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Areas of
CPE Service
Views
about CPE students
Views from
Class of 2005
Views from
patients & caretakers |
The
Oblate Charism
“They are called to
be the Saviour’s co-workers, the co-redeemers of mankind; and
even though, because of their present small number and the more
urgent needs of the people around them, they have to limit the
scope of their zeal, for the time being, to the poor of our
countryside and others, their ambition should, in its holy
aspirations, embrace the vast expanse of the all whole earth.”
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What
is CPE?
Clinical Pastoral
Education (CPE) is a non-denominational programme that aims at
providing education and improving the quality of ministry &
pastoral care offered by care givers of faith through clinical
education method.
It is a form of
theological education that takes place not only in academic
classrooms, but in clinical settings as well. As such, CPE is
offered in hospitals, health care universities (such as UTH),
Children and old people’s facilities, hospices, psychiatric
and community care facilities as well as rehabilitation centers.
Clinical Pastoral
Education brings people preparing for religious ministries into
supervised contact with persons in crisis. Out of this
involvement, students develop new awareness of their own needs
as well as the needs of those whom they minister to.
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
inter-personal and inter-professional relationship.
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The
Importance of CPE to Oblates
CPE is a very
important programme to be under taken by Oblate Formation
Students because the founder placed a lot of emphasis on his
followers being a part of the needy people in society as
expressed in the Oblates Charism.
How
it all started
CPE
started off in the 1920s when Dr. William A. Bryan, a
superintendent at Worcester State Hospital employed Reverend
Anton T. Boisen as hospital Chaplain. To Rev. Boison, the most
challenging moments of his life were a great opportunity for new
ideas. He therefore invited students to join him and spend some
time at the hospital during his first summer there. During their
stay at the hospital, the students served as ward attendants,
attended staff meetings during the day and in the evenings they
attended seminars with the chaplain.
Each year, an
increased number of theological students enrolled into this new
method of theological learning.
In Zambia, Fr.
Ronald Walker,OMI, in collaboration with Sr. Shirley Mills, FMDM,
started CPE in 1989 for Oblate pre-novices.
Sr. Shirley was at
that time working at the University Teaching Hospital in the
Pastoral Care department. She was trained as a supervisor for
the CPE and came up with the initiative. Therefore, CPE started
off with Patrick Chanda, Roy Aloysius Hamalyangombe and Giriad
Lungu, who were aspiring to become Oblates of Mary Immaculate.
The three laid a good foundation for the other young Oblates to
come.
Today, the program
continues to grow in terms of scope of work and numbers. The
program has also inspired and encouraged other religious
Formation Houses to send their students to UTH. These include
The Franciscans of Divine Motherhood, Capuchins, Dominican
Sisters and Diocesans.
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Aims of CPE:
·Working directly
with the suffering and the poor.
·Removing and
changing the attitude programme
·Small group of
peers in common learning experience
·Specific time
period
·Individual contract for learning
consistent with the objectives of CPE
Goals of CPE
·Pastoral
Reflection –
reflection on one’s
self as a person in relationship to persons in crisis, the
supervisor, and peer group members.
·Pastoral
Formation –
focus on personal and pastoral identity issues in learning and
ministry.
·Pastoral
Competence –
deepening and unfolding of competence in pastoral function,
pastora l skills and knowledge of theology and the behavioral
sciences.
Benefits derived
from CPE programme
CPE serves as a part of one ’s
preparation for parish ministry, chaplaincy, Lay
ministry, teaching, and counseling. A student’s
learning contract may be focused toward integration of
theological, psychological, and Pastoral insights into pastoral
functioning for parish work.
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