IHOM-No. America

What Do We Do and Why Do We Do It.

Father Michael Lapsley was born in New Zealand and
ordained in Australia. In 1973 he went to South Africa as a young Anglican priest where he became chaplain to both black and white students at the very height of apartheid oppression. In 1976 he was elected National University Chaplain. That was the year of the Soweto uprising in which many black school children were shot and killed. Father Michael began using his public platform to speak out on behalf of students who had been shot, detained, and tortured, and shortly thereafter he was expelled from South Africa.

He spent the next 16 years as chaplain to the liberation movement in exile, travelling the world to mobilize particularly the faith community to oppose apartheid and support the struggle for freedom. While still in Zimbabwe in April 1990, 3 months after Nelson Mandela's release from prison, he was sent a letter bomb from South Africa disguised as religious literature. In the blast, he lost both hands, the sight of one eye, and was severely burned. Accompanied by the prayers, love, and support from around the world, he began his own journey from victim to survivor to victor.
That was the year of the Soweto uprising in which many black school children were shot and killed. Father Michael began using his public platform to speak out on behalf of students who had been shot, detained, and tortured, and shortly thereafter he was expelled from South Africa.

In 1993 after returning to South Africa, he became Chaplain of the Trauma Centre for Victims of Violence and Torture in Cape Town. There he devised a Healing of Memories process that created safe spaces where any South African who wished could, in a collective setting, begin to work through the psychological, spiritual and emotional effects of the nation's past. In 1998, with increasing demands for this process nationally and internationally, he formed the Institute for Healing of Memories.
In addition to South Africa, the Institute now works with victims of war, violence, and genocide in places like Rwanda, Burundi, Northern Ireland, Sri Lanka, and East Timor. Recently the Institute has begun training the staff of an organization in East Harlem that operates a shelter for abused, disabled women. Father Michael’s own experience of inner healing has helped him connect with people in countless cultures who experience systemic violence and personal pain. He challenges individuals and communities to move through a journey of healing towards forgiveness and reconciliation.
Fr. Michael was recently awarded an Honorary Doctorate by the University of KwaZulu Natal in recognition of his work on behalf of healing and reconciliation in South Africa and the world.

In1998 Fr. Lapsley worked for the Trauma Center for Victims of Violence and Torture in Cape Town, which assisted the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, then started theInstitute for Healing of Memories (IHOM NA is the North American Component). He was the subject of the biographical work Priest and Partisan: A South African journey (1996) by his fellow South African priest andtheologian Michael Worsnip.

Thursday, July 1, 2010

BARRIER FREE LIVING HOSTS HOM WORKSHOP

Barrier Free Living (BFL www.bflnyc.org) brought an intense three-day ‘Healing of Memories’ workshop to participants of its Transitional Housing and Secret Garden programs this May.

The Transitional Housing program provides safe shelter and case management services to people with disabilities who are homeless. Secret Garden specializes in working with people with disabilities who are also victims of abuse.
The workshop is an ongoing partnership between BFL’s President/CEO Paul Feuerstein and Fr. Michael Lapsley who heads the Institute for Healing of Memories (http://www.healingofmemories.co.za/) in Cape Town, South Africa. It offers a model for healing through creative group activities which explore emotion, reconciliation and forgiveness.
“This experience helped me begin to release the negative low self esteem I have carried with me all of my life,” said Alejandrina Cruz, a client at Secret Garden. “I have grown mentally and spiritually.”
Fr. Michael developed the Healing of Memories workshops while heading the Chaplaincy Project of the Trauma Centre for Victims of Violence and Torture. The workshop evolved from his experience of living in exile, losing both hands in a parcel bomb explosion, and listening to the stories of the survivors whom he counseled at the Trauma Centre.

BFL customized a Healing of Memories workshop curriculum for both staff and residents at its programs. Agency staff from BFL’s Transitional Housing, Freedom House and Secret Garden programs serve as facilitators, guiding the three-day event.

Activities include sharing poetry about disability; drawing 'life stories’, and creating a symbol of peace,' which is shared during a final celebration.

“This is my first time as a workshop facilitator and the experience was exhilarating,” said Cynthia Amodeo, Coordinator of Generations of Freedom at Freedom House. “To see participants begin their path toward real healing through creative expression was awesome.”

For more information about Healing of Memories visit http://www.healingofmemories.co.za/ For information about Barrier Free Living visit http://www.bflnyc.org/

Wednesday, June 30, 2010

Our new blogspot!

Dear Friends,

Check with this Institute for Healing of Memories-North America site often as we will be adding items of interest, upcoming events and online discussions.

We look forward to hearing from you.

If you would like to listen to the Sermon/Webcast (thanks to The Riverside Church) by Fr. Lapsley

Please click the hyperlink (directly) below -
Listen to the Sermon by Fr.Lapsley at The Riverside Church In The City Of N.Y. (Sunday 6/20/10)

Invitation to Father Michael Lapsley, Worship Service NYC, 6/6/10

Middle Collegiate Church

50 E 7th Street @ 2nd Avenue, New York NY 10003

www.middlechurch.org

212.477.0666, ext 30

Welcoming.Artistic.Inclusive.Bold.

