AOH Pennsylvania State Board

Trip to Dublin Ireland for the Notre Dame game has been basically set up. The dates will be leaving Phila.on August 30th  by luxury coach to Newark airport leaving AOH 39 at 4pm for our 9 pm flight. We will be picked up at Newark on our return from Shannon at noon on Sunday September 9th and dropped of at the Club. No parking at the club while you are away.

Leave Newark at 9 pm Thursday August 30th arrive Belfast at 9am on Friday August 31st.. Picked up by luxury Coach for the remainder of our trip. About a 2 hour ride to Balbriggan outside Dublin to our hotel. We will stop for breakfast on the way and probably stop at some important sites on the way as we will not be able to book into the hotel until afternoon. Father Judge plays on Friday evening in Dublin and anyone who wants to go to the game we will have tickets and transportation on our coach.

Saturday Sept 1st Breakfast in the Hotel then go to Dublin. Sightseeing Dublin on your own and the Notre Dame game tickets for those who want to go. We have tickets for everyone for both games but some people may not want to go it is up to you. According to what time the game is we may tailgate or go someplace for the evening. Back to the hotel Sat. night.

Sunday Sept 2nd Breakfast at the hotel & mass, check out of hotel and head for city of Newry stopping on the way for some beautiful scenery. Check into hotel and you can either go around the town or possibly the AOH Hall for a reception and music. Back to hotel on your own as it is walkable from anywhere in the city. 

Monday Sept 3rdBreakfast in the hotel and head for Armagh City, tour the Cathederal and St Patricks and other sights. Sightseeing in South Armagh and back to the hotel for a late dinner. Probably about 7pm.

Tuesday Sept. 4th Breakfast in the hotel and head for Belfast for a tour, on to the Giants Causway and more beautiful scenery on to Derry for a tour of the walls of Derry and the city itself. Stay in Derry or possibly go on to Donegal. Whether we stay in Derry or Donegal we will be visiting Donegal and Derry both. 

Wed. Sept. 5th tours of Derry and Donegal stay in whichever city we decide on prior to going.

Thursday Friday and Saturday we will be in the Galway area visiting the sites on day trips to Kerry, Cork and other sites.

Sunday Morning 5am leave for Shannon airport for home.   

Breakfast every day except the day we arrive and the day we leave. We will also have 3 dinners. Admission to any group tour is included. Tickets to games are included. Tip for the driver is also included.  

Price will be between $2500 and $2700 per person. for 9 nights everything above included. Everything is not yet settled so that is why the difference in price. As soon as we get a headcount and hotels get back to me we will have a solid price. This will fill up fast let me know asap. Sorry for the delay but we had reouble getting airline space, everything is booked out of Philas for 2 weeks either side of the game. 

Seamus Boyle National President
Ancient Order of Hibernians in America, Inc

Guys, This is the language that was agreed on by Senator Stack’s Office in our last effort. Matt Franchik (Stack’s guy) did a great job. We also had a breakthrough with the Republican Senators and we have an AOH member Sen. McIlhenney in their leadership.

Brothers,

The next Pa. State Board meeting will be held at the V.F.W., 440 Sterling Road, (Rte. 196) in Tobyhanna, Pa. 18466 at 1 P.M.

A block of 8 rooms is being held at the Quality Inn, 546 Pocono Blvd., Mt. Pocono, Pa. ( Rte.611) for any member in need of a room for that Saturday. The rate for the room is $67.00 plus tax ($73.03 Total) For reservation call 570-839-3600.
Tell operator it is under AOH/Tom Hayes.

There will be a fundraiser at the VFW that night “A Night at the Races” benefitting a widow of a VFW member who recently passed away.

The meeting was changed from Stroudsburg to Tobyhanna due to scheduling conflict per Tom Hayes.

