News from Crossgar

Greetings from Crossgar. No doubt the question on everyone lips is "How is George doing?" Well, he is still in Ward 4B of Belfast Royal. This is his seventh week in hospital with still a while to go yet. His doctors tell him he has to be patient and that is one thing he has plenty of. It is going to be a long, slow process but at least he still has his two feet but I think his days of playing football for Glasgow Celtic or his beloved Armagh are over, sorry George! Please God it won't be too long before he is back with us. The rest of us keep well, living from day to day, doing what we can or needs to be done.

Hubert is our newest member and still finding his way around or maybe I should say 'feeling his way', it's a big change from St Mungo's.

The retreats which have been conducted have been to such groups as the Pioneers, Legion of Mary, Family Ministry, Apostolic Workers, Knights of St Columbanus. Recently we played host to a group called Youth 2000 who gave a one day retreat to seventy of our senior pupils from the local secondary school here in Crossgar.

Pat Duffy CP organises, for us, pre-marriage days which are always booked well in advance. He is also conducting a series of weekends for people who would be interested in finding out more about Focusing. These weekends have been running from September and have gone down well with those attending. Such groups have stayed for one or two weeks at a time; Wholeness Through Christ who come four times a year; Habitat for Humanity, an American group, who have stayed for two weeks at a time. They must like it for we have them coming back for more this year! In September we are playing host to the Little Sisters and Brothers of Charles de Faucald who are coming here for two weeks to reflect on their work in North Europe and to round it off we still have individuals coming on either private or directed retreats.

Our Prayer Days for clergy, religious and laity still take place. This week we had 20 clergy from the surrounding parishes and as far as Belfast for their day of prayer. The religious will be here on the 12th and on the 13th April it will be the laity.

It is hoped that we will be able to offer to the laity a full programme of services over Holy Week.

The date for our annual Open Day this year will be Sunday 25th May so you are all welcome and who knows you may even win a prize.

Happy Easter from all at Tobar Mhuire.