Clinical Pastoral Education Internship
The CPE internship addresses the fundamentals of pastoral formation, pastoral competence, and pastoral reflection through one or more program units.
Summer Unit
The summer unit is a 12-week, full-time program typically beginning the day after Memorial Day in May and ending around the second week of August. It is open to seminarians, clergy, qualified lay persons, and spiritual leaders seeking continuing education or credit.
Extended Internship Unit
The extended unit is approximately 15 hours per week from September through late March. The unit includes five hours of formal class time during the week, or twice monthly; a minimum of seven hours of direct patient service time (flexed to meet students’ individual schedules) each week at one of the Saint Luke’s System hospitals; eight overnight on-call duties at Saint Luke’s Hospital (weekends and weeknights). The CPE unit includes three eight hour weekday (not a Saturday) of orientation at the beginning of the unit. This unit is open to seminarians, clergy, qualified lay persons, and spiritual leaders seeking continuing education or credit.
Summer and extended unit students receive a meal allowance when at work and on-call.
Admission Requirements - Interns
Saint Luke's Clinical Pastoral Education programs follow the standards and guidelines of the Association for Clinical Pastoral Education. To be considered for admission, applicants must:
- Complete the Saint Luke’s CPE program application materials
- Be invited to participate in an admissions screening interview
- Be a high school graduate or possess a GED
- Be ordained and/or endorsed by a faith community or commissioned to function in ministry by an appropriate religious authority (preferred)
Program Learning and Service Expectations
- Provide pastoral and spiritual care to patients as assigned
- Share emergency on-call duty with staff and peers
- Participate in all educational sessions including verbatims seminars, patient care conferences, interpersonal relations groups, didactic seminars, role play seminars, and individual supervision
- Preach a sermon/homily in at least two chapel services if the student’s faith group allows
Written activities include:
- Learning agreement/goals
- Verbatims
- Reflection reports
- Final evaluation
- 500-word paper on an aspect of ministry in an institutional setting, for example, theodicy, philosophy of suffering, or other approved spiritual care topics in consultation with your program supervisor/educator
Tuition and Fees
- Application fee: $25
- Down payment at acceptance: $100
- Tuition for the summer unit and 30-week extended unit: $500 per unit (less down payment) is due the first day of the program.
- Limited financial assistance is available by application after acceptance into the summer or 30 week extended CPE programs. To request assistance, please complete the Ruth/Kolb Endowment Fund Application on the application page.