Alan Michael Lapsley,
SSM (born 2 June 1949) is a
South African Anglican priest
A priest is a religious leader authorized to perform the sacred rituals of a religion, especially as a mediatory agent between humans and one or more deities. They also have the authority or power to administer religious rites; in partic ...
and social justice activist.
Personal life
Alan Michael Lapsley was born on 2 June 1949 in
New Zealand
New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...
. He was
ordained
Ordination is the process by which individuals are consecrated, that is, set apart and elevated from the laity class to the clergy, who are thus then authorized (usually by the denominational hierarchy composed of other clergy) to perform ...
to the priesthood in
Australia where he joined the Anglican religious order the
Society of the Sacred Mission
The Society of the Sacred Mission (SSM), with the associated Company of the Sacred Mission, is an Anglican religious order founded in 1893 by Father Herbert Kelly, envisaged such that "members of the Society share a common life of prayer and fell ...
(SSM).
In 1973 he arrived in
Durban
Durban ( ) ( zu, eThekwini, from meaning 'the port' also called zu, eZibubulungwini for the mountain range that terminates in the area), nicknamed ''Durbs'',Ishani ChettyCity nicknames in SA and across the worldArticle on ''news24.com'' from ...
,
South Africa
South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the Atlantic Ocean, South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the ...
, as an undergraduate student. Soon thereafter, during the height of
apartheid
Apartheid (, especially South African English: , ; , "aparthood") was a system of institutionalised racial segregation that existed in South Africa and South West Africa (now Namibia) from 1948 to the early 1990s. Apartheid was ...
repression, he became a
chaplain to students at both black and white universities in Durban. In 1976, he began to speak out on behalf of schoolchildren who were being shot, detained and tortured.
Social justice and anti-apartheid activism
1976 was the year of the
Soweto Uprising, which sparked protests across the country. Fr Michael, as he was known, took a stand as national chaplain to Anglican students, a position he held at the time.
In September 1976, he was expelled from the country. He went to live in
Lesotho, where he continued his studies and became a member of the
African National Congress
The African National Congress (ANC) is a social-democratic political party in South Africa. A liberation movement known for its opposition to apartheid, it has governed the country since 1994, when the first post-apartheid election install ...
and a chaplain to the organization in exile. During this period he traveled the world, mobilizing faith communities, in particular, to oppose apartheid and support the liberation struggle.
Letter bomb
After a police raid in
Maseru
Maseru is the capital and largest city of Lesotho. It is also the capital of the Maseru District. Located on the Caledon River, Maseru lies directly on the Lesotho–South Africa border. Maseru had a population of 330,760 in the 2016 census. T ...
in 1982 in which 42 people were killed, he moved to
Zimbabwe
Zimbabwe (), officially the Republic of Zimbabwe, is a landlocked country located in Southeast Africa, between the Zambezi and Limpopo Rivers, bordered by South Africa to the south, Botswana to the south-west, Zambia to the north, and ...
. It was here that in 1990, three months after ANC leader
Nelson Mandela's release from prison, he was sent a
letter bomb
A letter bomb, also called parcel bomb, mail bomb, package bomb, note bomb, message bomb, gift bomb, present bomb, delivery bomb, surprise bomb, postal bomb, or post bomb, is an explosive device sent via the postal service, and designed with t ...
by the apartheid regime. It was hidden inside two religious magazines. He lost both hands and the sight in one eye in the blast, and was seriously burnt.
On his return to South Africa in 1992 he helped to start the association Friends of Cuba and later became its first national president. He was awarded the
Cuban Friendship Medal by the Cuban
Council of State
A Council of State is a governmental body in a country, or a subdivision of a country, with a function that varies by jurisdiction. It may be the formal name for the cabinet or it may refer to a non-executive advisory body associated with a head o ...
.
Post-apartheid work
In 1993, he became
Chaplain of the
Trauma Centre for Victims of Violence and Torture in
Cape Town
Cape Town ( af, Kaapstad; , xh, iKapa) is one of South Africa's three capital cities, serving as the seat of the Parliament of South Africa. It is the legislative capital of the country, the oldest city in the country, and the second largest ...
, which assisted the country's
Truth and Reconciliation Commission
A truth commission, also known as a truth and reconciliation commission or truth and justice commission, is an official body tasked with discovering and revealing past wrongdoing by a government (or, depending on the circumstances, non-state act ...
(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.
The IHOM is based in Cape Town, South Africa, but Fr Michael has worked in many other countries, in Africa and across the world. The organisation now works with groups including those affected by political violence; those affected and infected by
HIV
The human immunodeficiency viruses (HIV) are two species of ''Lentivirus'' (a subgroup of retrovirus) that infect humans. Over time, they cause acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS), a condition in which progressive failure of the immune ...
and
AIDS; refugees and asylum seekers; prisoners and war veterans. The IHOM is also a not for profit organisation in the United States.
Lapsley is a graduate of the
Australian College of Theology
The Australian College of Theology (ACT) is an Australian higher education provider based in Sydney, New South Wales. The college delivers awards in ministry and theology and was one of the first Australian non-university providers to offer an ...
, the
National University of Lesotho
The National University of Lesotho, the main and oldest university in Lesotho, is located in Roma, southeast of Maseru, the capital of Lesotho. The Roma valley is broad and is surrounded by a barrier of rugged mountains which provides magnific ...
and the
University of Zimbabwe
The University of Zimbabwe (UZ) is a public university in Harare, Zimbabwe. It opened in 1952 as the University College of Rhodesia and Nyasaland, and was initially affiliated with the University of London. It was later renamed the University ...
