AOH Pennsylvania State Board

Fr. Frank, Director of Priests for Life, correctly addresses many issues facing our culture, and in this issue the problems of voting for a particular candidate or party, based on their pro-life or pro-abortion position, as well as the responsibilities of 501(c)(3) organizations.  Fr. Frank’s organization has also paid for exhaustive legal analysis of the Roe vs Wade decision, as well as legal guidelines for political activity under the Federal Government’s 501(c)(3) organizations.  The analysis is available on his website, which is linked below.

We are all experiencing overwhelming joy with the release of the Bloody Sunday Report, which was heavily influenced by pressure from brother Hibernians.  Let’s build upon this recent success and put our whole heart and soul into bringing about an end to abortion in this country!

From Matthew’s Gospel Chapter 5, Verse 6:  “Blessed are they who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be satisfied.”

Dear Hibernian Brothers,

Please take a moment today to watch the video I’ve just placed at www.YouTube.com/frfrankpavone. It’s the third in my special series about how and why we pray to end abortion.
It just takes two minutes!

Then please do two other things:
a)     Subscribe to my YouTube channel (hit the “Subscribe” button on my YouTube channel and follow the instructions).
b)     Join our Facebook cause “Pray to End Abortion” which you can access by going to www.ProLifePrayers.com.

All this is gearing up, of course, to our Pro-life Freedom Rides that start next month. They will start in Birmingham, AL with the strong support of the local bishop. We will have a concert rally the night of July 23, a prayer vigil the morning of July 24, and then midday will ride to Atlanta on a Freedom Ride bus. Others can join us in their own vehicles, forming a pro-life caravan. We will conclude in Atlanta with a prayer service at the tomb of Dr Martin Luther King, Jr.

If you can come, please come! (See ProLifeFreedomRides.com).

Otherwise, our Freedom Rides website explains how you can be Freedom Rider for the Unborn in your own community.

After my column below you will see this week’s media schedule.

Blessings and prayers,
Fr. Frank Pavone
National Director, Priests for Life

I was recently asked what kind of criticism comes from pro-life people regarding the political activities of the pro-life movement. Such criticism does come regularly, and, interestingly, it takes two contradictory forms.  On the one hand, many pro-life people claim our movement is not strong or aggressive enough politically. They complain that we do not set the standard high enough by which a candidate should be considered “pro-life”, do not hold their feet to the fire if they are elected, and do not elicit in them the fear that we can punish them politically.  In particular, pro-life people are fed up with what they perceive to be a failure of the clergy to do what is needed to stop the killing. One problem here is an unwillingness to carry out those activities that the IRS indicates Churches may do and still maintain their 501 (c)(3) status — such as non-partisan voter registration drives and voter guides that do not directly or indirectly endorse or oppose candidates, parties or their positions. Often, this inactivity is accompanied by outlandish, exaggerated, and inaccurate portrayals of what IRS guidelines require, and those who put forward these portrayals have no expertise in that area of the law.  On the other hand, a criticism many pro-life people voice is that the pro-life movement is too political, too partisan, and too identified with the Republican Party. The real weakness here is a lack of understanding of what “non-partisan” really means. It does not mean that we have to avoid any activity that in fact helps a candidate or party. Rather, it means that we pursue the goals for which our Church or 501(c)(3) organization was established without regard for whether they help or hurt a particular candidate or party.  Ironically, therefore, the very complaint that an activity helps a candidate is in the end often more of a partisan action than is the activity against which the complaint is leveled — simply because the complaint shows more concern about helping or hurting the candidate than the activity does. For instance, the bishops teach that life is the fundamental right, and that concern for this right carries more weight in our voting decisions than other issues. Now indeed, such a teaching helps pro-life candidates and parties, and hurts pro-choice candidates and parties. But being non-partisan doesn’t mean we keep silent. It means we speak no matter what, and moreover, it means that if tomorrow the parties or candidates swapped their positions on abortion, our message would not change a single word.  So, another political season is upon us. I, for one, will be more aggressive than ever. As for who qualifies as “pro-life,” I prefer to speak (and listen) in descriptive rather than evaluative terms: what is this candidate willing to do to protect the babies? Don’t give me labels, give me specific commitments.  And as for being partisan, I belong to neither major party, and will continue to challenge both to protect the unborn. This column can be found online here.  Comments on this column? Go to www.AskFrFrank.com. Fr. Frank’s columns are podcast.  Upcoming schedules for our own TV shows and Radio programming: Defending Life: Watch on EWTN every Friday at 10pm ET and Saturday at 2:30am ET. Listen on EWTN radio every Friday at 1am ET, Saturday at 6:30pm ET and Sunday at 5am ET. For more information or to listen online go to www.ewtn.com. Week of June 21: Embryoscopy (Most Stunning Views of the unborn)  Gospel of Life: Watch on Catholic Familyland – Sunday at 1am, Monday at 9am, Wednesday at 3:30am and Thursday at 11:30 pm and on the National Religious Broadcasters network (NRB), Wednesday at 6pm ET.  Week of June 21 on Catholic Familyland: Supreme Deception Week of June 21 on NRB:  I Regret Lost Fatherhood  Fr. Peter West, Associate Director, will be on Catholic Answers Live, Monday July 12 at 6PM ET with host Patrick Coffin. Call in with your questions at 1-888-318-7884. Click here for station information and to listen live on the internet.  Fr. Frank Pavone will be the main celebrant and homilist on the EWTN Live Televised Mass on Friday, July 23 and Saturday, July 24, 2010.  The Mass airs live at 8am ET and repeats and 12 noon ET, 7pm ET (except Saturday and Sunday) and 12 midnight ET.  Hear us on EWTN radio on Catholic Connection with Teresa Tomeo. Fr. Frank Pavone is her guest every Wednesday from 9:35-10am ET and Janet Morana is her guest every Friday from 9:10-9:30am ET. For radio station information and to listen to the live show on the internet, go to www.avemariaradio.net .   Please tune in and spread the word! In fact, you can help us – and your whole parish — by asking your pastor to place in the parish bulletin an announcement about our TV shows. Thanks in advance! Priests For Life

