Dr. James C. Taylor of Peachtree City recently completed the Clinical Pastoral Education (CPE) program at Emory University Hospital. The program consists of 13 weeks, five days a week clinical and pastoral care training. The program also requires six over night duty shifts and three weekend duty shifts for a total of 650 training hours. The weekend duty shifts also require that the duty chaplain provide two Sunday services per duty shift for patients, staffs, and visitors.

Each student is assigned two duty departments for clinical training — Taylor was assigned the oncology floor and the emergency department.

CPE is the primary way of training hospital and hospice chaplains in the United States.

Only six candidates were selected for Taylor’s class — five completed the program.

Taylor is a member of the Cathedral of Christ the King in Sharpsburg where he actively serves as a licensed liturgical minister.

He is a certified law enforcement chaplain for the Peachtree City Police Department and serves as a chaplain for Piedmont Fayette Hospital. He and his wife Karen are leaders on the police department’s Community Emergency Response Team.

Taylor is also a postulate for Holy Orders in the Charismatic Episcopal Church.