wfn.org | Lutheran to Head Association for Clinical Pastoral Education

[News News <NEWS@ELCA.ORG>]

ELCA NEWS SERVICE

November 21, 2001

LUTHERAN TO HEAD ASSOCIATION FOR CLINICAL PASTORAL EDUCATION
01-298-FI

     CHICAGO (ELCA) -- The Rev. A. Arthur Schmidt, a pastor of the
Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), will become president
of the Association for Clinical Pastoral Education, Inc. (ACPE).  He
will serve two years as ACPE president-elect before serving as
president in 2004 and 2005.
     Schmidt, 62, is coordinator of mission services and work-life
quality, Franciscan Health System, Tacoma and Federal Way, Wash., and
chaplain and superintendent of clinical pastoral education, St.
Joseph Hospital, Tacoma.  He was named ACPE president-elect Nov. 14.
     "The Association for Clinical Pastoral Education is the premier
provider of clinical pastoral education in the United States and
certainly among our seminarians," said the Rev. Donald A. Stiger,
ELCA director for specialized pastoral care and associate director
for candidacy.  "It's an interfaith association that is committed to
persons learning and growing in the art of pastoral and spiritual
care in clinical settings," such as health care institutions, prisons
and hospices, he said.
     Clinical pastoral education is a requirement for seminarians
preparing to become ELCA pastors, said Stiger, and those preparing
for a full-time ministry in specialized pastoral care usually take a
year-long residency in clinical pastoral education.  He said it's
significant to have an ELCA pastor as ACPE president-elect.
     Born in Parma, Idaho, Schmidt is a graduate of Concordia Senior
College, Fort Wayne, Ind., and Concordia Seminary, St. Louis.  He
completed his clinical pastoral education at the California
Institution for Women, Chino, and at Presbyterian Medical Center,
Denver, and was certified in 1974 to supervise clinical pastoral
education.  He earned his doctorate in 1991 from the Graduate
Theological Foundation, Donaldson, Ind.
     Ordained in 1965 by the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod (LCMS),
Schmidt served as missionary-at-large for the LCMS Southern
California District, Riverside, Calif.  He was pastor of Mount
Calvary Lutheran Church, Riverside, and chaplain for Santa Monica
Hospital, Santa Monica, Calif., before serving as chaplain and
supervisor of clinical pastoral education at the Washington
Corrections Center for Women, Purdy, Wash.  In 1980 he became
chaplain and supervisor of clinical pastoral education for St. Joseph
Hospital, Tacoma.
     In his 30 years as a member of ACPE, Schmidt has chaired the
organization's professional ethics commission and its Pacific region
board.  He served on the ACPE board of representatives and general
assembly, and personnel and development committees, as well as the
Pacific region accreditation and development committees.
     Among Schmidt's honors are The Bishop's Award of the ELCA
Southwestern Washington Synod.  He served on the synod's formation
committee while the ELCA was organizing in the 1980s.
     Schmidt and his wife Margaret Ann, a marriage and family
therapist, are parents of five children.
-- -- --
     The Association for Clinical Pastoral Education, Inc.,
maintains a home page at http://www.acpe.edu/ on the Web.

For information contact:
John Brooks, Director (773) 380-2958 or NEWS@ELCA.ORG
http://listserv.elca.org/archives/elcanews.html