Tribute by Member of The Corrymeela Community
When I arrived at the Corrymeela Centre in September 1996, I was entering into a world that I really knew little about. Being from the South of Ireland, I was anxious about simply being in ‘The North’ and I felt unprepared for my new role as a Corrymeela volunteer.
In our induction week, I got talking to a kind lady over a smoke and a coffee and I mentioned to her that I was feeling this way. She reassured me that I would be fine, but she knew that I was still not at ease. So she took me under her wing and was always there to reassure and support me. Her name was Mary Montague. Mary sort of became my Belfast mammy.
Mary was a shining light and a pioneer within her role as Family and Community Worker at Corrymeela. She was supportive, challenging and kind to the numerous groups that we worked alongside at Corrymeela. And she was also a mentor to me.
After the Good Friday Agreement in 1998, Mary was perfectly placed to support former combatant groups in the work of transitioning. Following the release of former politically motivated prisoners, Mary was a key link with many groups seeking help and support in a range of areas such as training, community development and peace-building.
As a Youth Development worker with Corrymeela, Mary got me involved with many of these groups, both on residentials at the Centre and in the community. Most of these groups were from a Loyalist background. On my first residential, again, I was quite anxious about working with former Loyalist prisoners, but once more Mary was my guardian. When the group queried my credentials and background, Mary reassured the group and I was welcomed like everyone else.
That experience and the relationships that I made through working alongside those groups brought me into a whole new set of relationships within my work and these relationships still endure to this day.
At Mary’s funeral, I met a couple of people who I knew from a Loyalist background, who had also come along. They too were at the funeral to pay their respects to Mary. For some reason, I was drawn to greet them as they walked up the church. We shook hands and had a chat and I sat with them during Mary’s funeral.
It was like my relationship with Mary had come full circle. Mary brought me into her work with Loyalist groups at Corrymeela 25 years ago and now here I was at her funeral sitting beside Loyalist friends.
Peace building is about relationships. Mary was the best at building relationships.
Mary was a peace builder.