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Corrymeela Pilgrimage October 2007

 

A group of thirty people from Dursley Tabernacle recently visited the Corrymeela Community in Northern Ireland. The community works for peace and reconciliation in Northern Ireland and was established in 1965.  The founding members were painfully aware of the deep divisions which exist within Ireland and our world and the complete contradiction these are to the vision of peace and harmony which God has for this world. At the very heart of the Christian message they saw God’s purpose identified as reconciliation across all of the divisions which we have allowed to become barriers – those between different men and women, different groups in society, different branches of the church, different races and nations.

 

The Tab has been supporting Corrymeela since the early 1970’s when the then minister Glynn Jenkins visited there and decided to encourage the church to have an annual fundraising event for the Community.

 

Corrymeela is situated on one of Ireland’s beauty spots – the Antrim coast. The centre is on a cliff top overlooking the sea, Ballycastle and Rathlin Island and is just ten miles away from Giants Causeway. It was a fantastic location and the group enjoyed the natural beauty.

 

The staff and volunteers at the centre had a great deal of experience and understanding of the situation in Northern Ireland. They were able to tell many stories of their involvement in peace initiatives, bringing together divided communities. For example, they shared a story of how they had arranged a meeting between opposite sides in Northern Ireland. Two Police officers, both of whom had been shot and wounded in their duties, had arrived early for the meeting with their wives. A smartly dressed man turned up asking if this was the appropriate meeting. They greeted him but then realised who he was. He was an IRA paramilitary who had been responsible for many bombings in the past. The policemen recognised him from his picture on many a past wanted poster. There was stunned silence. The IRA man realising in whose company he was said he would go. He was the enemy. But then one of the policemen’s wives said ‘as you are here why don’t you stay for a cup of tea’. He did and they spent over an hour talking. They discovered that the reasons why they had joined the IRA and the police were very similar. The IRA man reflected at the end of the meeting that because a woman had given him a cup of tea he could never look at a police officer in the same way again.

 

Corrymeela is about providing a safe space for people to engage in dialogue and understanding. A space in which God can work. They describe the present situation as a ‘sort of peace’ but the country is still divided and un-reconciled. As a new Northern Ireland emerges once bitterest enemies have to work together which is provoking numerous emotions and issues. The work of Corrymeela (which was set up before the Troubles started in 1969) is really just beginning.

 

Simon Helme, minister at Dursley Tabernacle, comments:

‘Our visit to Corrymeela gave us new insight into the situation in Ireland and also into the nature of conflict and violence and the way of peace and reconciliation in general. It was a very inspiring and spiritually uplifting week and has strengthened our link with the Community. It was a great thrill to take with us some of our older members who have been faithfully supporting Corrymeela for the last three decades.’