Abstract Purpose: This dissertation’s goal is to begin constructing a phenomenology of suffering and a related body of literature needed to develop clinical pastoral education (CPE) curriculums. Problem: There is no body of literature focused on the phenomenology of suffering for developing CPE curriculums. Significance: With this development CPE could improve reflective/reflexive learning among its student practitioners that is needed to achieve the CPE project of caring for and curing souls within HCOs. Methods: This dissertation uses hermeneutic and transcendental phenomenological methods (e.g. horizonalization) to developed clusters of thematic meaning to understand how clinical pastoral educators and practitioners experience suffering. This data can help CPE develop curriculums for educating its students. Findings: There are five educational deficiencies in CPE that can be cured by a new focus on phenomenology of suffering: Deficiency I - CPE Learning Model - clinical practitioner’s feelings of empathetic inversion hampers efforts to do spiritual needs assessment of patient’s. Deficiency II - Clinical Verbatims are used as pedagogical tool but not as research tools. Deficiency III - Reflective/Reflexive Learning – CPE student practitioners are not able to uncover horizons of meaning from experiences of suffering. Deficiency IV - Spiritual Needs Assessment - CPE student practitioners are unable to identify clusters of thematic horizons of spiritual needs contributing to spiritual suffering). Deficiency V – Ethics of Care - CPE student practitioners lacks focus on social justice as close attentiveness to others. This is essential to their pedagogical and clinical pastoral professional praxis. Keywords: empathetic inversion; ethics of care; phenomenology; horizonalization; thematic horizons; reflective/reflexive learning; phenomenology of suffering; clinical pastoral care.