Gerry Ennis – PA State Secretary

DiNardo-to-Pitts-on-Conscience-Rights-11-1-11

Brothers,

I am writing to you today to ask for your support with the 2011 FFAI Christmas Appeal. Every County Board and Division should have received a packet of information from our FFAI National Director, Sean Pender. If you have not received the packet, it can be downloaded in PDF format from the National website, or I can email a copy to you if you contact me at gkck4@aol.com. The packet details the specifics of the Appeal as well as how the funds are utilized.

At our state convention Sean gave a moving and informative presentation on the cross-community work being done in the north through the FFAI Christmas Appeal. He stressed the need to continue this work in building unity at the grassroots level.

The Fund contributes to a number of causes, some of which are; Thar Saile, Green Cross, Holy Cross Ardoyne Trust, Relatives for Justice, Pat Finucane Center, Bogside Artists, the David Ervine Trust and the Omagh Basketball Team.

Sean reiterated this message on the front page of a recent edition of our National Hibernian Digest. In this article he draws attention to the fact that while the positive impact of this fund is undeniable in building cross community bridges in Northern Ireland, only 25% of the divisions across the country contribute.

Anyone that has an opportunity to attend the National President’s Dinner and listen to the inspirational story of our Sean MacBride Award recipient Clara Reilly will attest to the work that still needs to be done.

There are two opportunities for Pennsylvania Hibernians to positively impact this worthy cause. One is for our State Board, County Boards and Divisions to make a contribution in name, which I strongly recommend. I would like to note here that at our last meeting in October, our State Board committed $1000 to the Appeal. The second opportunity is for individual members to contribute through the $10 Club. The $10 Club is simply a $10 dollar donation made in the name of the donor, or perhaps someone you want to honor through your donation. What better way to, “aid and advance by all legitimate means “.

November – the Month of All Saints and All Souls

It is no accident that All Souls Day follows immediately after the feast of All Saints. After having celebrated the victory and glory of those who are now in heaven, it is only fitting to remember the “poor souls in purgatory,” to use the rather quaint but charming language of tradition, and to pray that they too may soon be able to join the saints. We know that they may be in purgatory because they may still need to be purified, as it were, from any sinful blemishes that may still remain. We don’t really know what exactly this purification entails and it may very well be that, in many cases, purgatory is simply the suffering that many experience in their last days on earth.

On November 2, All Souls’ Day, the Church encourages us to once again be close to those whom we loved in the past but who no longer grace us with their physical presence. Some Catholics heed this call in a far more direct way than do we Americans. For example, in the Philippines Catholic families spend the night before All Souls’ Day at the graveside of their relatives. I am not about to try to convince American Catholics to “camp out” at a favorite graveside, but we should certainly try to spend part of All Souls’ Day once again talking to those who were close to us and are now separated from us by death. There are so many reasons for doing this. First, it gives us the opportunity to enjoy again the enriching company of dear friends. My father and mother taught me so much when I was a child. Should their deaths mark the end of their presence as teachers in my life or should he continue in our conversations together to be my instructors?

 All Souls’ Day gives us a sense of time. Americans love to live in the present. When we talk “computereze” we love to refer to things that happen in “real time,” that is: here and now. But our lives are far richer than just the here and now. We are people with a past and insofar as we can connect ourselves with the people of our past we are the wealthier for it.

Finally, and most important of all, we, as Catholics, believe in the Communion of Saints. We believe that those who have gone before us have not died in vain and that the tomb is not their final resting place. We believe that those whom we loved are still very much a part of our lives and insofar as the goodness of their lives has brought them to the throne of God, they now stand there pleading for us.

We are often advised that we should look to the future and forget the past. Hard as we might try, however, the past is always a part of us and we ignore it only at our own peril. On November 2, let us heed the encouragement of the Church, and once again unite ourselves in prayer with those who were dear to us in times past and who are close to us in God’s love in the present.

    Father Tom O’Donnell – AOH Division 1, Allegheny County, Pa. State, & National Chaplain