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February 12, 2018
Katherine Higgins,
Director of Community, Practice, and Member Development
Early in January, I had the privilege of joining a group of educators for the annual Southeast Supervisory Education Invitational. We met at St. Simon's Island, GA, in a lovely Methodist retreat center. The bomb cyclone of winter weather ravaging the East coast was only a minor impediment to a time of connection, learning, laughter, and support. This outcome was the result of the hard work of all who gathered. I want to tell you about my experience of this work because I think it is a great example of our work as educators engaged in transformative work and evidence of the way we live our values and commitments.

Barbara Bullock
Barbara Bullock, Chair, Professional 
Well-Being Committee
The Professional Well-Being Committee met adjacent to the REM Invitational last week. It was wonderful to be in Washington D.C. with so many of our creative and dedicated colleagues. The committee reviewed 53 registrations with 60% being geographical and 40% falling into categories such as research, curriculum development, theory, setting, and group affinity. This level of diversity in the communities of practice is very exciting and shows the creative energy of the national membership.

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Body, Mind, Spirit: Hospital Chaplains Contribute to Patient Satisfaction and Well-being
Last month, The Joint Commission published Part 1: Body, Mind, Spirit: Hospital Chaplains Contribute to Patient Satisfaction and Well-being.

Part 2 is now available! In part 2, they explore screening and assessment for patient spiritual needs as well as the role of chaplains during end-of-life care.
Adriana Cavina
A trip to Israel, the Holy Land of the three major monotheistic religions, is not like any other tourist tours; it is a sacred experience.

Defining what made the trip memorable is hard because it was a mixture of emotions, new intellectual discoveries, meeting a difficult and suffered co-habitation of a multi-faith and multi-cultural society, history and present passionately intermingled, my long-time wishes finally fulfilled to give life to Scriptural images, and a deep sense of touching holy ground everywhere. 

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ACPE'S Mission to Israel
Israel-Country
In January 2018, ACPE sponsored a new initiative focused on the professional well-being of our Certified Educators, a mission to Israel which was a unique opportunity to travel together.

The mission was a 10-day experience designed to foster community, offer opportunities for learning, to engage with one another, to experience the holy sites of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, as well as the modern state of Israel, and to have professional opportunities to engage with colleagues in Israel who are in the emerging field of spiritual care. | Watch Video
Mary Stewart Hall, Chair, Certification Commision
The Certification Implementation team is looking for a few good mentors and evaluators. Please consider sharing your gifts with ACPE by volunteering to be a Theory Paper Mentor or as a member of a Theory Integration Presentation team. If you enjoy all things theory and are interested in sharing your expertise or learning new theories and wish to work with a CEC as they develop their theories we hope you will consider this opportunity. Likewise, if you enjoy reading and evaluating theory and wish to be a part of an evaluation team, we welcome your expertise.  Please email Sheilah Hawk or Mary Stewart Hall. 
Ever wonder who is on the ACPE Board of Directors? Trying to find your Accreditation Chair? Curious about the new committees?

You can find this information and more under Directory on the ACPE website. And while you are there, take some time to upload a profile picture!
In Case You Missed It
We are less than a month away from our Early Bird Deadline. Register now for our 2018 Annual Conference in Atlanta, Georgia!

Help ACPE host a terrific conference! Please consider making a sponsorship gift to support a specific conference event or scholarships for students.

ACPE's first Silent Auction & Raffle was a great success! All funds raised support ACPE's transformational educational programs. Click here to learn how you can help and participate.
ACPE Photo Contest
photographer
Do you have a picture that beautifully captures CPE and /or spiritual care? ACPE is looking for great pictures that highlight the transformative work our educators and students make happen. To enter the contest, send your photo to foundation@acpe.edu by March 15, 2018.
 
The winning photo will be featured with credit in this year's ACPE Year-in Review and other ACPE publications!
Ethics Forms due by February 15, 2018
signature
Please complete the online form to report on your status regarding ACPE ethics by February 15, 2018.

