Fr. Michael Lapsley Visit

Fr. Michael Lapsley, South African Anglican priest and social justice activist, was in the Twin Cities recently conducting Healing of Memories workshops. In 1990, while in exile in Zimbabwe, Father Michael was sent a mail bomb by the Civil Cooperation Bureau, a covert outfit of the apartheid security forces. He was seriously hurt, loosing both hands and the sight in one eye.

  In 1993, he became Chaplain of the Trauma Centre for Victims of Violence and Torture in Cape Town, which assisted the country’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC). This work led to the establishment, in 1998, of the Institute for Healing of Memories (IHOM) in Cape Town. The IHOM aims to allow many more South Africans to tell their stories in workshops where they work through their trauma.In Fr. Michael's book, Redeeming the Past: My Journey from Freedom Fighter to Healer, Archbishop Tutu is quoted: "Fr. Michael has truly become a citizen of the world and I have watched his work with a growing sense of awe and admiration. Although he has been broken physically, he has become the most whole person I know, truly a wounded healer."