United Hearts of Jesus and Mary, Tullamore Parish

What to Expect

The United Hearts of Jesus and Mary group is one of the prayer gatherings Tullamore Parish lists among its regular activities. It meets on the first Friday of each month at 6.15pm in the Parish Centre, keeping to the long standing Irish tradition of marking First Friday with a devotional gathering rather than letting it pass as an ordinary weekday.

Devotion to the United Hearts joins two older strands of Catholic piety, the Sacred Heart of Jesus and the Immaculate Heart of Mary, and treats them as a single focus for prayer. In practice that means an evening of vocal prayer: a rosary or chaplet, litanies, set prayers of consecration and a period of silent reflection, held in a meeting room rather than in the church itself. It runs to about an hour and is deliberately unstructured beyond the prayers, with no talk, no fee and no membership list. The parish publishes it as an open gathering, so anyone who wants to sit in is welcome, including visitors to the town.

Good to Know

• First Friday of each month, 6.15pm, at Tullamore Parish Centre.
• The next gathering is Friday 4 September 2026, followed by 2 October and 6 November 2026.
• Free of charge. No booking and no need to register in advance.
• Contact the Parish Centre on 057 932 1587 to confirm the room and the time before travelling, especially over holiday periods.
• Tullamore Parish runs several other prayer groups, including a Christian meditation group on Monday evenings at the Marian Hostel and Mothers Prayers on the second Friday of each month in the Day Chapel.

Getting There

Tullamore Parish Centre is in the town centre, close to the Church of the Assumption, so it is walkable from anywhere in the middle of Tullamore. The town is on the N52 from Mullingar and Birr and the N80 from Portlaoise, with signposted routes from the M6 at Kilbeggan and the M7 at Portlaoise. On-street parking and the public car parks are within a few minutes’ walk and are quieter by early evening. Tullamore railway station on the Dublin Heuston to Galway line is a short walk away.