Ballycastle Northern Ireland
Alastair Kilgore is a Northern Irish educator, peacebuilder, and longtime member of the Corrymeela Community, where he has been involved for more than fifty years. Raised in the Protestant tradition, Kilgore has dedicated much of his life to fostering understanding across religious, political, and cultural divides in Northern Ireland.
Inspired by Corrymeela founder Ray Davey, whose experiences during the bombing of Dresden shaped a lifelong commitment to reconciliation, Kilgore embraced the belief that “we are all the same” and has carried that principle throughout his work. As a teacher, community leader, and advocate for integrated education, he played an early role in supporting Lagan College, Northern Ireland’s first integrated secondary school, helping pioneer efforts to educate Protestant and Catholic children together.
Kilgore also spent nine years teaching in Malawi, an experience that deepened his understanding of identity, tribalism, and the shared humanity that transcends race, religion, and nationality. Upon returning to Northern Ireland, he became an outspoken advocate for cross-community engagement, often challenging sectarian attitudes within his own tradition and helping build relationships between Protestant and Catholic congregations.
Throughout his life, Kilgore has been guided by a conviction that peace is rooted in relationships rather than political outcomes. He believes reconciliation begins with acknowledging one’s own role in conflict and approaching others without judgment. Through decades of involvement with Corrymeela, he has helped create spaces where people from opposing backgrounds, former combatants, refugees, grieving families, and marginalized individuals can experience belonging, healing, and human connection.
For Kilgore, peace is ultimately the practice of wishing only good for the other—a vision that has shaped both his faith and his life’s work.
Ballycastle, Northern Ireland
Alastair’s interview is followed by Dot Wilson’s. Her story starts at about the 50-minute mark.
“We are ordinary people attempting to move forward with other ordinary people and seeing what happens.”
Acknowledging our own part in conflict:
“One of the things that we say in our quiet time every morning here is we acknowledge our part in the conflicts of our society.
So we are not good people doing things to bad people. We are ordinary people attempting to move forward with other ordinary people and seeing what happens.
That for me would be one of the key things.
When you begin to understand at some level the part that you play in creating the society that has gone into conflict, then you’re much less judgmental about other people’s parts.
Mostly we just judge other people, say they’re bad, they did this, they did that, and we’re good, we’re innocent.
But when you understand your own conflicts and your own part in the conflicts, then there are new possibilities.”
Meeting former combatants without judgment:
“We tried to follow the teachings of Jesus, and Jesus said, ‘If you hate your brother, you’re guilty of murder.’
Many people don’t take it seriously. We do.
So that means I’m a murderer.
So when an ex-gunman or even an active gunman comes here for some reason, I meet him as my brother.
My brother the gunman.
I haven’t pulled the trigger. I’ve done it in a different way.
But that non-judgmental approach gives me possibilities.”
Why integration matters
“Because of the work that I had done with Corrymeela in the previous fifteen years, it became clear that we have to find ways of doing things together.
As long as we have separate schools, separate churches, separate youth organizations, separate games, there’s going to be no way of bringing people together.
And so the myths about the other side only continue to grow.
So Corrymeela was an attempt, is an attempt, to bring both sides together among other things.
And so education seemed to be a fairly obvious way forward as well.”
What peace means:
“Peace means relationships.
One of the men that you might have interviewed was Michael…
He served something like seventeen years in prison for murder.
I respect him so much.
And because I worked on a committee with him about the Day of Reflection, we’re trying to understand how we can ritualize our efforts for peace.
But he also respects me.
So when I phoned him to say you might be interviewing him, he said, ‘Anything for you, Alistair.’
That for me is, we have come to a place of peace.
Even though we come from different backgrounds in many different ways.
But we each wish the other only good.
And that for me is about, in a sense, that’s what peace is.
Wishing only the best for the other.”
On dissent:
“There was a little Catholic chapel close by, which was regularly either tried to be burnt down or was paint bombed or whatever.
And I wanted our congregation to go officially and help restore the building to its proper state.
But that wasn’t possible…
So eventually, they didn’t exactly throw me out, but they wouldn’t allow me into any positions of responsibility.
Did it change my mind about wanting to help restore the church?
Not at all.”
To read the introduction to this series, follow this link.
The Troubles: Finding a Path Toward Healing in Northern Ireland
To listen to our podcast, follow this link or find us on the platform of your choice.
A Peace of My Mind on Buzzsprout
Credits:
Interview and photos: John Noltner
Field production: summer interns Kate West, Sawyer Garrison, and Kaitlin Imai
Audio engineering: Razik Saifullah