Muintir Mhuire – A Fruit of Medjugorje

Fr. Donal first went to Medjugorje in the mid 1980’s, being one of the very early pilgrims to travel there from Ireland. He was touched by the authentic adherence to the sacraments by the villagers and their willingness to be open to God’s plan for them and their village.

Medjugorje is located in Bosnia and Hercegovenia (former Yugoslavia). It is here in June 1981 six local young people said they had their first encounter (apparition) of the Blessed Virgin Mary. She introduced Herself as the “Queen of Peace” and that She had come to Medjugorje to tell the world that God exists and that peace must first start in our hearts before we can have true peace on earth.

Three of the six visionaries still have daily apparitions of Our Lady (known as Gospa in Croatian). After numerous theological and scientific investigations the seers were found to be of sound mind, and imparting nothing contrary to the Gospel or the teachings of the Catholic church. It is with this background and many years or travelling to Medjugorje Fr. Donal felt something special offered there could be also done in Ireland. He saw many religious communities spring from Medjugorje and wanted to try something similar at home to align to his own long time prayer to open a community for “Time Out” for those seeking direction in their lives, particularly those who have struggled with it.

It was only a matter of time before Muintir Mhuire had a house in Medjugorje. When the opportunity to purchase a a 13 bedroom premises in Medjugorje presented itself, Fr. Donal sought advise and prayer from many people. A decision was made to purchase the building, located under 15 mins walk from St. James’s church. Many of our friends and supporters have stayed here to join in as part of the community.

Today, our house in Medjugorje is something we would love to use more but our focus for now is our main community house in Ballybutler. If funds become available we hope to invest more in the house in Medjugorje and in time make it available once again for friends of the the community to use, if this is God’s will for it.

Muintir Mhuire is intrinsically linked with Medjugorje and we therefore reach out to all our Medjugorje family to keep us in their prayers and support us in any way they may feel they can.