Connie Marion, Director of PCE, the Pastoral Care Education program, announces the recent graduation of Ron Barnes, Kurt Behrenfeld, Jan DeAngelo, Bernie Feldman, John Finn, Annette Gape, David Nesbitt, Kerry Read, Naomi Sorrwar-Randall, Michael Stanistreet, and Ken Theurer from the intensive, 8-month continuing education program.
Graduates were awarded the Certificate in Pastoral Care on May 11, 2022, marking their successful completion of the “Cultivating Leadership” year of the Pastoral Care Education program.
Gape (Historic St. John’s Catholic Church in Utica and Read (St. Mary of the Assumption in Baldwinsville) are participants in the Roman Catholic Pastoral Leadership Program.
Rev. Sorrwar-Randall of St. David’s Episcopal Church in Barneveld is an ordained Lutheran pastor. Barnes (St. Stephen’s in Phoenix and Holy Trinity in Fulton), Behrenfeld (St. Anthony in Cortland), Feldman (Most Holy Rosary in Syracuse), Finn (Linked Parishes of Christ the King and Pope John XXIII in Liverpool), Nesbitt (St. Mary of the Assumption and St. Augustine in Baldwinsville), Stanistreet (Basilica of the Sacred Heart of Jesus in Syracuse and St. Joseph’s Church in Camillus) and Theurer (Holy Family in Syracuse) are each applicants or aspirants in the Roman Catholic Deacon Formation Program.
As part of the 50th training class, all these students followed in the long tradition of pastoral care education originally offered by the former Onondaga Pastoral Counseling Center. Since 2007 the program continues independently under the previous director and faculty.
The closing event was attended by the graduates, their family members and guests, Sister Laura Bufano (Associate Director for Pastoral Planning and Leadership) and Deacon Tom Cuskey (Director of Deacon Formation) as well as the faculty of the program, Rev. Kris Best, DMin, PhD, LMHC, Ms Debra Douthit, MA, LMFT, Father Joe Phillips, PhD, LMFT and Director Ms Connie Marion, MSN. A closing fun event and prayer service was conducted by the students before the celebration potluck dinner.
The “Cultivating Leadership” year of the program is one of two independent, alternating years of this continuing education curriculum for clergy and lay caregivers. The program includes focused seminars, a group experience for self and interpersonal understanding, and supervision of students’ community helping and parish counseling interactions.
It is designed for both clergy and community caregivers to develop advanced pastoral and counseling care skills for the parish and other community-based settings. Next year the theme will be “Cultivating Wholeness” and applications are currently being accepted. PCE is recognized by many local denominations as an equivalency for CPE (Clinical Pastoral Education).
An Information Meeting and Open House for the program will be held on Wednesday, June 29, from 5:30 – 7:00pm at University United Methodist Church. Interested prospective students should contact the Director, Connie Marion, at 315-677-3719 or [email protected].
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