ORIGIN STORY

I belong to Sacred Heart Parish, North Belfast and always went to Sunday Mass from my childhood.
My brother Eddie took his own life on the 8th of November 1995 and I struggled with this until going on pilgrimage to Medjugorje in May 2012. It was there I had a change of heart and conversion in mind and spirit, and introduced to
The Divine Mercy for the first time.
On returning from Medjugorje I began to attend Mass daily. It was through this I reunited with my good friend Thomas Stewart who I hadn’t seen in many years. We started to pray The Divine Mercy chaplet together. A few years passed by and many young people continued to take their own lives in our area of North Belfast. We decided to approach our parish priest at the time and asked if we could have a Divine Mercy prayer meeting on Friday afternoon’s at 3PM. This was just before Easter 2015. The parish priest said no at first, but like the nagging widow of the gospel we kept asking with persistence! Our prayers were answered shortly after and the Divine Mercy Prayer Group had its first gathering on the first Friday of May 2015. At that first meeting there was only three of us, but it was very special and knew the Good Lord would bring more people along. We had the group mentioned in the parish bulletin and this resulted in more people coming.
After a few months the prayer group had grown to about 25 people. The group was then advertised in the local newspaper, the North Belfast News and this again helped draw more people to the gatherings taking place at 3PM on Friday afternoons. As the group got to know one another this gave birth to the first printing of 2000 leaflets being distributed by members who would deliver them in the local area to help spread the news of the gatherings.
Being from all different backgrounds the group were able to reach out to people, especially many who had been away from the church for many years.

We met our good friend Hugh Byrne at Clonard Monastery who I believe to be one of God’s angels and a great evangelist. Hugh joined the group and helps many young people especially afflicted with addiction and mental health issues. (Hugh Byrne returned to God 21/07/2021 - Rest In Peace the Bold Quie) The Good Lord puts people on our path to help us along. . .
Myself and Thomas went to the annual Divine Mercy Conference for the first time February 2016 in the RDS, Dublin.
It was there we met Fr. Frank Trias CP who would go on to a neighboring parish, Holy Cross Ardoyne in September 2018. He joins us most Friday’s to hear confessions and meet with the prayer group.
Many of the group are also involved in the Cursillo Group and help organize three day retreats that offer life changing experiences through the Grace of God, sponsoring young men and woman from the local area to attend these events.
The group also have different prayer cards and booklets printed and distributed not only locally but worldwide. We have had the image displayed outside for public veneration, to date we have had 4 of these commissioned including a cemetery, outside a convenience store and a hairdressers!
Just before the lock-down of March 2020 there was between 50 - 80 people attending the weekly Friday afternoon prayer meetings from all areas of Belfast and even beyond. After the devotions the group gather for tea and coffee to socialize and get to know one another which is an important part of the ministry. We met Carol Daly who runs a soup kitchen in California and takes groups to Medjugorje and Ireland and they visit the Divine Mercy Prayer Group anytime they are here.

Many people have experienced God’s amazing grace and help and have had their lives changed through contact with The Divine Mercy Prayer Group work. We thank our parish priest and deacon for their help and support.
Through the encouragement of Fr. Frank we have decided to share this story and grow the mission on the digital continent. . .
The Story Continues. . .
Please browse around our website to find out more about the life and works of the Prayer Group.

Jesus I Trust in You

- Stephen McCloskey - March 2021