In Costa Rica, Chaplaincy Training Program Extends to Institutions Outside the Church
Group of chaplains pose for a photo during the five-week Adventist Chaplaincy Ministries training that began earlier this year at the Central American Adventist University in Alajuela, Costa Rica. Photo: South Central American Union
March 15, 2019 | Alajuela, Costa Rica | IAD News Staff
The Seventh-day Adventist Church in South Central America, which overseas churches and institutions across Costa Rica and Nicaragua, recently gathered a group of pastors and professionals to take part in the first segment of clinical pastoral education training in Alajuela, Costa Rica.
Overseen by the Adventist world church’s Adventist Chaplaincy Ministries (ACM) through the Adventist Chaplaincy Institute, the clinical pastoral education training program requires four segments, or units, of 400 hours each, to qualify professionals so they can provide pastoral care and nurture persons regardless of their faith.
Need for qualified chaplains
“There’s an alarming need for qualified individuals to be able to carry out the delicate work of chaplaincy,” said Pastor Wilfredo Ruiz, president of the church in South Central America. “We are very grateful for the investment made so that these individuals can be a strong team of chaplains in our territory,” Ruiz said.
The training, which involved instructional and practical sessions for five weeks starting in January, included reaching the church’s school campuses and visitation to dozens of inmates at a correctional facility in Alajuela.
A chaplain-in-training speaks to a group of inmates at the Dr. Gerardo Rodríguez Echeverría Correctional Facility in Alajuela, Costa Rica last month. Photo: South Central American Union
Fourteen people enrolled in the specialized training which included pastors, teachers, theology students, and other professionals, who are part of an integral task force to cater to the spiritual needs of those in the church’s institutions as well as the community at large, organizers said.
Those needs include the spiritual health of students and employees of the church’s educational system, as well as people outside the church in hospitals, correctional facilities, community service programs and more, church leaders said.
It’s about greater opportunities for qualified personnel to aid those who are under the care of the church, said Pastor Marvin Gómez, chaplaincy ministries director for the church in South Central America.
Gómez coordinated the training event with Marcio Palencia who is coordinator of chaplaincy at the Central American Adventist University and main local supervisor of the chaplaincy training.
Reaching institutions outside of the church organization
Palencia reached out to leaders at the Dr. Gerardo Rodríguez Echeverría Correctional Facility in Alajuela, who looked at and praised the chaplaincy training program and opened the doors for the chaplains-in-training to talk with 100 inmates during special sessions. Alexander Spencer Sandi, coordinator of the spiritual support group and chaplaincy at the correction facility, welcomed the ministry of the Adventist Church for the inmates. He was so impressed with the clinical pastoral education training program that he enrolled to be committed to the rest of the training units the church will offer, said Palencia.
From LtoR: Pastor Hiram Ruiz of the IAD, Marcio Palencia of the UNADECA, Dr. Basharat Masih from the College of Pastoral Supervision and Psychotherapy (CPSP), and Marvin Gómez of the South Central American Union. Photo: South Central American Union
In addition, three main hospitals in Costa Rica were contacted and access was given for a number of chaplains-in-training to serve community hours to aid patients with their emotional and spiritual needs during a period of time in one public and two private hospitals.
Palencia said he invited Ileana Carazo, a Jewish rabbi and chaplain at Hospital CIMA in San José, to visit with the group of chaplains-in-training and look at the training program. “She applauded the initiative as she visited the university campus during training and said that it is the first program in Costa Rica that teaches an inter-denominational professional chaplaincy training,” said Palencia.
Plans are underway for a special agreement with the Adventist university and Hospital CIMA for chaplains-in-training to visit the health institutions during the second unit of training in the coming months, said Palencia.
Turning point in chaplaincy education
“This is a watershed moment in chaplaincy education for our territory because it points us to opportunities outside of our church organization that are in great need of chaplancy services,” said Pastor Hiram Ruiz, chaplaincy ministries director for the church in Inter-America.
Group photo of instructors and leaders with the group of chaplains who completed the first of four units on clinical pastoral education. Photo: South Central American Union
It is the first time since clinical pastoral education began in 2018 in the territory that a union has reached out beyond its church institutions, said Ruiz. Ruiz reports that seven other unions have begun the training segments and three more union territories are scheduled to begin this year.
“This has to be a challenge now for other church territories, said Ruiz. “Not only can we connect with prisons, but also nursing homes, orphanages, first spiritual responders after a disaster, and more,” said Ruiz. There are so many more areas to cover for persons who are going through a crisis within the church and those in the community, he adds.
The program can only take eight students per segment and in this case the group was divided in two, said Ruiz. The first segment includes the life of the chaplain-in-training and provides exercises to apply with the experiences and emotions of the trainee before he/she can deal with the emotions of individuals, explained Ruiz.
Chaplain-in-training experience
Pastor Elden Zambrano, a minister for over seven years from Honduras, including two years as a hospital chaplain, said the training taught him to control his emotions, situations and feelings. “I have learned that you have to learn to heal your emotional wounds so that you can help others with their wounds and their problems,” said Zambrano. “Being a chaplain leads you to deal with so many individuals from different denominations, allowing you to be able to help in moments that others are not able, and being used by God.”
Zambrado said that most of the needs he sees in his ministry are family-related, as well as social and emotional. “Problems and crisis in life have no time or specific place,” said Zambrano. “They touch everyone regardless of who they are and what they believe, so it is an important moment when a trained chaplain is most needed,” Zambrano said.
Zambrano is among 160 registered chaplains who are enrolled in the clinical pastoral education, said Ruiz. Each trainee represents a cost of $600 US dollars for the training program in addition to allotted funds to cover the costs of the accredited professors, he added.
“We are so happy the world church is covering the costs of this important training program,” said Ruiz. The Inter-American Division (IAD) is now the second world division that has the most chaplains registered in the special training, after the North American Division, he reported.
ACM’s clinical pastoral training in Costa Rica included Dr. Basharat Masih from the College of Pastoral Supervision and Psychotherapy (CPSP) and the Adventist Chaplaincy Institute; Mario Ceballos, director of Adventist Chaplaincy Ministries. Speakers also included Pastors Elie Henry, IAD president and Hiram Ruiz.
To learn more about the chaplaincy ministries training coordinated by the Inter-American Division, contact the church’s union office in your region.
Marvin Gómez contributed to this report.