Kathy Turner, ‘69 M.Div.

The Lux et Veritas award is given to someone who has demonstrated excellence and distinction in applying the compassion of Christ to the diverse needs of the human condition through the wider church, institutional ministries, ecumenical organizations, not-for-profit organizations, government, or industry.

Kathy Turner is a pioneering leader in the movement to train spiritual care practitioners for hospitals, parishes, and other settings and is the first woman to be president of the Association of Clinical Pastoral Education (ACPE) and the International Council on Pastoral Care and Counseling (ICPCC).

Turner originally planned to be a social worker, but her experiences at YDS clarified a ministerial sense of vocation, inspiring her to pursue the field of training spiritual care professionals. During her ACPE leadership, she worked to reshape the Clinical Pastoral Education curriculum to reflect more inclusive values and to foster heightened understanding of the power dynamics of gender and culture.

She regards the immersive approach of CPE as an occasion for students to learn foundational pastoral skills. Her goal has long been to ensure that CPE be truly hospitable as a form of education for ministry. “I have continued over my entire ministry career to be a CPE supervisor because I believe in the transformation that occurs in that process,” she has said. “A lot of the students come in thinking it’s all about learning ‘what to do.’. It’s really something that’s much more inward-focused. integrating who you are and what you believe into your ministry.”