November 2011 Newsletter
President Anthony Manley
Dear Brother Hibernians –
As you read this (presuming you are reading this soon after Jim sent it), Halloween is upon us. In the perspective of our Holy Mother Catholic Church, we observe All Souls Day. Legend has it that this ceremonial occasion can be traced back to pre-Christianity Ireland, when our ancestors put red hot glowing embers into carved, hollowed gourds and went outside at night to ward off evil spirits. (Sounds a lot like today‟s jack-o-lanterns.) This was also a time to remember friends and family members who had died, and call upon them for strength and good luck. The legend continues that when Ireland was being converted to Christianity, this day of remembrance was converted into All Souls Day, in lead up to All Saints Day. All Saints Day – which is a holy day of obligation don‟t forget! - arose out of the Christian tradition of celebrating the martyrdom of saints on the anniversary of their martyrdom. When martyrdoms increased during the persecutions of the late Roman Empire, local dioceses instituted a common feast day in order to ensure that all martyrs, known and unknown, were properly honored, and this eventually spread to the universal Church. True or false on the Irish legend, I‟m not sure, but every Irishman loves to have a good story to tell!
We are having a change up! We are extending our Overseas Troops Collection efforts one more month. But please – do bring what you have collected thus far to our November 1
st meeting, and our final collection activity will now be at our December meeting (December 6th – which is also our Christmas Party with the LAOH; more to follow). See page 8 of this issue for a list of desired items.
Our „boxing party‟ is being scheduled for Tuesday December 13
th at Foster‟s Tavern. The boxing party is a family fun event; wives, girl friends, and children are all invited to come help and share in the fun. (And for more conservative Brothers with young children, we will again use the front dining room area of Foster‟s – which is well removed from the bar area.) And a plea from me on behalf of our entire Division – we are still very much in need of a Mission & Charities Chairman. The position does not require a lot of time, but it does require a Brother who has time to focus on our purpose. And contrary to the „N.I.N.A.‟ signs that were ubiquitous in the 1800‟s – for this opening, you must be Irish in order to apply, and your application is welcomed and greatly appreciated.
And speaking of open Division positions, we also have need for a Brother who can organize our efforts on increasing membership. Our past president did an outstanding job in organizing our Division and getting us started, and we have been able to carry that momentum to some degree, but we need to be „banging the Bodhran Drum‟ and creating greater awareness and interest. At the October 16th mass at Our Lady of Grace Church, the Medina AOH and LAOH Divisions gathered to generate awareness and interest, but I must say, we did not have any sort of robust turnout from our Division. If memory serves me correct, we had six Brothers present. If we want to get Irish Catholic men interested in us, and encourage them to commit to our Division, then we have to show that we too are committed. There is no expectation that every Brother can/will attend every event, but we can – and should – be able to plan and attend multiple events throughout the year.
And speaking of Division events – here is one that was great fun last year and I would expect to be even better this year … our Annual Christmas Party! As you know, this is now a joint event with the LAOH and we have scheduled the gala to follow our December meeting (it will be a brief meeting) on December 6
th. Might you have suggestions or preferences on what the menu will be? Then be sure to come to this month‟s meeting as that, along with the determination of costs, will be discussed, voted upon and resolved. And mark your calendars now for this event. Rumor has it that we will again award one of the esteemed John Barry Memorial medals and as such honors come only once a year – if then – you for sure will not want to miss that, to say nothing of the food and merriment!
And yet one more topic that ties into our scheduled meetings and Christmas – the Freedom For All Ireland (FFAI) fund raising drive. I will openly admit, but only to you as a Division Brother, that in the past I was lukewarm on the FFAI Christmas Appeal. Sure, I personally donated some money, and I voted in favor of our Division also donating money – but after having seen and heard
National Director Sean Pender‟s FFAI presentation at our State Convention last July, I came away so favorably impressed with all of the good that comes from the AOH‟s national program, I want to strongly encourage each and every member to consider a larger commitment this year. FFAI is one of those programs, because it is collected and disbursed on a national level, where contributions that might otherwise seem minimal, really do get aggregated into a meaningful amount, and „meaningful‟ in that once the money has been given to a recipient organization in Ireland – it really means a great deal to them! So please do bring a few extra dollars to either/both of our November and December meetings so that the Irish Brigade‟s total contribution to FFAI will help our national AOH collection be more meaningful. And as an aside, we have been promised to get a copy of Sean‟s presentation of last July, which we will show at some upcoming meeting, but as the session was not recorded, we will not be advantaged in hearing the passion in Sean‟s actual words. But the slide show is still very much a moving presentation in itself.