Brothers:

As we celebrate this Memorial Day, let us remember the words spoken in the Gettysburg Address. I have posted t below.Please take a moment to read it. In this address Lincoln closes with the words, “that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom — and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.”  ”Under God“-how profound that even then, Lincoln understood the relevance of the great sacrifice made by those on both sides of the conflict.

In this speech he speaks of remembrance. On this Sunday, and again tomorrow, as we go to our churches, and to our cemeteries, remember all those who have sacrificed for us. Our churches, the places where we now worship, built by the hands, by the blood, sweat and tears as well as the hard earned donations of our forebears. Our Irish ancestors who toiled in the mines, in blacksmith shops, as laborers of all kinds; who dealt with the “NINA” bigotry of those times, who lived in “Irish towns,” the name for the tenements of their day. They have ALL sacrificed so much for us. They have all contributed to our freedom. Our Irish forebears who fought on both sides in ths civil war. Let us remember those who has gone before us, who are in Purgatory, or already in Heaven. This weekend of remembrance is indeed a reverent one. Never forget that to honor our loved ones is to also remember to honor our God. Again, this last line is so very important:

“that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom — and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.” God bless all our AOH & LAOH Veteran’s & their families, as well as all the Veterans of this great nation!

As always, I leave you all…..In Friendship, Unity, and true Christian Charity,

Gary Duncan, President
Lackawanna Co. AOH


The Gettysburg Address
Gettysburg, Pennsylvania

On June 1, 1865, Senator Charles Sumner commented on what is now considered the most famous speech by President Abraham Lincoln. The Bostonian remarked, “The world noted at once what he said, and will never cease to remember it. The battle itself was less important than the speech.”


Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent, a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.

Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a great battle-field of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field, as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this.

But, in a larger sense, we can not dedicate — we can not consecrate — we can not hallow — this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us — that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion — that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain — that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom — and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.

Brothers,

I wish you all a happy memorial day. Please keep in your prayers all our military personnell who are still in harms way in Iraq and Afghanistan and other parts of the world. Although it is a holiday for America and has recently been referred to as the beginning of summer, please reflect on what memorial day really means and thank God for our men and women in uniform who have protected us and have given the ultimate sacrifice.

