Michael Lapsley

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Michael Lapsley in Beirut (2017)

Alan Michael Lapsley (born June 2, 1949 in Hastings (New Zealand) ) is an Anglican priest and anti- apartheid activist. He belongs to the Anglican order of the Society of the Sacred Mission (SSM).

At the age of thirteen he read the book Naught for Your Comfort (1956) by Trevor Huddleston , the contents of which are said to have made a deep impression on him. Lapsley studied and was ordained in Australia . In 1973 he went to Durban , South Africa to continue his studies , where he later worked as a chaplain for students of all skin colors at the universities of Durban. In 1976 he began campaigning for schoolchildren who at that time feared being shot or arrested and tortured.

In September 1976 Lapsley was expelled from the country and first went to Lesotho , where he was pastor for the parishes in exile of the African National Congress , which he also supported on trips abroad. In 1982 he moved to Zimbabwe . There, in 1990, three months after Nelson Mandela was released , the Civil Cooperation Bureau , a unit of the South African Defense Force , sent him a letter bomb , which caused him to lose both hands and one eye.

After his recovery, Michael Lapsley returned to South Africa in 1992, where he became chaplain of the Trauma Center for Victims of Violence and Torture in Cape Town in 1993 , which supported the work of the South African Truth and Reconciliation Commission . In 1998 he founded the Institute for the Healing of Memories (IHOM) in Cape Town , which he has been director ever since.

Lapsley has received honorary doctorates from the University of KwaZulu-Natal , Macquarie University in Sydney , Virginia Theological Seminary, and Liverpool Hope University . He received the Queen's Service Medal from the New Zealand government and the Order of the Disa from the Western Cape Province of South Africa . He is New Zealand's Honorary Consul in Cape Town. In Ghana , the development aid organization Michael Lapsley Foundation was named after him.

Fonts (selection)

  • Redeeming the Past: My Journey from Freedom Fighter to Healer . 2012 (autobiography)

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Michael Lapsley Foundation: About Father Michael Lapsley . ( Memento of the original from December 7th, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (English) @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.michaellapsleyfoundation.org
personal data
SURNAME Lapsley, Michael
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Lapsley, Alan Michael (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Anglican priest and anti-apartheid activist
DATE OF BIRTH June 2, 1949
PLACE OF BIRTH Hastings (New Zealand)