Bizz – South Australia & Northern Territory Association for Clinical Pastoral Education

It is with sadness that the CPE community acknowledges the death of Bizz Jelly, a pioneer of the CPE movement within South Australia. After a period of ill health, Bizz died on August 6th, 2016. Her funeral was held on Thursday, August 18th.
Bizz Bizz Jelly was among the earliest of CPE students in South Australia. In the early 80s she participated in a number of CPE units at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital, and then moved into supervisory training, eventually being accredited as a Clinical Pastoral Supervisor.

Intimately connected with Bizz’s CPE work was a passion for pastoral care, and one of her precious life experiences in that area was to be appointed as the Catholic chaplain to the QEH. She was, in fact, the first such lay chaplain in South Australia, an honour she claimed with a smile.

Bizz was also an enthusiastic supporter of the Association for CPE in SA and NT. She was among those who initiated the formation of the Association, and was heavily involved in writing up the Standards for the Association. She was also an active member of the SANTACPE administration team.

Bizz’s interest in CPE extended far beyond the borders of SA. She was a regular participant in the annual supervisors’ conferences of the Australia and New Zealand Association for CPE, and in that broader CPE field she revelled in her contact and friendship with a wide range of CPE peers and colleagues.

In each and all of her roles within CPE, Bizz will be remembered for her dedicated and faithful commitment to CPE as a unique educational process for people involved in pastoral care. She was bubbly and vivacious, a warm and wonderful colleague and friend. Her students will remember her for her penetrating, yet sensitive, supervisory style, and as one whose greatest desire was that they might become the best pastoral carers they could be.

Bizz retired from CPE some years ago. But she continues to be remembered for all that she was and gave to CPE, and will always hold a special place in the CPE story in our part of the world. We thank God for her.