answer to the question. Looking back from the end of my journey, my answer differs greatly than from the beginning. At the beginning the answer was shallow, because God called me to this. This was the answer I had heard my entire life from ministers, so it sounded like a reasonable enough answer. I didn’t know how wrong I was.