Yesterday was a special day for me as I attended the dedication of a Viet Nam Memorial Wall in Wildwood NJ. Over 10,000 people attended this dedication with representatives from every branch of the military. This permanent wall is built to half scale of the Viet Nam Veterans Remembrance Wall in Washington DC and is the only permanent replica of that Wall although there is one somewhat similar in Florida.

About 2 years ago myself and some of our AOH brothers erected the Healing Wall, better known as the traveling wall,  in Fox Park in Wildwood NJ and at that time over 15,000 people visited it in just over 4 days. One of the people responsible for bringing that wall to NJ was Greg Mazzotta who proclaimed that “we will have our own permanent wall in Wildwood some day”. Unfortunately Greg died a month after starting the fundraising but his lifelong friend, Vince De Prinzio, would not let his friend’s dream die and contacted many of the organizations in the Wildwoods who got behind the project including the AOH and the Carpenters Union and many others and all the money was privately raised.  What a true memorial day for the people of New Jersey and especially for Tom Callahan who was there to see the wall in his own town. He lost one son in Viet Nam and another son died less than a year later from injuries received there. Just think of this father when you think of memorial day and as he said pray for all the troops and their families, living and deceased.

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

AOH Brothers & LAOH Sisters:

Memorial Day is upon us. I would respectfully request that all divisions  & county boards take a moment to reflect on the sacrifices made by our AOH Veterans, past, and present as well as the sacrifices of their families. Our AOH Brothers as well as LAOH Sisters, continue to serve this great nation in all branches of the United States military. They serve in locations as distant as Iraq, Kuwait, Afghanistan, Bosnia, Korea, and other current global “hotspots.” Others in our ranks who continue to serve this great nation will, over the next few days, volunteer their time to place flags, and provide poppies to honor our Veterans. Our Veteran’s Hospitals provide treatment, not just to our Hibernian Veterans but to all Vets who gave so much. Our nursing homes, provide quarters to those Veterans who no longer can take care of themselves. Please, over these next few days, offer a prayer for those who have sacrificed so much for our continued freedom.

I have attached a brief history of Memorial Day below.

Memorial Day was officially proclaimed on 5 May 1868 by General John Logan, national commander of the Grand Army of the Republic.The first state to officially recognize the holiday was New York in 1873.

However, Pennsylvania has it’s own claim on Memorial Day that is rather unique & worth a “read.”

Boalsburg, Pa. is a quaint little village situated in Centre County, Pa., just off Route 322, in the picturesque foothills of the Alleghenies. It’s only a dot on the map, and you as a casual driver might drive past it without even being aware that it is nestled there in the rolling valley beneath a coverlet of oaks and pines and cedars – were it not for a plain little marker by the side of the road: “Boalsburg. An American Village – Birthplace of Memorial Day.”

It was a pleasant Sunday and in the little community burial ground behind the village the pioneers of colonial times slept peacefully side by side with the recently fallen heroes of the Civil War. Emma Hunter by name, and her friend, Sophie Keller, chose to gather some garden flowers and to place them on the grave of her father Dr. Reuben Hunter, a surgeon in the Union Army, who died only a short while before. And it was this very same day than an older woman, Mrs. Elizabeth Meyer, elected to strew flowers on the grave of her son  http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~pacentre/amos.htm Amos, who as a private in the ranks, had fallen on the last day of battle at Gettysburg.

And so the two with their friend met, kneeling figures at nearby graves, a young girl honoring her officer father, a young mother paying respects to her enlisted-man son, each with a basket of flowers which she had picked with loving hands. And they got to talking. The mother proudly told the girl what a fine young man her son had been, how he had dropped his farm duties and enlisted in the Union Army at the outbreak of the war, and how bravely he had fought.

The daughter respectfully took a few of her flowers as a token and placed them on the son’s grave. The mother in turn laid some of her freshly cut blooms on the father’s grave. These two women had found in their common grief a common bond as they knelt together in that little burial ground in Central Pennsylvania where Mount Nittany stands eternal guard over those who sleep there. Nor did they realize at the same time that their meeting had any particular significance – outside of their own personal lives; it was just that they seemed to lighten their burdens by sharing them. But as it happened these two women were participating in their first Memorial Day Service.

