The need for the Christian ministry of reconciliation has never been greater (2 Cor. 5: 18-20) and at this important time could your church support Corrymeela’s work for peace and reconciliation in Northern Ireland? 

Supporting Corrymeela might be a suitable way to give peace-building a higher profile on the mission agenda of your church. Could you make a donation to our work through your mission giving or arrange a special collection for Corrymeela? Or perhaps you could have a special collection or a fundraising event? 
 
At Corrymeela we are facing an unprecedented number of requests from groups for support in establishing contacts and partnerships across the sectarian divide. Many of these groups have very limited resources. Your church could help some of these groups establish cross community partnerships. You can also support Corrymeela staff in working along side these groups in their local communities. We want to work with as many groups as possible in building bridges of reconciliation in place of walls of division.

A donation of £300 will support a youth group on a cross community residential; £90 will support a Corrymeela worker in running a workshop with a local community group.Whatever you give, we can assure you that every pound will help our work with peace and reconciliation.

At Corrymeela, we work in partnership with hundreds of groups from both sides of the divide – with more than 7,000 people coming to programmes at our Ballycastle Centre each year.

Many of Corrymeela’s partner groups come from our country’s most disadvantaged, marginalised areas. They have lived through some of the worst of the violence of the last 30+ years. Many have lost loved ones. Many others are wives and mothers who have seen their husbands and children caught up in the violence, their families broken apart. And far too many are young people whose lives have been devastated by violence, drugs and abuse.

At Corrymeela, we stand with people as they seek new possibilities for themselves, their families and their communities — people like Siobhan and Cathy.

Siobhan and Cathy lived on opposite sides of a Belfast ‘peace line’ in an interface area, where the boundaries of Catholic and Protestant estates touch. Each belonged to a cross-community, the Over the Wall Gang. Many in the Over the Wall Gang have lost someone they loved to sectarian violence, whether a family member, friend, or neighbour.

Before joining the Over the Wall Gang, Siobhan thought a ‘monster’ lived on the other side of the peace wall. But Cathy and her Protestant neighbours put a face to that monster,— and made it disappear.

When Siobhan and Cathy met, neither knew that Siobhan had cancer. The women shared stories, watched each other’s children grow – and as their friendship formed, the monster faded. When Siobhan received her cancer diagnosis, her friends in the Over the Wall Gang rallied round her – especially Cathy. As Siobhan’s body weakened, Catholic and Protestant friends filled her home, fed her children, washed her bed linen. And when Siobhan died, the Catholic church filled with mourners, Catholics and Protestants together.

Siobhan, Cathy, and hundreds of others like them, work in partnership with Corrymeela to build bridges of reconciliation in place of walls of division.Your church can support this work with many other groups throughout Northern Ireland.

Your support will enable victims of violence to share their stories with people from different traditions, to explore new ways of working together and ensure that no one else suffers the trauma they’ve known. You can help prisoners families and former paramilitaries discover new ways of living together in peace. Your support will help young adults become peacemakers for their communities. And help children to learn at an early age that kids from “the other side” have hopes and dreams just like their own.

We are deeply grateful for the generous support we receive from churches – Corrymeela’s work for peace and reconciliation would not be possible without it. 


Perhaps you could make a contribution from your mission giving or appropriate fund? Or perhaps you could have a special collection or a fundraising event?

Whatever you give, we can assure you that every pound will help bring people from both sides of our divided society together. 


Thank you for considering to support our work and thank you for sharing in Corrymeela’s vision.