. He has 6 honorary doctorates from the
Macquarie University in Sydney, Australia, the
University of KwaZulu-Natal
The University of KwaZulu-Natal (UKZN) is a university with five campuses in the province of KwaZulu-Natal in South Africa. It was formed on 1 January 2004 after the merger between the University of Natal and the University of Durban-Westville. ...
and the
University of the Western Cape
The University of the Western Cape (UWC) is a public research university in Bellville, near Cape Town, South Africa. The university was established in 1959 by the South African government as a university for Coloured people only. Other un ...
in South Africa and
Liverpool Hope University
, mottoeng=Hope to all who need it
, established=1844 – Saint Katharine's College (as Warrington Training College)1856 – Notre Dame College (as Our Lady's Training College)1964 – Christ's College1979 – Liverpool Institute of Higher Edu ...
in the United Kingdom, and the Virginia Theological Seminary in the United States, and Rhodes University in South Africa and He has been awarded the
Queen's Service Medal
The Queen's Service Medal is a medal awarded by the government of New Zealand to recognise and reward volunteer service to the community and also public service in elected or appointed public office. It was established in 1975 and is related to ...
by the Government of New Zealand for service to Southern African communities. He is also Honorary Consul for New Zealand in Cape Town for 18 years.
He was the subject of the biographical work ''Priest and Partisan: A South African Journey'' (1996) by his fellow South African priest and theologian
Michael Worsnip, with a foreword by Nelson Mandela.
The Government of the
Western Cape
The Western Cape is a province of South Africa, situated on the south-western coast of the country. It is the fourth largest of the nine provinces with an area of , and the third most populous, with an estimated 7 million inhabitants in 2020 ...
awarded him the
Order of the Disa The Order of the Disa is a provincial-level order issued by the Department of the Premier of Western Cape Province. It was created by the Provincial Honours Act 9 of 1999, and is enshrined in Section 6 (1) of the Western Cape Provincial Constitution ...
.
Nelson Mandela said of him, "Michael’s life represents a compelling metaphor: We read about a foreigner who came to our country and was transformed by what he saw of the injustices of apartheid. His life is part of the tapestry of many long journeys and struggles of our people and "Michael Lapsley's life is part of the tapestry of the many long journeys and struggles of our people."
Fr Michael was vice president of the
South African Council of Churches
The South African Council of Churches (SACC) is an interdenominational forum in South Africa. It was a prominent anti-apartheid organisation during the years of apartheid in South Africa. Its leaders have included Desmond Tutu, Beyers Naudé an ...
from 2014 - 2017.
International Network for Peace
For the fifth anniversary of
September 11 attacks
The September 11 attacks, commonly known as 9/11, were four coordinated suicide terrorist attacks carried out by al-Qaeda against the United States on Tuesday, September 11, 2001. That morning, nineteen terrorists hijacked four commer ...
on the United States (held on 8 September 2006), Lapsley joined more than 30 terror victims from all around the world and families of those killed then to create the
International Network for Peace to promote effective and nonviolent solutions to terrorism.
Electronic Media
There are many video interviews with him on the internet, including on YouTube in particular The Father Michael Lapsley Story.
Publications
Books by or about Fr. Michael Lapsley SSM
* Lapsley, M. (1986).
*Wornisp, M. E. (1996).
* Lapsley, M., & Karakashian, S. (2012).
Contributions in other publications
* What Apartheid Has Done to All of Us, Black and White. American Committee on Africa. 1991.
*
* Confronting the Past and Creating the Future: The Redemptive Value of Truth Telling". Social Research 65 (4): 741–758. Winter 1998. JSTOR 40971285.
*
* The Journey to and from Apology: Restoring the Moral Order in Journal For Social Research: An International Quarterly Winter 2020.
* Tutu and Me: Perspectives on brokenness and wholeness in Ecumenical Encounters with Desmond Mpilo Tutu UWC Press ISBN 978-1-990995- 06-4 2021.
* The Role of Faith Communities in moral regeneration: a time for introspection in Leadership Magazine July 2021.
* Healing old wounds of Women and Men to end gender based violence and femicide in Leadership Magazine August 2021
* The Pain caused by the demonization of African culture at the altar of Apartheid and Colonization in Leadership Magazine November 2021.
* The ANC's Church Front in International Brigade against Apartheid: Secrets of the People's War that Liberated ]South Africa Jacana 2021 ISBN 978-1-4314-3202-8 December 2021
See also
*
Desmond Tutu
*
Albie Sachs
Albert "Albie" Louis Sachs (born 30 January 1935) is a South African lawyer, activist, writer, and former judge appointed to the first Constitutional Court of South Africa by Nelson Mandela.
Early life and education
Albie Sachs was born on ...
*
John Osmers
John Robert Osmers (23 February 1935 – 16 June 2021) was a New Zealand anti-apartheid activist. He was Anglican Bishop of Eastern Zambia from 1995 to 2002.
Early life and education
Osmers was born in Ashburton on 23 February 1935, the son of ...
Notes
References
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External links
The Forgiveness ProjectInstitute for Healing Memories
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lapsley, Michael
1949 births
Living people
20th-century South African Anglican priests
21st-century South African Anglican priests
New Zealand emigrants to South Africa
Recipients of the Queen's Service Medal
White South African anti-apartheid activists