For the story goes that before the two women left each other that Sunday in October, 1864, they had agreed to meet again on the same day the following year in order to honor not only their own two loved ones, but others who now might have no one left to kneel at their lonely graves. During the weeks and months that followed the two women discussed their little plan with friends and neighbors and all heard it with enthusiasm. The report was that on July 4, 1865 – the appointed day – what had been planned as a little informal meeting of two women turned into a community service. All Boalsburg was gathered there, a clergymen – Dr. George Hall – preached a sermon, and every grave in the little cemetery was decorated with flowers and flags; not a single one was neglected.

It must have been such a scene as this that inspired Longfellow to write:

Your silent tents of green
We deck with flagrant flowers:
Yours has the suffering been,
The memory shall be hours.

It seemed such a fitting and proper way of remembering those who had passed on that the custom became an annual event in Boalsburg, and one by one the neighboring communities adopted a similar plan of observing “Decoration Day” each spring. On May 5, 1868, just four years after that first meeting in the little burial ground, Gen. John A. Logan, then commander-in-chief of the Grand Army of the Republic, isued an order, naming May 30, 1868, as a day “for the purpose of strewing with flowers or otherwise decorating the graves of comrades who died in defense of their country.” He signed the order “with the hope that it will be kept up from year to year.” And so it has.

Brothers and  Sisters, since the late 1950′s on the Thursday before Memorial Day, 1,200 soldiers of the 3d U.S. Infantry place small American flags at each of the more than 260,000 gravestones at Arlington National Cemetery. They then patrol 24 hours a day during the weekend to ensure that each flag remains standing. In 1951, the Boy Scouts and Cub Scouts of St. Louis began placing flags on the 150,000 graves at Jefferson Barracks National Cemetery as an annual Good Turn, a practice that continues to this day. More recently, beginning in 1998, on the Saturday before the observed day for Memorial Day, the Boys Scouts and Girl Scouts place a candle at each of approximately 15,300 grave sites of soldiers buried at Fredericksburg and Spotsylvania National Military Park on Marye’s Heights. In 2004, Washington D.C. held its first Memorial Day parade in over 60 years.

In the language of our ancestors: “Dia ár veterans!” God Bless Our Veterans!!!!

A most sincere “Thank you” to all our AOH & LAOH Veteran’s!  May God bless you all, & may our Lord, and Patrick, Our Patron Saint, keep you safely in the palm of his hand!!!!

In Friendship, Unity, and true Christian Charity,
Gary Duncan, President
Lackawanna County Ancient Order of Hibernians

A memorial mass for Bernard ‘Red’ Donnelly – beloved father of State President Denny Donnelly will be held Saturday, June 5th at 1:00 p.m. St. Ignatius Loyola Church, 125 Finley Avenue in Carnegie, PA, 15106 – 412.276.2353.

Barry Foltz, AOH District III, Dan Lyons President of Cumberland County, and Bill Irwin Cumberland County II (not pictured), were on hand Saturday May 8 on the steps of the Capitol in Harrisburg to witness a Covenant signing.

Dan Lyons signed WHP 580′s (radio) Community Covenant with the Armed Forces to show support for the Military and their Families, on behalf of faith based organizations. Lyon’s signing acknowledges that Service members and their Families strength come from their faith.

Bill Irwin, U.S. Army Recruiting Battalion-Harrisburg Public Affairs
717-770-7193 – https://www.facebook.com/armyrecruitingBnHarrisburg

Brothers,

Three Hibernian Brothers have been ordained  by Cardinal Rigali for the Philadelphia Archdiocese
Fr.  Harold B. McHale III and Fr. Michael J. Pawelko of Cardinal John J. O’Connor Div. 5,  Montgomery Co.
Fr. Stephen McCarthy of Michael Dougherty Div. 1 of Bucks Co.

Two other Hibernians, Rev. Mr. Christopher P. Landis of Montgomery Div. 5 and  Rev. Mr. David Friel
of Montgomery  Div. 1 (Notre Dame) were ordained as Deacons in May.

Our best wishes and prayers go with them.

If there are others from around the state please let us know.

Gerry Ennis – PA State Secretary

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Brothers,

Three Hibernian Brothers from St. Charles Borremeo Seminary will be ordained today by Cardinal Rigali, they are :

Rev. Mr. Harold B. McHale III and Rev. Mr. Michael J. Pawelko of Cardinal O’Connor Div. 5,  Montgomery Co.

