We have not been able to do “business as usual.” We are not able at this time to do hospital and jail ministry. We have done CPE during quarantine, but it has not been ideal. We have also done some face to face pastoral counseling, but the logistics for many is challenging.

So we have been slowly ramping up online resources. Our team have been doing a lot of online (both videochat and audiochat) counseling. Recently, we have started doing online group work relations to support pastoral counselors and chaplains.

Soon we will PROBABLY start online CPE or FCPT (Fundamentals of Clinical Pastoral Training, formally known as CPO). Still considering webinars. We shall see.

After some consideration of the situation here in Baguio, we have decided to postpone CPE for the near future. We held 1-1/2 units of CPE during quarantine. We tried to be innovative with alternatives to hospital and jail activities, and mixing face-to-face gatherings along with online.

It was a good experiment, but for now with only limited opportunities in barangay and parish settings, we feel the range of experiences that add value to CPE is inadequate.

We will reevaluate this on a month by month basis.

We plan to start another CPE batch in Baguio starting September 14th.

We don’t know about whether we will have access to hospital or jail. We don’t even know if we will be able to gather.

However, we will focus on church and/or community, and the emphasis will be on pastoral diagnosis.

The plan will be to gather at Bukal. However, if necessary we will meet online.

If this all sounds pretty uncertain, you are right— but we live in uncertain times.

Contact us at bukallife@gmail.com, or go to the Contact Us page.

2020 has been quite a year. July 18 we were supposed to have the Commissioning service for CPE Groups 1 and 2. However, at 8am of the 18th, our Barangay went into full lockdown— no one in, no one out. So the Commissioning is postponed. Thankfully Group 2 was able to do their final case presentations online.

Until lockdown is over, all pastoral counseling services must be done through electronic means.

August CPE group 3 will be held at Bukal office, assuming lockdown is over by then.

At our staff meeting, we agreed to work towards full online CPE. We are considering two formats. One is a unit built around Moodle (with video chat assisting) which will be for Seminary and SEE groups. The other would be primarily built around videochat, for other groups. Hoping to learn how to make this work.

Starting August 11, are partner institution, Philippine Baptist Theological Seminary, will start a new semester. All of the classes will be available online. This includes Pastoral Care and Counseling courses. See http://www.pbts.net.ph for details.

We have been mostly shutdown during the pandemic. The exception to this is Summer CPE that started in March and will be completing soon. It is being s

June 15. We will start a half unit intensive CPE led by Chaplain Vo. It will last. It will be 6 weeks long.

August 11 start PBTS courses. Three courses are tied to Pastoral Care and Counseling. All are 15 week courses.

• Missionary Member Care. This will be taught online by Dr. Robert Munson.
• Grief and Loss. This will be taught by Dr. Anne Windus Kelly
• Abnormal Psychology. Also taught by Doc Anne

Regular pastoral counseling services and member care services should resume in July.

Dr. Lyn is a little over halfway through Summer CPE. It has been challenging… But our trainees have found ways to minister, reflect, and share.

In June or July we are considering holding an online CPE. If this is of interest to you, let us know. We are still trying to figure things out.

By the way, we have been selling a larger number of books online during quarantine… Especially “The Art of Pastoral Care.” It, and the follow-on book, “Dynamics in Pastoral Counseling and Training” are good for principles regarding pastoral counseling and pastoral theology. They are available online for book purchase or ebook download. One can look at that in our books page in the menu above.

Not much new, but will share what we have.

1.  CPE us ongoing. We are utilizing distance communication for both pastoral counseling and case conferences.

2. Our CPE half unit intensive us still planned to start in June. However, our government and the schedules of a couple of seminaries will guide our actual schedule so we will keep you updated.

3. We are working on a new book… “Pastoral Counseling Case Workbook.” But not sure when it will be done. For now, check our available resources and presentations that are listed in the menu above.

Keep safe during this pandemic.

A very unusual CPE is underway with us. We have a small group, 3 trainees and supervised by Dr. Lyn Montecastro. Due to the pandemic, most of the ministry time is online, and the case conferences are online as well. This is our first experience with online CPE. Prayerfully this experience will prepare us for future training online.

One of our trainees participating in CPE Case Conference online

CPO (Clinical Pastoral Orientation) is finishing up this week (March 11).

March 23.  Start of CPE Summer Intensive. 10-11 weeks total.

April 24.  PMHA Seminar

June.  Start of new semester at PBTS.  Half Unit CPE will start then (and perhaps other courses).

August.  CPSP-Philippines Annual Plenary.