The Corrymeela Podcast

It was a great privilege to be invited to interview Rev Harold Good in Cushendun at the Old Church Centre. The live recording was part of a series of events held in September in the beautiful Antrim Coast village. Harold was accompanied by his dog much to the enjoyment of the crowd and she makes a few cameos in the audio recording. Harold is most well known for his role as one of two independent witnesses of the decommissioning of IRA weapons, alongside Fr Alec Reid in September 2005. He performed the same role in the Basque Country as ETA decommissioned and he has advised FARC on decommissioning in Colombia. But with those remarkable roles has come a lifetime of pastoral work as a Methodist Minister, starting in 1968 in the Shankill Road in Belfast as the Troubles broke out. A long held belief he lived by was that people can change, whether it was Martin McGuinness or Ian Paisley. We started the conversation by talking about the gift of his wife Clodagh who sadly passed away in June. Harold showed what leadership can look like from clergy in a divided society and his commitment to dialogue is one of the reasons we have peace in Ireland.

This podcast includes a conversation with Palestinian Liberation Theologian Samuel Salim Munayer. The episode ends with a twenty minute talk that he gave at a day long conference Corrymeela ran in Belfast in August 2026. The event was called the Oak Tree Sessions, and was an event platforming voices articulating Public Theology which engaged with questions of liberation, ecology, peace, solidarity and decolonisation. Samuel Salim Munayer is a Palestinian theologian based in Jerusalem who works for a humanitarian organisation serving in Gaza and the West Bank. He holds degrees in philosophy and theology from Durham University and in Middle Eastern Studies from University of Exeter, where he was supervised by Ilan Pappé. Samuel recently co-edited and authored with his brother John the book “The Cross and the Olive Tree: Cultivating Palestinian Theology amid Gaza”. This episode cannot possibly say all that can be said in relation to the mass displacement of the Palestinian population in Gaza, or the mass slaughter of over 70,000 innocent men, women and children by the Israeli army, or the brutal attacks on the Israeli civilian population on the 7th October 2023 by Hamas. It also cannot fully capture the fear felt by so many Palestinians in the occupied West Bank whose land is being stolen from them by a new wave of settler colonialism. But this podcast can create the space for an articulation of a theology of liberation in a time of genocide or what Samuel refers to as “the ongoing Nakba”. There will always be a need to hear the voices of those who can imagine peace, but unless we name the horror of reality, we are possibly merely dreaming fantasies and not laying the foundations of justice, truth and mercy needed to house “the beloved community”.

This is a live recording of an interview with Monica McWilliams on 29th April 2026 as part of Corrymeela’s 60th anniversary exhibition hosted by the Linenhall Library. Jonny Clark asks Monica questions relating to her life and work as told in her recent memoir “Stand Up, Speak Out”. The political environment of Northern Ireland in the mid 90’s leading up to the Good Friday/Belfast Agreement was one of hope, but hope tempered with anxiety and continual mistrust and constant arguments between the main parties. It seemed for many of us that long term peace was too good to believe. Into this environment of anxiety and polarisation came the fresh voice of Monica McWilliams and the Women’s Coalition. They seemed to transcend the old sectarian talking points and brought hope by talking about real issues and by breaking into the patriarchal world not just of NI Politics but our wider society. The Women’s Coalition received enough votes to gain seats at the negotiating table for the Multi-Party talks which led to our Agreement. Without their presence the table would have been surrounded entirely by men. This unlikely and inspirational story was recently told in the brilliant play “Cuckoo Land”. Monica McWilliams is an academic, a human rights activist, former politician, she was Chief Commisioner for the NI Human Rights from 2005–2011, and was the Oversight Commissioner for prison reform in Northern Ireland (2011–2015). She currently sits on the Independent Reporting Commission for the disbandment of paramilitary organisations in Northern Ireland.She is Emeritus Professor in the Transitional Justice Institute at Ulster University and continues her academic research into domestic violence. We want to pay tribute to the Linenhall Library and Patsy Horton who hosted this live recording.

We talk to Paul Hutchinson about his life and work. Paul is a mediator, a group facilitator, a therapist and an artist. He spent several years as the centre director of Corrymeela and has written the book “Between The Bells”. He has also produced films including Vacancies which is a reflection on the lives lost during the Troubles.

Mandy Cook is a therapist who works a great deal with those who have experienced religious trauma. In her words she makes "space for unravelling, contemplating & practicing ways to find our way home to ourselves & each other". In this podcast we explore her journey from growing up in the Free Presbyterian church, to being a Queer woman helping people as a psychotherapist. We talk about some of the themes of her work, helping people find the rage to reject the past and to emerge from contexts of religious trauma  so they can build hope-filled lives. Mandy is a long time friend of Corrymeela and references her collaboration with us in projects like "Blessed Are The Brave" and the "Becoming Holy" series.