Rev. Mr. Stephen McCarthy of Michael Dougherty Div. 1 of Bucks Co.

Another Hibernian from Montco Div. 5, Christopher P. Landis has been  ordained as a Deacon.

Also Rev. Mr. David Friel, a member of Montgomery County Div. 1 (Notre Dame) was ordained a Deacon in May, and will be ordained a priest next year.

Our best wishes and prayers go with them. If there are others from around the state please let us know.

Gerry Ennis – PA State Secretary

May 11, 2010

CARDINAL RIGALI TO ORDAIN SIX MEN TO THE PRIESTHOOD

UPDATE – Cardinal Justin Rigali, Archbishop of Philadelphia, will ordain six men to the priesthood who have completed their studies at Saint Charles Borromeo Seminary in Wynnewood.

Saturday, May 15, 2010
Procession 9:45 a.m.
Mass 10:00 a.m.
Cathedral Basilica of Saints Peter and Paul
18th Street and Benjamin Franklin Parkway

Ordination will take place during the Mass following Cardinal Rigali’s homily. At the time of Ordination each of the newly ordained priests will be assigned a parish in the Archdiocese of Philadelphia where they will serve as parochial vicars. A parochial vicar is a priest appointed by the Cardinal to assist the pastor of a parish.

Those being ordained are: Rev. Mr. James R. DeGrassa; Rev. Mr. Thomas J. Gardner; Rev. Mr. Stephen C. McCarthy; Rev. Mr. Harold B. McHale III; Rev. Mr. Michael J. Pawelko; and Rev. Mr. Matthew J. Tralies.

Live streaming video if the Ordination Mass will be available at http://www.archphila.org.

Editor’s Note: Individual releases on each new priest are available at http://www.archphila.org . Photographs of the Ordination candidates are available by e-mailing dskalski@adphila.org or calling the Office for Institutional Advancement at Saint Charles Borromeo Seminary at 610-785-6231.

Brothers,

Three Hibernian Brothers from St. Charles Borremeo Seminary will be ordained today by Cardinal Rigali, they are :

• Rev. Mr. Harold B. McHale III and Rev. Mr. Michael J. Pawelko of Cardinal O’Connor Div. 5,  Montgomery Co.
• Rev. Mr. Stephen McCarthy of Michael Dougherty Div. 1 of Bucks Co.
• Another Hibernian from Montco Div. 5, Christopher P. Landis has been  ordained as a Deacon.

Our best wishes and prayers go with them. If there are others from around the state please let us know.

Gerry Ennis – PA State Secretary

May 11, 2010

CARDINAL RIGALI TO ORDAIN SIX MEN TO THE PRIESTHOOD

Cardinal Justin Rigali, Archbishop of Philadelphia, will ordain six men to the priesthood who have completed their studies at Saint Charles Borromeo Seminary in Wynnewood.

Saturday, May 15, 2010
Procession 9:45 a.m.
Mass 10:00 a.m.
Cathedral Basilica of Saints Peter and Paul
18th Street and Benjamin Franklin Parkway

Ordination will take place during the Mass following Cardinal Rigali’s homily. At the time of Ordination each of the newly ordained priests will be assigned a parish in the Archdiocese of Philadelphia where they will serve as parochial vicars. A parochial vicar is a priest appointed by the Cardinal to assist the pastor of a parish.

Those being ordained are: Rev. Mr. James R. DeGrassa; Rev. Mr. Thomas J. Gardner; Rev. Mr. Stephen C. McCarthy; Rev. Mr. Harold B. McHale III; Rev. Mr. Michael J. Pawelko; and Rev. Mr. Matthew J. Tralies.

Live streaming video if the Ordination Mass will be available at http://www.archphila.org.

Editor’s Note: Individual releases on each new priest are available at http://www.archphila.org. Photographs of the Ordination candidates are available by e-mailing dskalski@adphila.org or calling the Office for Institutional Advancement at Saint Charles Borromeo Seminary at 610-785-6231.

Bernard “Reds” Donnelly, father of AOH State President, Denny Donnelly and Allegheny Div. 32′s Bernie Donnelly, passed away at 5PM today.

Please keep The Donnelly Family in your prayers.

Funeral arrangements are incomplete. Details to follow.