Click on the headline to read the expanded article. Send your thoughts to [email protected] .
January 7, 2019
ACPE: Still the Standard for Spiritual Care and Education
Amy Greene
A my Greene,
Board Chair
Recently, we have received several inquiries from members and leadership of our CPE Centers about the news that ICPT, the Institute for Clinical Pastoral Education, doing business as the Association of Certified Christian Chaplains, was recently granted initial accreditation through the Accrediting Council for Continuing Education & Training (ACCET).[i] As not all accreditations are the same, there are some important distinctions that I want to highlight to help our membership understand a bit more about the accreditation landscape.

Read more
Certification Process/Manual Update: Progressive Autonomy in Educating Under Supervision Phases
Cecelia Walker,
Certification Chair
Happy 2019 to all! As we enter the New Year, I am excited to be the new Chair of the Certification Commission. I wish to express my appreciation and thanks to Mary Stewart Hall who just completed her term as Chair of the Certification Commission as well as the Chair of the Certification Reform Task Force and Implementation Group. The work that has been done over the past four plus years has been nothing less than transformative for our association and I am looking forward to continuing to build upon it in the coming years.

Read more
Research Committee Review: "Evaluating the Outcome of Clinical Pastoral Education: A Test of the Clinical Ministry Assessment Profile"
Moses Taiwo,
Research Committee
Happy New Year, ACPE! The Research Committee members continue to take turns every two weeks to share with you insights gained from an assigned article. The goal is to inspire your interest in research that demonstrates effectiveness of CPE programs, such as students' readiness for ministry and professional functioning. This seventh article review is about the Clinical Ministry Assessment Profile (CMAP), an instrument designed to measure the effects of CPE on professional practice. 

Read more
Annual Conference 2019: Online Registration is Open
Online registration for the 2019 ACPE Annual Conference is now open! We hope that you join us in Scottsdale, Arizona this spring for what is sure to be an incredible time. 

Help ACPE host a terrific conference! Please consider making a sponsorship gift to support a specific conference event or scholarships for students.
JPCC Vol 724 Now Available for ACPE Members Online
ACPE is a proud sponsor of the Journal of Pastoral Care & Counseling (JPC&C). Did you know that a benefit of your membership in ACPE is free online access to JPC&C?

Check out their latest volume by logging into the website under the Resources tab on the ACPE website.
Transforming Chaplaincy: Certificate in Spiritual Care Management and Leadership
The Transforming Chaplaincy Certificate in Spiritual Care Management and Leadership is a direct response to the professional needs and wishes of chaplains and patient experience leaders in healthcare settings across the country. One-on-one patient service is only half of the chaplain's overall work experience; the other half is how the chaplain fits into the interdisciplinary medical team and the administrative structure of the system.
Who? What? When? Images from ACPE's Past
Do you recognize these folks or the event in the photo above? Send us a note at  [email protected]. 
In Case You Missed It
Annual Report Process: Reports Due January 15th
The Annual Report for the year ending December 31, 2018 may be accessed by logging into BoardEffect via the ACPE website.The deadline to submit your center's form is January 15, 2019, by midnight in your local time zone. Please read all of the instructions on the website before beginning the process. 

NOTE: We are aware of the issue regarding access to BoardEffect and we are working with our developer to fix it. We thank you for your patience. 

Read more
ACPE Boisen Scholars Program - Support for Students to Attend the 2019 ACPE Annual Conference - Apply by January 15, 2019!
We are now accepting applications for the ACPE Boisen Scholars Program! Thanks to the generosity of ACPE donors, this opportunity provides funding support for ACPE students to attend the 2019 Annual Conference, "Exploring the Soul of Spiritual Care Education" in Scottsdale, Arizona (May 8 -10, 2019). ACPE students include Level I and Level 2 students, chaplain residents and Certified Educator Candidates. All ACPE Certified Educators are asked to encourage interested students to apply for this opportunity.

Read more
2019 Annual Conference Call For Poster Applications - Deadline: January 31
You are invited to submit a poster session proposal for the 2019 ACPE Annual Conference.