Worship at Middle

Sun, Jun 06, 2010, 11:15 AM

We would like to extend a warm invitation to the residents of New York to attend

our Worship Celebration this Sunday. Father Michael Lapsley will join us in Worship,

where he'll be a Worship Leader. Afterwards, he will give a talk entitled "The Healing of

Memories" as part of our ongoing series "The Word Keeps Becoming Flesh".

HEAR FATHER MICHAEL LAPSLEY PREACH AT RIVERSIDE CHURCH 6/20/10

HEAR FATHER MICHAEL LAPSLEY PREACH AT RIVERSIDE CHURCH
SUNDAY, JUNE 20, 2010 AT 10:45 A.M.
“FORGIVING AND FORGETTING”

Father Michael Lapsley is founder of the Institute for Healing of Memories, Cape Town, South

Africa, and the Institute for Healing of Memories-North America www.healingofmemories.za.co.

The Riverside Church
490 Riverside Drive
New York, New York 10027
212-870-6700
The Riverside Church is located on Riverside Drive and 120th Street near Columbia University
where Harlem and the Upper West Side meet. (120th Street is also named Reinhold Niebuhr
Place.) Father Michael Lapsley is founder of the Institute for Healing of Memories, Cape Town, South
Africa, and the Institute for Healing of Memories-North Americawww.healingofmemories.za.co

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The Healing of Memories

Vision

The Institute for Healing of Memories seeks to contribute to the healing journey of individuals, communities and nations.

The Healing of Memories Mission

We are a trust committed to:

Facilitating the healing process of individuals and communities in South Africa and internationally
Redeeming the past by celebrating that which is life giving and laying to rest that which is destructive
Working in partnership with others who share our vision

The Healing of Memories Approach

We do this to assist people on their journeys towards healing and wholeness within a safe space
We offer Healing of Memories activities such as workshops, seminars, talks and sermons
We are developing models for dealing with emotions such as anger, hatred and guilt, and processes for reconciliation and forgiveness
We seek to be fully inclusive and respectful of diversity; respectful of different faith communities and belief systems.

The Healing of Memories Principles

We believe all people:

Are spiritual beings and of infinite worth
Share responsibility for the past and therefore are responsible for dealing with it
Are capable of being both victim and victimizer
Should face history and face themselves.

Welcome to the Institute For Healing of Memories - N.A.

The Institute for the Healing of Memories (IHOM) is a response to the emotional, psychological and spiritual wounds that are inflicted on nations, communities and individuals by wars, repressive regimes, human rights abuses and other traumatic events or circumstances. Emotional scars are often carried for very long, hindering the individual’s emotional, psychological and spiritual development. Attitudes and prejudices that have developed out of anger and hatred between groups can lead to ongoing conflict and spiraling violence.

IHOM has developed interactive workshops that emphasize the emotional and spiritual, rather than intellectual, understanding and interpretation of the past. Through an exploration of their personal histories, participants find emotional release and as a group gain insight into and empathy for the experiences of others. These processes prepare the ground for forgiveness and reconciliation between people of diverse backgrounds, races, cultures and religions. This dialogue is an opportunity to learn more about healing memories, and to share your experiences, challenges, and successes.

The Featured Resource Practitioners participating in this dialogue include:

Fr. Michael Lapsley of the Institute for the Healing of Memories, South Africa
Glenda Wildschut of the Institute for the Healing of Memories, South Africa
Dr. Donald Shriver, Former president - Union Seminary in New York, USA
Evelyn Lennon of the Center for Victims of Torture, USA
Amber Elizabeth Gray of the Torture Abolition and Survivors Support Coalition International (TASSC), USA
Kaethe Weingarten, Ph.D. of the Harvard Medical School and Director of the Witnessing Project, USA
Zvi Bekerman of the School of Education, Melton Center, The Hebrew University, Jerusalem

More biographical information on these practitioners.

The themes to be discussed in this dialogue include:

Remembering: Positive and Negative Aspects on Healing
Methods Used to Facilitate the Healing of Memories
Reconciliation: Person-to-Person Change in Thinking / Bahavior
Restorative Justice: Collective Identification and Institution
Resources for the Healing of Memories

Summary of dialogue

The first topic that was covered was the process by which the victim can become the victimizer, and what happened when those who had crimes committed against them fail to address it in a constructive fashion. In particular, Israel and Palestine were considered a powerful example. This led to a discussion about the need for a national consciousness andacknowledgment about previous crimes committed, for every country, not to bury or deny them. This was followed by a discussion about the need for the United States to have a Truth and Reconciliation Commission.

The issue of symmetry, or the lack of it, in suffering and how that affects the healing process was brought up, with participants noting that each case much be taken individually, not compared or lumped together.

Following this the participants began a discussion on various methods used in the healing process. The following methods were discussed:Tree of Life, Prayer sandwich, the use of art, The Narrative Approach, traditional methods, and community healing. The next topic was the possible uses of technology in the healing process, including cell phones and online records, both the positive and negative aspects.

This led the dialogue to the importance of understanding that healing and forgiveness are a process. Finally, there was a long discussion on the role of reconciliation in healing of memories, its necessity, importance and effectiveness