Sacred Space – Fr Michael Lapsley – Media Student Report

Justice, peace and healing were the main topics of the keynote. The story of Father Michael was very inspiring and insightful. The movement of non violence in South Africa, his fight against Apartheid and then the letter bomb attack in which he lost both his hands and the sight in one eye.

I found his thoughts that cathedrals should be a safe haven and a healing place was especially significant in the light of the Manchester bombing and that refugees and the families of refugees who come to England to be encouraged to tell their stories and to start healing.

The cathedrals are places for everyone and should be here to help people. Not everyone has a place to feel safe and this was why cathedrals should be there for them. It will help people, in my opinion, to heal them, if they talk about their experiences and their traumas.

Helen Large was listening to Fr Michael Lapsley keynote speech at Sacred Space, Association of English Cathedrals.