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News

  •  Your Gifts At Work

    Oct 30, 2023

    This year we invested in the future of CPE through the Hemenway Scholars fund, support for summer students to help offset the cost of housing and educational debt. Fifteen students received $2,000 of support while they completed a summer unit. While we may never realize the full impact of our gifts, below are a few quotes from Hemenway Scholar recipients (identified and quoted with their consent).

  • Reflection on Indigenous People’s Day

    Oct 9, 2023

    When asked to reflect upon Indigenous People’s Day, previously known as Columbus Day, I approached the subject with caution. While many often mistake me for a Native American due to my high cheekbones and almond-shaped eyes, my heritage is rooted in Mexico. I am a proud blend of Mexico's diverse lineages, both culturally and genetically, reflecting a mix of Indigenous and European influences. In my childhood, “Día de la Raza” was the term used for Columbus Day in Mexico. It emphasized pride in the dual heritage of the Mexican populace, acknowledging both...

  • LGBTQ Community of Practice Retreat

    Oct 6, 2023

    The ACPE LGBTQI Community of Practice is hosting a retreat for CoP members in Atlanta November 10-12, just before the leadership meetings. ACPE members who identify as LGBTQI are welcome to join, even if you have not attended a CoP meeting before. The meeting will begin Friday night with dinner and continue with sessions Saturday morning (playful learning together) and Saturday afternoon with our speaker, Dr. Pamela Ayo Yetunde (more on that below). We’ll wrap up Sunday morning with breakfast and a closing time of remembrance and celebration.

  • Call for Workshop Applications

    Oct 3, 2023

    You are invited to submit a workshop proposal for the 2024 ACPE Annual Conference in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, May 20-23,2024! This year’s conference will once again showcase the wisdom of our members and highlight the inspirational and innovative education that our educators, psychotherapists, practitioners, spiritual care professionals and programs offer.

  • Planting Seeds, Bearing Fruit

    Sep 29, 2023

    Each year when autumn rolls around, I reach for Parker Palmer’s “The Paradox of Fall.” Living in the northern US, there is a chill in the air that speaks of changes coming. Fall stirs my soul. Parker reflects: Autumn is a season of great beauty, but it is also a season of decline: the days grow shorter, the light is suffused, and summer’s abundance decays toward winter’s death. Faced with this inevitable winter, what does nature do in autumn? She scatters the seeds that will bring new growth in the spring—and she scatters them with amazing abandon.

  • Intentional and Inclusive: Crushing Pressure Pastoral Care

    Sep 25, 2023

    Dr. Patricia Williams, ACPE Psychotherapist, SIP Trainer and Member of the Anti-Bias Work Group, shares this insightful essay in honor of Suicide Prevention Awareness Month.

  • Expanding our Contributions, Expanding our Future

    Sep 20, 2023

    This has been an unprecedented year of the Foundation investing in the ACPE values of justice, equity, diversity, inclusion and access. As the spiritual landscape of our world changes, we as the membership of ACPE wrestle with how we will address the changing world while we move our profession forward. I want you to know that the Foundation will continue to invest in innovative projects and social change.

  • For Your Professional Ethics Edification

    Sep 15, 2023

    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 commissioner of the PEC sharing some ways this person lives these commitments*. September’s statements are:

  • Chaplain: A sailor in the Ocean

    Sep 6, 2023

    For me, CPE was one simple thing- a boat in a big ocean. This image was in my mind when I entered a room of an elderly woman who was immensely proud to be a sailor for the US Navy. She was struggling with loneliness at the hospital, and I had a beautiful conversation with her. I planned to chat for five minutes, and I ended up spending almost fifty minutes with her because she felt so lonely.

  • Seasons and Becoming

    Sep 1, 2023

    Dr. Gregory Ellison, a professor of pastoral care and counseling at Emory University (with the words of Luther Sim), penned a poem entitled Canyons in Me. why question who I become? a canyon of lives span in me. having their wisdom, having their diversity, having their years, is how my life is Grand.

  • Reflection on New Outcomes and Indicators

    Aug 27, 2023

    When the Eastern Area CoP met before the new Outcomes and Indicators (O&I) release, there was a lot of buzz! The buzz ranged from “We’ve just been through new Standards! It’s too much!!” to “Can’t we just ditch the DoE?” to “It’s about time! Those Outcomes are awful.”

  • Accreditation Updates

    Aug 25, 2023

    As many of us have or will soon be wrapping up our summer units, accreditation is still remarkably busy! In addition to the regular work of site visits, we are actively engaged in continuing to refine the various changes that we are making. We are making good progress in addressing the compliance report of the USDE and I hope that this update will provide you with additional needed information.

  • Holy Moments

    Aug 21, 2023

    I stare off deep into the void that lays before me I can't quite make out what comes next Or what might be coming for me. As I prepare to take the next step That will carry me into the unknown I replay a thousand moments in my mind Moments of fear and trembling Moments of power and strength And I am reminded of so many things

  • Want to get more involved in ACPE? Looking for Leadership Development Opportunities? Submit a Nomination TODAY!

    Aug 20, 2023

    The Leadership Development Committee (LDC) invites you to consider serving in one of the open leadership positions in 2024. Nominations are open now for ACPE’s fall election. The deadline to submit a nomination is September 22, 2023.

  • Beginning Your Residency: Practical Tips from an Anti-Bias Perspective

    Aug 14, 2023

    Wherever you are in the residency year, ACPE’s anti-bias working group would like to offer a few invitations. Consider using what you know will work but also consider using what you wonder about, what you’re less confident will work but might enrich your practice toward integrating anti-bias pedagogies.

  • I Was Wrong about the ACPE SIP Training

    Aug 14, 2023

    I Was Wrong about the ACPE SIP Training. I signed up for ACPE’s Spiritually Integrated Psychotherapy training as a long-time pastoral psychotherapist who thought: “I will likely know whatever they share, but I could use the CE hours and it won’t tax my brain too much.”

  • Professional Ethics Edification

    Aug 7, 2023

    Once a month the ACPE Professional Ethics Commission (PEC) posts a section of our Code of Professional Ethics for ACPE Members. Each posting is accompanied by a brief personal reflection from a PEC member sharing some ways this person has experienced the referenced code section*. August’s statements are:

  • Outcomes and Indicators Implementation Cohorts

    Aug 7, 2023

    This summer, 14 programs piloted the revised Outcomes and Indicators in their summer units and as part of the pilot, the programs met on a weekly basis for consultation and found it to be very helpful. Building on this, as additional educators begin to utilize the revised Outcomes and Indicators in their programs, ACPE wants to provide opportunities for collegial engagement and consultation for many more folks and the opportunity to share resources and ideas.

  • Decades of mentorship help CPE educator create new community

    Aug 7, 2023

    I walked towards the back pew of the church on Mother’s Day alone. Then, to my surprise, one of my former chaplain interns from five years ago waved and motioned me to sit with her family. Sliding closer together, they made room for me. She shared her joys and sorrows, including her bittersweet pride over her newly graduated daughter’s college plans. When she later posted about her Mother’s Day on social media, she wrote, “And the icing on the cake was running into my mentor who just so happened to be visiting our church.”

  • Outcomes, Address Change, and Announcements

    Aug 7, 2023

    There was some wisdom I appreciated from the psychiatrist and writer Jorge Bucay that comes to mind in times such as these where there is so much tumult and hurt domestically and globally. I must discipline myself to step away from my iPhone, take a break from the news, take a walk, and find perspective. The perspective I appreciated from Jorge Bucay is “Bad stuff won’t last forever…keep pushing” and “Good stuff won’t last forever…enjoy the moment.”