TBO.com - TBO is Tampa Bay Online

Proud, benevolent and Irish

ADVERTISEMENT

By PAUL CATALA THE SUN

The Tampa Tribune

Published: November 11, 2009

For some members, roots to the Emerald Isle stretches back three or four centuries; for others, just one generation separates them from their Irish motherland.

Although the dialects of the men in the Sun City Center Ancient Order of Hibernians, Cardinal Tomas O'Flaich Division (AOH) are more New Jersey, New York and New London than the Gaelic lilt of Belfast, Dublin or Cork, they cling dearly to their reverence for the God and country of their ancestors.

Founded in New York City in 1836, the AOH is a Catholic Irish-American Fraternal Organization that provides a genealogical bridge to Americans generations removed from Ireland. To be admitted, a man must be of Irish heritage, a practicing Catholic and at least 16 years old.

During the Sun City Center AOH's October meeting at the Prince of Peace Catholic Church's Conesa Center, 702 Valley Forge Blvd., 14 members - wearing green AOH tennis shirts - gathered to discuss functions for the year and induct a new member, Mike McClusky, 63, who was raised in Chicago and only knows that his father's ancestors emigrated from Northern Ireland.

Locally, the AOH was co-founded by past-president Tom Bennis, with about 20 men joining in 1998.

Led by President Don McPartland, Vice-President Jim Harkins and Bennis, the group focused on upcoming benevolent work with Wimauma's Our Lady of Guadalupe Catholic Church food pantry and the Mary and Martha House for battered women in Ruskin.

Sept. 26, the AOH donated $100 to the Wounded Warrior Project, Tampa, for wounded service people and $150 to the Breast Cancer Society's "Rally for a Cure." The men also voted to send money to a Catholic parish nursery school in Ireland.

"I think that would be a nice gesture, reaching across the pond," said McPartland.

In addition, the Irish heritage group is planning their second annual "Galway to Broadway" fundraising concert, scheduled for Feb. 14, 2010.

The local and international AOH has over 80,000 members in 46 states, Canada and Ireland. In the United States, the organization is asking its members to donate $10 each for the "Freedom for All Ireland Christmas Appeal." This effort is being done to ensure a 32-couinty united Ireland, undivided by religion and politics.

As the hour-long meeting drew to a close, the men voted to give $150 to the women's prison ministry in Riverview and said their goodbyes.

"This has taught me a lot about my Irish heritage," said Jim Sullivan, 76, a retired audit manager. "We become more familiar with our Irish roots due to our affiliation with it (Hibernians)."

In addition to the AOH men's chapter, the Ladies Ancient Order of Hibernians, St. Ita Division, also meets at Prince of Peace.

For information, call (813) 633-1242.

Reporter Paul Catala can be reached at (813) 731-1970 or pcatala@mediageneral.com.

Share this:

Loading Comments...

Email Print

ADVERTISEMENT