By the time you are reading this, the
Nite at the Races event at Akron‟s AOH Brown Street Hall will have concluded. To those Brothers who attended the event – a Tip o‟ the Tam! This event is sponsored by Shamrock Cultural Charities, Inc. – and they in turn sponsor the Akron St. Patrick‟s Day Parade. A noble event for sure! … and this event is their major fund raiser. While our Division has been invited to march in this parade since our humble beginnings, we march for free (i.e. no cost to any marcher or to our Division - and such is true for the Cleveland parade also). But the parade itself is not „free‟ to the organizers, and this is how/where they are able to offset those costs. So if you were not able to attend the event last Saturday, consider sending your tax-deductible contribution directly to Leo Stalter (1215 Johns Rd. Clinton, OH 44216), and we also want to see you the day of the parade – good weather is guaranteed (or so said some Irishman with a twinkle in his eye).
And two items coming from our October meeting, which was a joint meeting hosted by the LAOH:
Monday, December 3
rd, the LAOH will be sponsoring a Wings & Beer fundraiser at BHGC. A $25 charge will cover you for all of the wings and beer you care to have from 7:00 to 10:00 PM. College football fans will definitely not want to miss this – mark your calendars now. And this event is not limited to AOH/LAOH only, so spread the word and bring your non-member friends too!
Our next joint AOH/LAOH meeting will be on Tuesday April 3
rd, 2012 at BHGC. We will be hosting that meeting
Did I mention that we are in need of a Chairperson for our Mission & Charities efforts? Oh, … I guess I did. What about needing a point-person for focusing all of us in recruiting new members? Oh, … I did that as well? Okay, so which position are you considering?
And did you know that Brother Frank Ryan recently celebrated his birthday? I‟m not in favor of disclosing personal information about any Brother, but I think Frank will not begrudge me sharing this – this was his 94
th birthday! May we all be so blessed! (except for the part about having to go through the spanking machine). And don‟t forget to let us know about the T-shirt order proposal put together by Brother Chris Courtney (details were included in last month‟s newsletter). If you are interested, our per-shirt price decreases with more shirts being ordered, so let us know.
Lastly, in closing, I again ask that each of us take a moment - right now if you can - to say a prayer for a family member of two Brothers who is in want/need of our prayers: for the brother of Mike Maloney Sr. and the uncle of Mike Maloney Jr. - let us pray for his health and well being, as well as all other Brothers and family members who are in need of our prayers.
Your humble president,
Tony
Prayer List
Pray for our brother Lou MacDonald and his family, who have been experiencing some health issues recently.
If you or a member of your family is ill or in the hospital, don't forget to contact our Catholic Action Chairman, Mike Craig. He will make sure everyone is made aware and we will all remember them in our prayers at the meetings. You can contact Mike at 330-721-6654 or at mc_litchfield@yahoo.com.
The AOH/LAOH Joint Convention Committee started a fundraiser in the fall to help raise funds for the Ohio Hospitality Room at the National Conventions. This fundraiser, The Irish Pot of Gold, will award $500 cash prize to the winner and two $100 cash prizes. Tickets will soon be available at our meetings. They are $5 each or 3 for $10. The drawing will take place at the State Board Meeting next spring.
We will soon be collecting our 2012 dues. That exact amount will be decided at our January meeting. We had a good response from the membership this year; thanks to all.
Our meetings continue to be held at Bunker Hill Golf Course (downstairs in the pro shop in the winter and upstairs on the 2nd floor in the spring, summer and fall).
Here is a link to the Bunker Hill Golf Course if you need further directions/information –
http://www.bunkerhillgolf.com/golf/proto/bunkerhillgolf/
Our Division Newsletter will be delivered electronically. Therefore, it is of utmost importance that we have your latest email address. Any changes should be sent to Jim Casey at jjcasey973@columbus.rr.com. In addition, all articles for the newsletter should be sent to Jim as a MS Word Document attached to the email.
2011-2012 Happenings
First Tuesday of each month - AOH Business Meeting
Saturday, December 3rd - Wing-Ding-Thing Fundraiser for LAOH at Bunker Hill. $25 gets you all the domestic draft beer, wings and pizza during the Big 10 Championship (7-10pm)
Tuesday, December 6th - annual AOH/LAOH Christmas Party
Saturday, March 10 - Akron St. Patricks Parade
July 9- 12 - AOH National Convention at Turning Stone Casino & Resort in New York
August 13 - AOH Hot Dog Day at Buehler's in Brunswick
August ?? - 2nd Annual AOH/LAOH Charity Golf Outing
Ohio Irish-American Veterans
On the Web Portal (http://www.ohio.aoh-laoh.com ), in cooperation with JC Sullivan, we have included a new sub site called "Ohio Irish-American Veterans". We wish to portray all Ohio Irish-American Veterans on this site. It is great pride, that these individuals are listed for everyone to see. The requirements are: Irish-American, Veteran from Ohio. These individuals can be living or passed. They can currently be involved in the military today or sometime in our history. Please submit the name, Service, Unit, and any other information including pictures. We will list them under Army, Navy, Marines, or Air Force. If you have a link to a site with an individual, please submit that as well. All submissions should be sent to warprunner01@gmail.com Thank you and I look forward to adding hundreds of people!!! Pete Doyle warprunner01@gmail.com
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