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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.

This is a live recording of a conversation held at an event in June 2025 called Borderlands. This is a monthly event run by Jonny Clark from Corrymeela and a small cluster of friends and partners. Last June it was a profound privilege to host Jo Berry CBE and Pat Magee at the Black Box for our event that came days before the annual Day of Reflection. Their story is one of the most challenging and inspiring examples of reconciliation we have encountered. Jo and Pat were brought together through tragedy: the Brighton bomb that killed Jo’s father, Sir Anthony Berry. Years later, Jo made the extraordinary choice to seek out the man responsible for his death. What followed was not a moment of closure, but the beginning of a long, evolving journey of dialogue.

Damian Gorman is a playwright, poet, and committed peacebuilder who has used his art to build bridges in theatres, playhouses and peace centres all over Ireland and the world. He has addressed large audiences and he has worked with small groups facilitating challenging conversations in places of conflict. Born in Newcastle, County Down, Damian has devoted much of his career to exploring the human stories that emerged from the Troubles, fostering dialogue and understanding through theatre, poetry, and community engagement. He has recently taken up the role of Head of Peacebuilding at the brilliant charity Children In Crossfire.

Pádraig Ó Tuama is a poet with interests in language, violence, power, and religion. He has published poetry, essays, a memoir and works of theology. He led Corrymeela from 2014-2019. He currently lives in the USA, in New York City, where he presents Poetry Unbound, is poet-in-residence with Columbia University’s Conflict and Cooperation Centre, and writes. He has two new books for 2025: Kitchen Hymns (CHEERIO and Copper Canyon Press) and 44 Poems on Being with Each Other (Canongate and WW Norton). As always, you can download a full transcript and discussion questions here.

In this last of four special compilation episodes of The Corrymeela Podcast, we revisit interviews with guests who shared their insights on conflict and reconciliation.  Featured in this episode are Duncan Morrow, Dong Jin Kim, Christine Bell, Juliane Okot Bitek, Peter Coleman, and Marina Cantacuzino, who bring us their thoughts on peace processes, conflict resolution, and the work of forgiveness.You can find a full transcript and discussion questions here.

In this third of four special compilation episodes, we return to previous guests who spoke with us about language, storytelling, and the past. Included in this episode are Sarah Perry, Sef Townsend, John Paul Lederach, Richard Holloway, and Nóirín Ní Riain. As always, you can download a full transcript and discussion questions here.

We revisit interviews with guests who spoke with us about place, movement, migration, identity, and belonging. Included in this compilation are clips from Johnston McMaster, Anthony Reddie, Lia Shimada, and Yousif M. Qasmiyeh, who offered insights from the fields of history, theology, and the arts, as well as sharing personal stories of identity and belonging. As always, you can download a full transcript and discussion questions here.

We return to interviews from earlier seasons to hear guests' insights on the pasts, presents, and futures of Britain and Ireland. Featured in this episode are Mary McAleese, Claire Mitchell, Gail McConnell, and Ebun Joseph. As always, you can download a full transcript and discussion questions here.

Sef Townsend is a storyteller and musician. He’s collected stories and songs from his travels all around the globe, and has worked with refugees, people in exile and those in asylum detention. Sef’s work has included peace and reconciliation projects, and sharing his stories with audiences in schools, museums, churches, mosques and synagogues around the world. He has co-written two collections of short stories: London Folk Tales for Children (The History Press, 2019) and London’s River Tales for Children (The History Press, 2022). As always, you can download a full transcript and discussion questions here.

Yousif M. Qasmiyeh is a poet and scholar whose work has appeared in publications including Modern Poetry in Translation, Critical Quarterly, Cambridge Literary Review, New England Review, and Poetry London. His collection Writing the Camp (Broken Sleep Books, 2021), was a Poetry Book Society Recommendation and was shortlisted for the 2022 Royal Society of Literature Ondaatje Prize. Yousif is Writer in Residence for Refugee Hosts - a research project at University College London. His latest collection, Eating the Archive, was published by Broken Sleep Books in 2023. As always, you can download a full transcript and discussion questions here.

Rachel Mann is a poet, theologian, broadcaster, and Anglican priest, who, since 2023, has served as Archdeacon of Salford and Bolton. She has published two collections of poetry: her first, A Kingdom of Love (Carcanet, 2019) was highly commended in the Forward Prizes for Poetry. The areas covered by her work include theology, cultural history, and heavy metal music; she’s also written a book of reflections for Lent based on the works of Jane Austen. Rachel has appeared as a panellist on the BBC Radio 4 programmes The Moral Maze and Beyond Belief, and is a regular contributor to Thought For The Day. Her second poetry collection Eleanor Among the Saints was published by Carcanet at the start of 2024. As always, you can download a full transcript and discussion questions here.

Dong Jin Kim is a writer and academic whose research interests are in the areas of peacebuilding, humanitarian and development cooperation, theology, and comparative studies of peace processes. He has collaborated with various humanitarian, development, and peace and reconciliation organisations, including Okedongmu Children in Korea, Korean Sharing Movement, and Corrymeela. Jin was a Senior Research Fellow in Peace and Reconciliation Studies at the Irish School of Ecumenics at Trinity College Dublin. He was a Goodwill Ambassador for Peace on the Korean Peninsula at the South Korean Ministry of Unification from 2020 to 2022. Jin is the author of The Korean Peace Process and Civil Society: Towards Strategic Peacebuilding (Palgrave Macmillan, 2019), and co-editor of Reconciling Divided States: Peace Processes in Ireland and Korea (Routledge, 2022, with David Mitchell).  As always, you can download a full transcript and discussion questions here.