Div Dictionary: CPE

CPE, (n): Clinical Pastoral Education, a hospital chaplaincy work/study program which many YDS students do during one of their summers.

CPE is basically a crash course in pastoral care, usually in a hospital setting. Students spend about half of their time in class, group sessions, and other teaching modules, and about half serving as real-life chaplains. CPE programs usually include some time spent "on call," when students spend the night in the hospital with a beeper, and are called to all sorts of trauma cases.

From the Association for Clinical Pastoral Education's website: "Clinical Pastoral Education is interfaith professional education for ministry. It brings theological students and ministers of all faiths (pastors, priests, rabbis, imams and others) into supervised encounter with persons in crisis. Out of an intense involvement with persons in need, and the feedback from peers and teachers, students develop new awareness of themselves as persons and of the needs of those to whom they minister. From theological reflection on specific human situations, they gain a new understanding of ministry. Within the interdisciplinary team process of helping persons, they develop skills in interpersonal and interprofessional relationships." Mmmmyeah, that tells you just about nothing.

Some denominations (like mine) require students to do a unit of CPE to be ordained, but some YDS students who are not required to do CPE choose to take a unit because it will inevitably help them build great skills for ministry. YDS also pays its CPE students - not much, but about $3,100 over the 10-week summer - as well as awarding an elective credit. (Or three credit hours, which is the equivalent of one class.) Rarely but occasionally, students choose to do an extended or full-year CPE program, which meets only one day a week throughout the academic year.

Ed. note: The above image is the photo that came up first when I did a Google search for images using "chaplain." Although CPE involves extreme sleep deprivation during on-call, it will likely not turn you into a literal zombie. That's some pretty amazing liturgical garb, though.