Advocate Christ Medical Center Clinical Pastoral Education program

Institutional context

Advocate Health Care System is a faith-based, not-for-profit health care system affiliated with the United Church of Christ and the Evangelical Lutheran Church of America. Pastoral care is highly valued and well integrated as a part of the holistic care of persons.

Advocate Christ Medical Center is a not-for-profit, premier teaching institution with more than 1,000 affiliated physicians, training more than 400 residents, 600 medical students, and 800 nursing students annually. With the recent opening of a new 70 bed tower, total bed capacity increased to 750. Advocate Christ is one of the major referral hospitals in the Midwest in a number of specialties, including cardiovascular services, heart and kidney transplantation, neurosciences, oncology, orthopedics and women’s health. The hospital also has one of the busiest Level I trauma centers in Illinois providing emergency care for more than 100,000 patient visits annually.  These clinical specialties and the five intensive care areas provide CPE students with opportunities for longer term and follow-up pastoral relationships.

Population served

The neighborhood surrounding the hospital is middle class, predominantly Catholic, Eastern European, and Mediterranean. There is a growing Muslim population in the community. The hospital receives many African American and Hispanic trauma and critical care patients from inner city Chicago, the south suburbs of Chicago, and northwest Indiana.

Description of the pastoral care department

The Mission and Spiritual Care Department currently includes a religiously diverse group of seven full-time chaplains and eight part-time chaplains. Of the full-time chaplains, one serves as the Vice President and serves on the administrative team of the hospital, another is the manager of Spiritual Services and two are CPE supervisors. There is one supervisory candidate and four paid residency positions. The department supports, promotes, and develops the ministries of Eucharistic ministers, volunteers, visiting parish clergy and the Ethics Committee. Members of the chaplaincy staff also regularly participate in community educational activities.

Unique educational elements

Advocate Christ, as part of the Advocate system CPE Center, offers a full range of programs including a stipended residency, summer intensive program, extended program and supervisory education. The annual cycle of programs is usually compatible with the academic schedules of most seminaries so that seminarians may participate in intensive or extended CPE programs at various times during the year. The extended units accommodate students that cannot participate in a full time program. All programs draw on and are coordinated with Advocate system resources.

The CPE residency program features a twelve-month, three-term curriculum. Each term includes intensive CPE incorporating specialized learning in ministry by way of projects, studies, and/or formal research efforts. The resident curriculum also attends to the consultative and certification needs of those considering professional chaplaincy. Since one unit of prior CPE is required before entering the residency program, at the successful completion of the year, three more units of Level I/II CPE are earned.

Each year there is a summer intensive program containing as many as six or seven students and an extended program from October to May containing five to seven students.  The extended program is scheduled to accommodate the needs of the participants and is generally offered during evening hours.

All students rotate through eight and a half hour shifts of on-call weekend duty with responsibilities for the trauma center and the general hospital areas. Students are expected to remain in the hospital because the shifts are busy. For weekday clinical assignments there are opportunities to specialize in the various medical and surgical areas of care.

As a large medical center, ACMC offers didactic opportunities such as specialized medical and behavioral health lectures, interdisciplinary conferences, ethical consultations, and opportunities to learn along with medical students and medical residents. Residents have the opportunity to engage in a ministry specialty for presentation to the department and possible publication. In addition, there are many departmental activities open to CPE students.

Pertinent information for applicants

A non-refundable deposit, applicable to fees is required to hold a place in any program when the applicant is offered a position.

Students may not begin a program until they have complied with the mandated pre-employment physical exam, drug screening, and criminal record background check.

For more information

Yonason Meadows
CPE Manager Midwest Region
Advocate Christ Medical Center
4440 W. 95th St.
Oak Lawn, IL 60453
Email: yonason.meadows@aah.org