Tobar Mhuire Retreat & Conference Centre
A Sacred Space in the Heart of County Down

Welcome
​Tobar Mhuire is a well equipped modern Retreat and Conference Centre, set in sixty acres of woodland, in the heart of County Down. We hope that visitors will enjoy our new facilities as well as the peace and quiet of the beautiful surroundings.
The Passionist Community in Tobar Mhuire is committed to keeping alive the authentic memory of Christ's Passion as a source of life and hope to all those struggling to find meaning in their lives. We welcome individuals and groups from Ireland and beyond who wish to take time out to reflect on their human and spiritual development. In Tobar Mhuire they will find a peaceful setting and  encouragement from the Passionist Community who reside there.
We welcome all who are searching for meaning and purpose in their lives and who are open to discovering a sense of the sacred in life.
The Passionist Community extend a welcome to their sisters and brothers of the Reformed Churches and hope that the resource that is Tobar Mhuire Retreat and Conference Centre will become a shared blessing for all. 

THANK YOU!

A massive thank you to everyone who came along to support our annual Christmas Arts and Crafts Fair. It was certainly the biggest attendance that we have had at this wonderful event. We hope that you had a great time - and that Santa will bring the children all that will be good for them this Christmas! 
​Your support is greatly appreciated by the Passionist Community in Tobar Mhuire!

Lenten Programme 2020

Ash Wednesday Day of Prayer and Reflection
On this day we direct our thoughts and prayers to the need for forgiveness in the lives of individuals and across our community.
Day begins with Mass / Ashes at 9.00am.
​Chapel open all day for prayer led by the pupils from St. Colmcille’s High School, Crossgar.
Concluding Prayer Service with distribution of Ashes at 7.00pm. 

Forgiveness Can Set You Free

Lenten Scripture Reflection

Alan McBride
Sharon McBride was at work in her father’s fish shop, Frizzell’s,  on Belfast’s Shankill Road on 23 October 1993 when a bomb exploded, killing 9 people and injuring almost 60. Sharon’s father, Desmond Frizzell, was also killed. She was 29 and she and Alan had a 2 year old daughter who helped out in the fish shop.  Alan is the co-ordinator of WAVE and manages the Stories from Silence project.
 
Jude Whyte
Jude Whyte’s home was bombed was in 1983 by a young UVF man who lived a mile away. Jude’s mother comforted the bomber and told Jude to get a pillow for under his head. His life changed forever when his mother was later killed in a bomb blast outside the family home. “You could say my revenge for the murder of my mother is my forgiveness…And while my mother may not have given me permission to forgive, she did tell me to get a pillow for the UVF man who tried to blow us up.”
Tobar Mhuire hosts a conversation between two people who been faced with the challenge of forgiving those who perpetrated awful deeds upon their loved ones. What does forgiveness mean? Is it enough to just forgive, or does reconciliation call us to dig even deeper into our humanity? 

​This evening is open to all. Please come and join in the conversation. Voluntary Donation.

Eucharistic Adoration
Take Off Your Shoes- You are Standing on Holy Ground

A four week course to explore the beauty of Eucharistic Adoration and ways of developing best practice in our personal lives and in our parishes.
 
Led by: Fr Tom Scanlon CP.
 
Dates: March 1st; March 8th; March 15th 
 
Time: 3.00pm – 5.30pm each day.
Voluntary Donation.

Further Information on all events can be got from the Reception at Tobar Mhuire.
Telephone: 028 44 830242
email: secretary@tobarmhuirecrossgar.com

"This is my Beloved Son…”
What meaning has the Cross in God’s Plan?
With Fr. Oliver Treanor
Wednesday 4th March - The Cross in my life as a way of growth and fulfilment
Wednesday 11th March - Mark/Matthew – the trauma of Christ
Wednesday 18th March - Luke – the forgiveness of the Saviour
Wednesday 25th March - John – the victory of Christ the King from the Throne
Each evening begins at 7.30pm and will conclude at 9.00pm.
Tea/coffee provided.
Voluntary Donation
A four week series on the Wednesdays of Lent, in which Fr. Oliver Treanor invites us to see the meaning of the Cross in God’s plan and as a way of achieving the fullness of life. An opportunity to come together for a relaxing evening in which we have the opportunity to look at the Cross in a different way from how the world looks at it. Each evening invites us to take a deeper step into the Church’s understanding of the Cross.
Father Oliver Treanor is a priest of the Diocese of Down and Connor. He is a former lecturer in Systematic Theology at the Pontifical University, Maynooth. He served on the Department of Theological Questions and Inter-Church Meeting, and on the Episcopal Commission for Clergy, Seminaries and the Permanent Diaconate.

Holy Week-Via Dolorosa
Meditating on the Passion with St. Faustina of the Divine Mercy

  ​St.  Faustina suffered physically through a terminal illness and experienced the Passion of our Lord  in her body. She suffered spiritually when she went through the ‘Dark Night of the Soul’. She suffered emotionally because the sisters she lived with didn’t believe she was sick and thought she was avoiding work.
 
“Today the Lord said to me, ‘I have need of your suffering to rescue souls’. O my Jesus, do with me as You please.  I did not have the courage to ask Jesus for greater sufferings, because I had suffered so much the night before that I would not have been able to bear a drop more that what Jesus Himself gave me.” (Diary 1612)
 
You are invited to join us on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday evenings of Holy Week in exploring the Passion story as manifested in the life experience and in the meditations of St. Faustina of the Divine Mercy.
 
Led by Fr. Tom Scanlon CP - Each evening begins at 7.30pm
 
Voluntary Donation

Living with Cancer?
A New Initiative in Partnership with Action Cancer