December 14, 2020
In recent weeks, I have been particularly moved by first-hand accounts of the bone-deep weariness faced by medical providers and allied health professionals caring for those with COVID. Of course, this also includes many of you, who navigate all of the challenges of caring for patients and families impacted by COVID, in addition to providing support and care to colleagues and staff. 
Annual Invoices Delayed
Last week, ACPE sent out annual notices for your 2021 dues, but then unfortunately discovered an issue with the new database. Our team has been working with our consultants throughout the weekend to address the issue. Currently, ACPE’s billing system is still down. We apologize for this unfortunate and uncontrollable data incident. Further updates will be sent via email. Thank you for your patience and understanding.
Thank you to the participants of the 2020 salary survey. The survey results are posted on ACPE’s SharePoint site. You can access ACPE’s SharePoint site by visiting www.office.com, and signing in with your “ACPE.EDU” email address. 
The Journal of Pastoral Care & Counseling Vol. 74, No. 4, is now available online.

ACPE is a proud sponsor of the Journal of Pastoral Care & Counseling (JPC&C). To access the journal, you will need to sign into the ACPE website.
Based on feedback from educators, students, and staff, we developed an updated how-to guide for students enrolling in a CPE unit. The guide is also posted on the website for future reference.
ACPE's Tech Team will host a series of talks which include a brief overview of our new platforms and Q&A sessions. The hour-long talks are limited to 10 members to ensure attendees can ask their questions and address their challenges.
Submission Deadline: December 19
We are in search of the 2020 Theory Paper of the Year Award winner! For all CECs that have passed their Theory Papers or passed their Theory Integration Presentation this year, please email your papers to rodseeger@aol.com. The winner will receive a monetary gift and have their Theory Paper published in the Journal of Reflective Practice. Contact Rod Seeger at rodseeger@aol.com with questions.
2021 Informal Consultation Schedule
We invite all ACPE Certified Educators who are working with Educator Candidates to join us for informal consultations and conversations via Zoom in 2021. We will not meet between 12/14/20 - 1/4/2021, we will resume on 1/11/2021.
Thanks to all of our special donors who support our holy work. Your gifts will support innovative spiritual care projects, initiatives that help ACPE educators and centers respond in the Covid-19 environment, and research that advances spiritual care education. Make your Year-end Gift today. Once you hit "Donate" please be sure to login or create a guest account, so that we can acknowledge your gift! Then, select "Sustainer's Circle Monthly Donation" if you wish to begin a monthly gift.
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 webmaster@acpe.edu

Last week's photo featured Duane Parker, Bob Eades, Paul Kapp, Bob Carlson, Robert Pattie, Steve Overall, Carl Towley, Carol Nash, Ray Bailey, Jerry Kolb and Sally Schwab.

Have any photos from your personal ACPE archive that you would like to share? Send them to webmaster@acpe.edu to be featured in an upcoming newsletter.
In Case You Missed It
The COVID-19 pandemic has reshaped our educational landscape. Spiritual care education and clinical opportunities for learners required a shift at an unprecedented speed and scope.
For December, instead of commenting on our ethics standards, we share some resources for learning about professional ethics.
Are you still in the 'old process' for certification? Seeking to compile a list of both CECs in the old process and their training CEs to connect and support one another through certification as an Associate CE. Join the new Community of Practice dedicated to this group, contact Rev. Terry Culbertson, ACPE CE.
ACPE’s Spiritually Integrated Psychotherapy (SIP) Program will offer its second SIP Trainer Training February 19-20, 2021 (Friday-Saturday), via Zoom. Read on for more information.
Submission Deadline: January 15, 2021
The Foundation for ACPE Service Awards Committee invites you to nominate someone for recognition of outstanding contributions or service to ACPE.
The ACPE SIP Program offers trainings to help mental health practitioners work more competently with spirituality in the context of psychotherapy. The 30-hour NBCC-approved continuing education curriculum is a specialty training for persons who have previous training in psychotherapy.
*Virtual Educator Gatherings: Thursdays, 12 Noon EDT
*Virtual Psychotherapist Gatherings: Fridays, 12 Noon EDT
If you need the meeting link, please email Katherine Higgins. 
Weekly Highlights
This Week's Reflection
As this year draws to a close, it seems an ideal time for deep reflection, what my partner calls “fierce inner work." This poem from Rilke invites just reflection (and feel free to read it with whatever gender identity resonates for you):
The Man Watching 
By Rainer Maria Rilke

I can tell by the way the trees beat, after
so many dull days, on my worried windowpanes
that a storm is coming,
and I hear the far-off fields say things
I can't bear without a friend,
I can't love without a sister.
The storm, the shifter of shapes, drives on 
across the woods and across time,
and the world looks as if it had no age:
the landscape, like a line in the psalm book, 
is seriousness and weight and eternity.
What we choose to fight is so tiny! 
What fights with us is so great. 
If only we would let ourselves be dominated
as things do by some immense storm, 
we would become strong too, and not need names.
When we win it's with small things, 
and the triumph itself makes us small. 
What is extraordinary and eternal
does not want to be bent by us. 
I mean the Angel who appeared
to the wrestlers of the Old Testament:
when the wrestlers' sinews 
grew long like metal strings, 
he felt them under his fingers 
like chords of deep music.
Whoever was beaten by this Angel 
(who often simply declined the fight) 
went away proud and strengthened
and great from that harsh hand, 
that kneaded him as if to change his shape. 
Winning does not tempt that man. 
This is how he grows: by being defeated, decisively, 
by constantly greater beings.

 --Translated by Robert Bly
Many of us have spent a good deal of time outside since the quarantine began. Sarah Lee, a photographer for The Guardian, decided to use that time to capture what she was seeing in her neighborhood. Check out the images here
This Week on the Calendar
December 11–18  
Chanukah (Judaism) 
Eight-day “Festival of Lights”, also known as Hanukkah, celebrating the rededication of the  Temple to the service of God in 164 BCE. Commemorates the victory of the Maccabees over the Greek King, Antiochus, who sought to suppress freedom of worship.
This Week in our Thoughts
  • ACPE Certified Educators Mark Grace and Linda Wilkerson, of Dallas, TX, are mourning the death of Mark’s mother Dorothy. She died on December 5, 2020 just one day shy of her 90th birthday.

Visit the ACPE Memorials and Milestones page for more details. Please email webmaster@acpe.edu to add someone to our thoughts.
CAREER & RESIDENCY OPPORTUNITIES
Tuskegee, AL
The applicant serves as Chaplain Clinical Pastoral Educator (CPE) performing senior-level clinical assignments for the VHA.

New Orleans, LA
University Medical Center New Orleans is proud to be a leader in medical care, research, and training as the region’s only Level 1 Trauma Center and Burn Center.

Educational Opportunities
ACPE: The Standard for Spiritual Care & Education
ACPE is the standard for spiritual care and education. Our diverse membership includes Certified CPE Educators, Spiritually Integrated Psychotherapists, Spiritual Care Professionals and Practitioners, Pastoral Counselors, Chaplains, Faith Communities, and Seminaries. Our multi-disciplinary, multi-faith, multi-racial community of professionals provides education, connection, and formation through continuing education, networking, and leadership development.
 
ACPE is the premier, Department of Education 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.
 
ACPE members are actively engaged in a wide variety of professional development activities including communities of practice, conferences, spiritual care research, and informal networking. We are more than just an association: we are a movement committed to the transformation of the human suffering.Our opportunities for formation and community enrich our member's work of healing and transforming people and communities in the US and across the globe.