The Professional Ethics Commission will follow up with any questions or concerns.
Important Update Regarding Peer Reviews
Chat Graphic

ACPE now requires that active Certified Educators participate in a peer review every three years. That means that Certified Educators who did not do a peer review in 2015, 2016 or 2017 will need to do one in 2018.

Check-out this series of hour-long webinars h osted by Transforming Chaplaincy  in Winter-Spring 2018.

The aim of this series is to help leaders and emerging leaders in professional chaplaincy and chaplaincy education develop and strengthen their ability to think strategically about advancing chaplaincy both at the level of the profession and at the level of their institution.
  Click here to save your spot .
Weekly Highlights
This Week from the Members
Ngan Ling Lung
This week's contribution is from Ngan Ling Lung. She is an ACPE Certified Educator at Florida Hospital Division for Pastoral Education in Altamonte Springs, FL. She can be reached at nganling.lung@flhosp.org

Want to submit a poem, photo, or reflection? Send it to webmaster@acpe.edu.
Shadow, Cracks, and Light

Shadow

You are not darkness.
You are Light kissing something
which is too dense to let it through.
You are a fruit of Light's encounter,
an act of Love yet to be fully born.

Cracks

I hate you, Cracks.
A broken jug I become.
My face's no longer smooth.
Leaking am I.
You make me a fool.

Light

My child,
through your imperfection I come.
Shadows, light, shades.
There is darkness, there is grey.
Patterns emerge, beauty is born.
Grace swings with eternal song.

My child,
dance and dance.
Circle in the light.
Tap with the shades.
Embrace the shadows.
Honor the cracks.
Live life to the fullest.
Your soul is blessed.
Something Extra This Week
YouTube

This clip might make for an interesting conversation with students who find that expressing emotions is not a welcome part of their family system: That Moment You Stop Apologizing. 

Have a thought-provoking article or video you'd like to share with the ACPE community? What new tools are you incorporating into your curriculum? Send Something Extra to webmaster@acpe.edu.
Tuesday, February 13
* Maha Shivaratri - Hinduism
A night devoted to the worship of the god Shiva, whose dance creates and destroys and recreates the world; it is marked by vigils and fasting.

Wednesday, February 14
* Ash Wednesday - Christianity (Western churches)
The beginning of Lent, a forty-day period (excluding Sundays) in which Christians pray, repent, fast and reflect on Jesus' final journey to Jerusalem. It is a preparatory period for Holy Week and Easter; on this day, believers often receive an ashen cross on their foreheads to mark their repentance and mortality.
* Valentine's Day - Western Christianity
A celebration of love originally connected to the Roman Christian martyr who died in 269 C.E.

Thursday, February 15
* Nirvana Day - Buddhism
In northern Buddhist traditions, this day marks the anniversary of the historical Buddha's death in ca. 486 B.C.E. and his subsequent entrance into enlightenment or Nirvana. In southern Buddhist traditions, the Buddha's death is commemorated during Visakha.

Friday, February 16
* Chinese / Vietnamese / Korean New Year - Buddhism / Confucianism / Taoism
The first day after the new moon is a religious and cultural festival for Korean, Vietnamese, and Chinese persons, marking the first day of the year 4716, the Year of the Earth Dog.
* Birthday of Maitreya Bodhisattva - Buddhism [Pure Land schools]
Marking the birth of Maitreya, who will come at the end of time to renew the pristine Buddhist teachings.
* Losar [Tibetan New Year] - Buddhism
Celebrating the beginning of the year 2145 in the Tibetan calendar.

Saturday, February 17
* Sri Ramakrishna Jayanti - Hinduism
A celebration of the birth of the teacher of Swami Vivekananda, who introduced Hinduism to the United States at the first Parliament of the World's Religions in Chicago in 1893.

Sunday, February 18
* Cheesefare Sunday [Forgiveness Sunday] - Christianity (Eastern churches)
This feast marks the last day of eating dairy products prior to Holy Pascha (also known as Easter). The Great Fast or Great Lent begins at sundown and is marked by forty days of vegetarian fasting, intense prayer, and almsgiving in preparation for Holy Week. The following day is known as Clean Monday.
Visit the ACPE website for more information. 
  • No news reported this week.
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News & Opportunities from Member Centers
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. 
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