, BCC

I recently gathered all my materials and submitted them so that I can become a Board Certified Chaplain (BCC). Civilian chaplaincy is a profession, and we have our professional organizations. Teachers must be certified, attourneys must be members of the bar (or something like that), nurses must be licensed. Chaplains, too. I submitted all kinds of paper work. Biography, theological papers, practical theory papers, clinical case studies, recomendations from collegues, etc. In all, I submitted over 100 pages of documentation that will now be reviewed by the Association of Professional Chaplains. Hopefully, they'll decide to interview me this summer and then decide by vote in the Fall of 2006. If everything goes well, I would become a member in Spring of 2007. Believe it or not, I'm going through the process about as fast as anyone can. It takes about 3 and a half years after becoming a full-time chaplain to be Board Certified.

Once this happens, I'll be able to add another official abbreviation to my name. If and when I'm certified, my professional name will be:

The Rev. William Sofield, M.Div., BCC

I'm not sure how I feel about that, but I suppose the process of ensuring quality of care and thereby stamping approval on somebody who is approved is a good thing.