The ACPE Research Committee invites applications to present research posters at the 2019 ACPE Annual Conference on May 8-10 in Scottsdale, AZ. Applications will be reviewed by the Research Committee and selections will be made by the following criteria:

Read more
Chaplaincy Innovation Lab
Chaplaincy Innovation Lab
ACPE is a proud sponsor and partner of the Chaplaincy Innovation Lab, a think tank that supports research, teaching, and the provision of spiritual care in a range of settings. As the human spirit grows, changes and struggles, chaplains and spiritual care providers accompany people along the way. They gather and translate the research needed to support this work. Headquartered at Brandeis University in Waltham, Massachusetts, the Lab links people across the United States and around the world.
Weekly Highlights
This Week's Reflection
The ACPE office gets lots of calls this time of year from people exploring CPE programs, often asking questions that we direct to centers (for that is where those questions belong). Wendell Berry offers what I hope can be wise counsel to those who are in the process of discernment, though in a way that may take a couple of passes before his words catch a heart:
Manifesto: The Mad Farmer Liberation Front
by Wendell Berry

Love the quick profit, the annual raise,
vacation with pay. Want more
of everything ready-made. Be afraid
to know your neighbors and to die.
And you will have a window in your head.
Not even your future will be a mystery
any more. Your mind will be punched in a card
and shut away in a little drawer.
When they want you to buy something
they will call you. When they want you
to die for profit they will let you know.
So, friends, every day do something
that won't compute. Love the Lord.
Love the world. Work for nothing.
Take all that you have and be poor.
Love someone who does not deserve it.
Denounce the government and embrace
the flag. Hope to live in that free
republic for which it stands.
Give your approval to all you cannot
understand. Praise ignorance, for what man
has not encountered he has not destroyed.
Ask the questions that have no answers.
Invest in the millennium. Plant sequoias.
Say that your main crop is the forest
that you did not plant,
that you will not live to harvest.
Say that the leaves are harvested
when they have rotted into the mold.
Call that profit. Prophesy such returns.
Put your faith in the two inches of humus
that will build under the trees
every thousand years.
Listen to carrion - put your ear
close, and hear the faint chattering
of the songs that are to come.
Expect the end of the world. Laugh.
Laughter is immeasurable. Be joyful
though you have considered all the facts.
So long as women do not go cheap
for power, please women more than men.
Ask yourself: Will this satisfy
a woman satisfied to bear a child?
Will this disturb the sleep
of a woman near to giving birth?
Go with your love to the fields.
Lie easy in the shade. Rest your head
in her lap. Swear allegiance
to what is nighest your thoughts.
As soon as the generals and the politicos
can predict the motions of your mind,
lose it. Leave it as a sign
to mark the false trail, the way
you didn't go. Be like the fox
who makes more tracks than necessary,
some in the wrong direction.
Practice resurrection.


"Manifesto: The Mad Farmer Liberation Front" from New Collected Poems, 2012.
extra
Upon returning to work last week from the holidays, no less than four colleagues shared concerns about their parents' cognitive health after spending the holidays with them. Such concerns are likely only going to increase as millions age into decades that have never seen so many living representatives. There are some creative responses emerging. This one in San Diego is one such model: 


A Town Designed to Make Them Remember
Monday, January 7
* Feast of the Nativity (Christmas) - Christianity (some Eastern churches)
The celebration of Jesus' birth begins at sundown on this day, according to the Julian calendar used in some Orthodox churches.

Tuesday, January 8
* Seijin-no-hi - Shintō
Coming-of-Age Day, a Japanese national holiday in which families travel to shrines and announce to the gods that their children have reached adulthood. Prayers are offered for the children's wellbeing and lifelong health.

Thursday, January 10
* Memorial of Línjì Yìxuán - Buddhism
Anniversary of the death in 866 C.E. of the Chinese Buddhist teacher who founded what is often known as the Rinzai sect of Zen Buddhism.

Saturday, January 12
* Swami Vivekananda Jayanti - Hinduism
A celebration of the birth of Swami Vivekananda, who introduced Hinduism to North America at the World's Parliament of Religions, held in 1893 in Chicago during the World's Fair.

Sunday, January 13
* Maghi - Sikhism
Commemorating a battle in which forty Sikhs (the Forty Liberated Ones or Immortal Ones), led by a woman named Maathaa Bhaag Kaur, sacrificed themselves for their guru.
Visit the ACPE website for more information. 
  • No news reported this week.
Visit the ACPE Memorials and Milestones page for more details. Please email [email protected] to add someone to our thoughts.
This Week's Career Opportunities & Residency/CEC Openings
  • Residency/CEC/CPE Unit Openings
  • Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA
  • Albert Einstein Medical Center, Philadelphia, PA
  • Mercy Health St. Vincent Medical Center, Toledo, OH
Visit the ACPE website for a complete list of Career Opportunities and Residency/CEC Openings.

Want to advertise with ACPE? Learn more.
Other Happenings This Week
ACPE: The Standard for Spiritual Care & Education
(404) 320-1472 | Email | Website 

ACPE is the premier, DOE-recognized organization that provides the highest quality CPE programs for spiritual care professionals of any faith and in any setting. We do this through a rigorous accreditation and certification process for centers and educators that provide CPE. The depth of our training enables students to realize their full potential to strengthen the spiritual health of people in their care as well as themselves. 
STAY CONNECTED: