Clinical Pastoral Education Program
Educational excellence is one of the driving forces behind Loyola University Health System's (LUHS/Loyola) very existence. At LUHS, the Stritch School of Medicine educates new physicians; the Niehoff School of Nursing prepares graduate level nursing professionals; social workers, physical therapists and respiratory technicians are all placed at Loyola for part of their supervised internship. Training health care chaplains is one of the essential services of Loyola’s Pastoral Care and Education Department.
LUHS's Clinical Pastoral Education (CPE) Program offers a three-month internship and a year-long residency. Interns pursue CPE for personal ministerial development or as a requirement for their seminary or ordination. CPE residents further develop their ministerial skills, often in preparation for certification as chaplains. (NOTE: Many hospitals require certification for full-time employment as a chaplain. In addition, the chaplain certifying agencies require a masters degree in theology, pastoral studies or spirituality.)
Clinical pastoral education is built upon adult- and student-centered process learning. Students focus their ministerial education by working with their supervisor and peers in articulating learning goals for each CPE unit. Midterm and final evaluations, along with other written assignments, allow each student to track his or her progress in realizing their goals.
Two elements are distinctive in Loyola’s CPE program:
(1) Pastoral Care chaplains serve as mentors and adjunct faculty for CPE students. Each CPE student chaplain teams with a staff chaplain and is integrated into patient care on the unit he or she serves at the medical center. The spiritual, religious and denominational/sacramental needs beneath the medical needs” focus the pastoral care provided to patient, family and staff -- from blessing a newborn to facilitating difficult end-of-life issues.
(2) Pastoral Care chaplains are highly integrated in providing care in crisis situations. LUHS administrative protocols require that a chaplain respond to every trauma, respiratory and cardiac arrest and also to every death. While on-call, student chaplains will minister to patients and families in a Level One trauma center where victims of car crashes, falls, gang violence or industrial accidents are rushed by ambulance or helicopter. Student chaplains will also daily hone their crisis ministry skills, as the general patient population at LUHS ranks in the top ten in the nation in acuity of illness and 30% of our 450 beds are ICU beds.
Loyola's CPE program was initially accredited in 1974. Since 1997, Loyola University Health System has been dually accredited by the Association for Clinical Pastoral Education (ACPE) and the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops/Commission on Certification & Accreditation (USCCB/CCA). We are one of only 14 dually accredited centers in the country.
United States Conference of Catholic Bishops Commission on Certification & Accreditation
National Association of Catholic Chaplains
Association for Clinical Pastoral Education, Inc.
Loyola's CPE program operates under the auspices of the pastoral care and education department. The CPE supervisors report to the director of pastoral care and education, Marie Coglianese.
Training in Ministry
LUHS CPE offers supervised clinical learning in both inpatient and outpatient settings, individualized mentoring by the staff chaplains and opportunities for working as members of interdisciplinary teams. Specialties include cardiology, with a heart transplant unit; oncology, with a bone marrow transplant unit and a large outpatient cancer center; ER/trauma, with a specialty burn unit; women’s and children’s health, including a 50 bed neonatal unit; neurology and neurosurgery with an inpatient rehabilitation unit; and general medicine, with dialysis and renal transplant services.
Loyola's pastoral care staff and student chaplains serve the diverse needs of patients, families and staff with an interfaith approach. Student chaplains learn ministerial skills to assist patients and families to draw upon their own spiritual resources for healing and wholeness. At Loyola, chaplains address what we describe as “the needs beneath the medical needs.” Whether patient or family are in the midst of a sudden crisis or an ongoing chronic struggle, our chaplains are available for:
Spiritual needs:
- searching for meaning and hope
- dealing with suffering, loss, grief, change or discouragement
- celebrating relief, healing, gratitude
- ethical decisions regarding continuing or discontinuing treatments
Religious concerns:
- prayer, scripture, faith
- reconciliation, forgiveness
- grace-filled moments
- other ways God is present (or not) in life
Specific sacramental or denominational needs:
- communion, reconciliation, baptism, blessing
- Anointing of the Sick
- a bible or other spiritual resource
- community or church concerns
- contacting church, parish, synagogue, mosque, or other house of worship
Once oriented to Loyola University Medical Center (LUMC), a typical day for a CPE student involves a half-day ministering as a chaplain and a half-day for various seminars. Group sessions include verbatim presentations, story theology, didactic input classes and open seminars. In addition, each student meets weekly for individual supervision.
After extensive orientation with an experienced staff chaplain, student chaplains spend the night at LUMC on-call Friday or Saturday every two or three weeks. They also enter the rotation as an evening on-call chaplain.
Other learning opportunities at the medical center include: grand rounds pertinent to pastoral care (e.g., ethics and psychiatry), pastoral care staff meetings and in-services, CPE retreat/reflection days, medical center on-going education opportunities like the health fair and presentations for area pastors and ministers sponsored by pastoral care outreach days.
Formats for CPE at LUMC
(1) A typical CPE intensive internship quarter extends for 11 to 12 weeks and entails 40 to 50 clinical hours per week, plus five to 10 hours of reflective writing. Tuition is $500 for one unit of CPE credit. Upon successfully completing the quarter, students earn one unit credit with the Association for Clinical Pastoral Education (ACPE).
The next openings for one-unit interns are the 2007 summer unit.
(2) A CPE residency is four quarters: a year-long program that provides a stipend of $24,960, plus a tuition benefit of $2000 that totals $26,960. In addition, a resident has access to health and dental benefits plus ten vacation days, over and above the nine holidays Loyola recognizes during the year.
After successfully completing this full-time, 12-month training, a student earns four quarters of credit with the Association for Clinical Pastoral Education (ACPE). These four quarters of ACPE credit are recognized by all certifying organizations and will allow the student to pursue certification as a chaplain in the Association of Professional Chaplains, the National Association of Catholic Chaplains or the National Association of Jewish Chaplains. For certification, these associations require a masters degree in theology, pastoral studies or spirituality. Many hospitals require certification for full-time employment as a chaplain.
CPE residency is a year-long training program that begins each year in September.
(3) For people who are working or are not free for internship or residency, some CPE Centers offer extended units. Though we have offered extended units in the past, Loyola is unable at the present time to offer this form of CPE.
Contact Us
For an appointment or for more information about Clinical Pastoral Education Program, call (888) LUHS-888.