CPE classes continue in the Diocese of Sioux City

By KATIE LEFEBVRE, Globe staff reporter
November 18, 2004

Clinical Pastoral Education (CPE) has begun another unit of classes in the Diocese of Sioux City and plans to continue with another unit in January.

CPE represents an advanced level of pastoral care training and offers personal growth opportunities for men and women of all ages and faith traditions. The goal is to improve and expand spiritual care-giving ministry, either full-time or part-time, in churches and in community service settings.

"It is kind of like an internship for pastors," said Karen Borchers, the director of advancement for the Ecumenical Institute for Pastoral Care. "They go out and work, talk to someone and bring the reflections back to class and talk to the group."

The participants reflect on how they did in their ministry, how they will do and how they will do better in the future.

The current participants in the program are Cary Brown, pastoral minister at St. Mary's in Storm Lake; Dawn Freese, youth minister from Early; Deacon Luis Guzman, permanent deacon from South Sioux City, Neb.; John Jensen, lay minister from Everly; Marsha McKeever, lay minister from Estherville; Lynn Noel, lay minister from Renwick, Iowa; and Mike Stover, pastoral/youth minister from Ida Grove. The facilitator of the unit is Father Gene Sitzmann, pastor at Visitation Parish in Maryhill.

"I have had a couple of friends who have taken it, so I was really interested in the wonderful things that they had to say about it," said Brown. "I needed something to put a new spark back into my ministry. One of the main things I have learned already is to listen very attentively to what the person is actually saying instead of thinking about how am I going to respond to that."

The class meets weekly on Tuesday afternoons for four hours and the locations is a combination of moving place to place where the students are in ministry, occasionally at the Mental Health Institute or a central location for all the participants.

According to Father Sitzmann, the class is learning how to do their jobs with "more intentionality, more purpose and more effectiveness. They are learning about themselves, too. We like to look at the tattoos of our life - some of the imprints that are put on us, some very wonderful and some not so good."

"It is a continuous doing something and reflecting on your actions," said Father Sitzmann. "If I don't look at something, I am never going to modify it."

Over 400 people from many faith traditions to date have taken at least one CPE unit/quarter through Ecumenical Institute and its predecessor, the CPE program at Cherokee Mental Health Institute. Participants from throughout the Diocese of Sioux City include 40 priests and seminarians, nine deacons, 12 sisters and 29 DREs and lay ministers.

"It is timely, recognizes a need and the most important thing is that it draws in new characters," said Father Sitzman. "There are people who have a natural gift and need training along with that gift to feel competent and to grow in competency. It is acquiring a pastoral identity."

Applications are now being accepted for the CPE class starting in January 2005. The class is open to clergy and lay people who want to improve their pastoral care-giving skills, effectiveness and ministry.

The instructor for the next unit will be Rev. Dr. Daniel Leininger, who serves multiple roles including CPE trainer and chaplain at the Veterans Hospital and pastoral care associate at First Presbyterian Church in Sioux Falls.

The Ecumenical Institute will host an information evening with Dr. Leininger from 7 to 9 p.m. on Nov. 30 with the location to be determined by the location of prospective applicants.

Ecumenical Institute has obtained the highest level of CPE accreditation and is dually accredited to offer certified units of CPE by the Association for Clinical Pastoral Education (ACPE) and the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB).

The Ecumenical Institute is raising funds to support the CPE program in the future.

"Our funding goal is doing really well," said Borchers. "We just have a little bit to fill in by the end of the year. Then we will have a $500,000 estate matching gift to complement and add to that."

An anonymous donor has pledged an additional estate gift of $500,000 once the other goal is achieved, so the endowment fund will kick in if and when the basic funding goal is reached. The amount that has been raised as of October is $383,000.

The funds will be used for startup and endowment to ensure that a highly qualified and certified full-time supervisor can be recruited upon Father Sitzmann's full retirement in 2005.

For more information, application materials or updates, contact Borchers at caregivingnow@yahoo.com or (712) 368-2500. Also contact Borchers or Father Sitzmann, (712) 225-2131, if interested in offering support of pastoral education in the diocese during the match opportunity.