Founded 1965 by Ray Davey | ||
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Motto Committed to Reconciliation in Northern Ireland and Throughout the World Type Non-profit, Interest group Location Ballycastle, Northern Ireland Services runs programmes aimed at establishing a shared society defined by tolerance in schools, families, communities Fields reconciliation, peace-building, building community | ||
The Corrymeela Community is a Christian community whose objective is the promotion of reconciliation and peace-building through the healing of social, religious, and political divisions in Northern Ireland. It runs programmes aimed at establishing a shared society defined by tolerance, where differences are resolved through dialogue in the public sphere and where there is equity, respect for diversity and recognition of interdependence.
Contents
Introduction
Corrymeela works throughout Northern Ireland and beyond, developing and delivering focused community relations work through single-identity, cross-community and cross-border community and residentially based programmes.
Each year over 11,000 participants take part in programmes at the Corrymeela Ballycastle Centre, which can host over 100 residents. Corrymeela currently has nearly 40 full-time staff, 11 residential volunteers and 100 short-term volunteers (approximately eighty thousand volunteer hours are contributed every year), 150 community members, 50 associate members, and thousands of supporters worldwide.
Corrymeela offers participants the opportunity to engage in dialogue, build a sense of inclusive community during their programme, listen to different stories and perspectives and explore ways of moving out of violence and finding more constructive ways of working together.
In addition to providing a model of reconciliation, Corrymeela seeks to offer a language around relationships and reconciliations which can be applied to politics, conflict transformation, and faith. This language around relationships and reconciliation has been taken up in political discourse.
The Northern Irish government's Shared Future document references Corrymeela and writes that "relationships matter and are central" and "moving from relationships based on mistrust and defence to relationships rooted in mutual recognition and trust, is the essence of reconciliation."
History
Corrymeela was founded in 1965 by Ray Davey, along with John Morrow and Alex Watson, as an organisation seeking to aid individuals and communities which suffered through the violence and polarisation of the Northern Irish conflict.
Early members were Christians in the Northern Irish community from diverse backgrounds who wanted to begin a new community which could counter apathy and complacency and open up new possibilities.
In early 1965, to give the community a physical gathering place, Corrymeela moved to the Holiday Fellowship Centre near Ballycastle in County Antrim. The new centre was formally opened that same year by Pastor Tullio Vinay, founder of the Agape Community, which was one of Ray Davey's greatest inspirations.
Its structure formalised, and a council was elected with Davey serving as treasurer and secretary. Corrymeela opened for the public in November 1965, opening itself as a place for Christian reconciliation in Northern Ireland.
Corrymeela was awarded the Niwano Peace Prize in 1997, in honour of "its contribution to significantly to interreligious cooperation, thereby furthering the cause of world peace."
Programme work
Corrymeela hosts programmes which are centred on:
The community also exhibits artwork with themes of peace and reconciliation for Northern Ireland. In 2007, it exhibited The Linen Memorial, a piece made from almost 400 Irish linen handkerchiefs listing almost 4000 names of those killed in the Northern Irish conflict. Visitors left mementos and tokens beside names of those killed, making it an interactive and evolving artwork.
The community also hosts educational programmes at the Corrymeela Ballycastle Centre for groups of students and faculty members visiting from colleges and universities around the world.