The Moral Injury Project of Hendricks Chapel at Syracuse University explores the effects and implications of moral injury in the lives of U.S. service members and veterans. Moral Injury is the damage done to one’s conscience or moral compass when that person perpetrates, witnesses, or fails to prevent acts that transgress one’s own moral beliefs, values, or ethical codes of conduct.
The steering committee of The Moral Injury Project serves to open a platform for conversation, raising awareness about the consequences of moral injury in the lives of veterans and in our wider society.
We formed the Moral Injury Project in the summer of 2014 after a gathering of students, staff, faculty, researchers, writers and chaplains from across campus, as well as the larger Syracuse community, addressed an important question: What are we doing about moral injury among US military veterans? Inspired by a visit from Dr. Rita N. Brook, formerly of the Soul Repair Center at Texas Brite Divinity School, our goal was to raise awareness about the impact of moral injury on U.S. servicemembers and veterans and to explore paths toward integration and healing. Our committee members and those attending our events come from various disciplines and faiths and seek to embrace dialogue and understanding about moral injury. We create space for conversation about moral injury among multiple stakeholders, share knowledge from practitioners who are creating healing modalities for moral injury, and promote healing and a path for transition and integration for service members and veterans who are dealing with moral injury.
Moral injury demands individual answers to individual questions asked by the men and women who hold different faiths, philosophies and visions of storytelling. To that end, we have worked to facilitate dialogues between the general public and the veterans and family members who have experienced moral injury.
