Flatland KC: Finding Faith in Hospital Settings

In late November, Saint Luke’s Health System will celebrate offering its Clinical Pastoral Education (CPE) for 50 years. 

Saint Luke’s CPE allows laity, theological students, and clergy to serve alongside an interdisciplinary team of professionals who care for patients and families in crisis. Since the 1970s, the Clinical Pastoral Education program at Saint Luke’s has been educating pastoral students to serve as chaplains and helping students discover their professional identity and capacity for effective pastoral relationships.

The CPE program accepts students from all religious traditions, denominations, cultures, and nationalities to prepare them to serve as chaplains, facilitating whole-person health and healing. More than the absence of illness, a healthy person is one who has discovered meaning and purpose in life and understands the importance of the mind-body-spirit balance.

"It has become the gold standard for training chaplains everywhere and helped to spread chaplaincy work beyond hospitals to hospices, psychiatric institutions, prisons and even industry."

Flatland KC spoke with Jerry Kolb, chaplain emeritus who started the program at Saint Luke's, and Rev. Joanna Tarr, director of pastoral education at Saint Luke’s, about C.P.E. training and this milestone. 

Read the full article from Flatland KC: Finding Faith in Hospital Settings.