Documents

Stories of Corrymeela

Here are placed the stories of some of the women and men closely involved in Corrymeela, particularly in the early days of the Community. The stories were told to Mathilde Stevens and Dot Wilson in about 2010.

Carrie Barkley's Story

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Carrie Barkley's story.

Summary;

Carrie is from Dublin, visited Belfast as member of Girls Auxiliary Executive and Irish Council of Churches in 1960s; appointed Sunday School Advisor of the Presbyterian Church in 1960s; memories of Sunday night meetings in Rays house; visiting Ballycastle Centre house before purchased; friendship with Rays sister, Beth; memory of time after purchase of Centre; shock at attitudes in Northern Ireland in 1960s; Rays call for reconciliation; practical work preparing centre; value of Catholics and Protestants meeting; surprise at Protestants who didn’t attend church; involvement in and impact of family weeks; Grand opening of Ballycastle Centre with Tullio Vinay; impact of the Troubles on people coming to the Centre; involvement in plannning for Summerfests and memories of the sharing groups; experiencing new ways of worship at Corrymeela and relevance for her work with Sunday School teachers; impact on her of practical care at Centre for people with disabilities; personal challenge of meeting gay and lesbian young people at Centre and memory of wise advice from John Morrow; key importance to Carrie of Christian ethos of Corrymeela and her difficulty with volunteers with no experience of Church; being at Centre in recent years as ‘presence’; willingness to share Corrymeela experience in local church; summary of Carries background as a Protestant from Dublin, comfortable with all Church groups but struggle with others outside her experience; importance of Corrymeela for Carrie and her life and work. Carrie was a member of Corrymeela until her death in?