St Camillus Center for Spiritual Care: Urban Interfaith Chaplaincy Program
LA General Medical Center
Who is eligible to enroll in CPE?
The UIC program is committed to giving fair and thorough consideration of all qualified applicants.
This ACPE-accredited program does not discriminate against persons because of race, ethnicity, religious/spiritual tradition, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, age, disability, etc.
Admission Requirements
- A completed CPE Application form. The application form must be downloaded along with the instructions (face sheet with applicant’s information and essay question answers must be included in the submitted application packet) and sent to the following address:
Urban Interfaith Chaplaincy-Clinical Pastoral Education
St. Camillus Center for Spiritual Care
1911 Zonal Avenue
Los Angeles, CA 90033
- A non-refundable $50 Application fee must be submitted along with student’s completed application materials. Checks should be made to “St Camillus Center”, memo “CPE {year & season}” e.g. “CPE 2023 Summer”.
- A formal acceptance letter from the Urban Interfaith Chaplaincy inviting prospective to join their program.
- Once accepted into the program, students must submit a non-refundable deposit of $150 with a letter, indicating their commitment to participate, to reserve their place in the unit they enrolled in. This fee will go towards the payment of student’s required tuition fee of $650. Student will be responsible for paying the remainder of their tuition fee on the first day of the CPE they enrolled in or by an agreed payment plan they have negotiated with the St. Camillus Center. Checks should be made to “St Camillus Center”, memo “CPE {year & season}” e.g. “CPE 2023 Summer”.
- After reserving their placement in their CPE unit, student is responsible for completing a Hospital health clearance and background investigation prior to first day of the CPE unit by contacting the LAC+USC Department director or office manager (tel. 323-409-4715) to schedule an appointment. This protocol is only necessary for students planning to complete their clinical hours in the LAC + USC Medical Center. Those doing clinical hours at other sites will be required to follow that site’s health clearance and background check protocols and should be negotiated with their site mentor.
- A site fee of $3,000 must be paid to the Urban Interfaith Chaplaincy CPE program for the student’s supervision while they are performing their clinical hours as an intern at a site other than the LAC + USC Medical Center. This fee will be negotiated between the site and Urban Interfaith Chaplaincy program administrator, Fr. Chris Ponnet. In the event a student’s chosen site is not willing to pay this fee, the student may negotiate to pay this fee for their supervision while ministering off-site. This will be negotiated between the student and the UIC clinical administrator, Fr. Chris Ponnet. Checks should be made to “St Camillus Center”, memo “CPE {year & season}” e.g. “CPE 2023 Summer”.
- Students planning to do their clinical ministry off-site will need to identify a person at their clinical site to serve as their clinical mentor and point-person to interface with the Urban Interfaith Chaplaincy CPE Supervisor.
- Student’s hours of practical ministry must be documented by a third party at student’s clinical site. Such persons will be held accountable for verifying and insuring student has completed their required clinical hours as indicated in the ACPE standards and as approved by the UIC CPE Supervisor.
- Students interested in participating in UIC’s work-study program and receiving a partial scholarship in exchange for their performance of extra clinical hours in LAC+USC Medical Center’s Emergency Department should express their interest in writing and include this with their application materials.
Admission Interview
If the applicant lives too far away to come to our Los Angeles center, they may be interviewed by a local CPE supervisor from an accredited ACPE center near them and have them submit an evaluation summary of their interview to Urban Interfaith Chaplaincy. Telephone interviews may be available in exceptional circumstances, although not preferred.
Admission Criteria
- Academic preparation: Bachelor’s degree and theological education, generally at least one year at the graduate level or specialized training in the applicant’s faith tradition.
- Educational readiness: motivation, openness to clinical learning, participation in individual and group supervision, and capacity for self-reflection and critique of one’s ministerial practice.
- Aptitude for interpersonal work: capacity to function professionally in a hospital environment and ability to minister in a multi-cultural, multi-faith setting.
- Writing and word-processing skills sufficient to manage use of the hospital’s computerized information systems and to produce weekly assignments, off-site.
- Practical considerations related to fulfilling requirements of program, including clinical assignments, educational components, and on-call responsibilities.
Rolling Admissions Process
Within two (2) weeks of receipt, applicants will be informed of available openings and the status of their applications, including when to expect an interview and/or decision. Persons accepted into the program will be informed in writing and allowed 10 days to accept an offer of admission by sending in a $150 non-refundable deposit with a cover letter indicating their intent to participate in the next UIC CPE unit.
Being accepted into one unit of CPE at UIC does not guarantee a student’s placement in consecutive CPE units. Students must re-apply for each CPE unit they wish to be enrolled in. Applicants not accepted into the program will be informed in writing. Any application not accepted for admission will be destroyed unless the applicant requests in writing that it be returned to the applicant, or retained for consideration for future units of CPE.
