14 December 2020

Highlight was the election of 2021 officers;                        

This documents the monthly meeting of the Father Kelley Division of the Ancient Order of Hibernians held on video via Zoom and in person at the George Brent Council of the Knights of Columbus in Manassas.

DISCUSSION

1. Meeting is called to Order

At 7:40 p.m. by the Division President John Masarick

• Recitation of the opening prayer & Pledge of Allegiance:
  • Our Father                             x
  • Hail Mary                               x                                         
  • St. Michael the Archangel x
  • Glory Be                             x
  • Pledge of Allegiance         x

• Roll call of Officers for Fraternal Year 2020:

Position	Name	By Exception: (P=Present, A = Absent E= Excused)
President	John Masarick	p
Vice President	Thomas Masarick	p
Chaplain	Fr. Ed Guilloux	E
Recording Secretary	Brian Tumulty	p
Financial Secretary	Richard S. Aleksy	p
Treasurer	Richard W. Ring	P
Standing Committee	Joe Cahill	p
Marshall	Bart Emanuel	p
Sentinel	Dan O’Leary	p
Immediate Past President	Richard W. Ring	p

• Reading of minutes from previous meeting:  Minutes from the November meeting were published on the division website.

Minutes were unanimously approved.

• Reading of communications and correspondence: None

• Presidents Report:  
• The Coronavirus has affected many Brother Hibernians, their families, friends and members of our community. Please help our brothers, their families, friends, and neighbors by donating money and or food to the Bethanie pantry, House of Mercy or other similar organization.

• The State Presidents Meeting was on December 10, 2020
• Division Presidents and members were invited. 111 members attended by Zoom.
• Special Guest, Mr. Damian McGenity spoke about Brexit. We were told Northern Ireland could become a member of the EU and Ireland could become a united Ireland.  There could also be a hard boarder between the Irelands. 0 % chance of each occurring.
• The Deadline for the next AOH Digest article is January 1, 2021. Divisions are limited to 150 words. Pictures should show the Division in action doing something (not people lined up for a photo.)
• AOH National received 900 applications of potential members.  The Father Kelley Division received two of those applications.
• Submit a report for National History day and win a trip for two to Ireland. Go to nhd.org
• You may use the AOH logo as a background for Zoom meetings.
• AOH makes Zoom available to Divisions at no cost.
• The AOH National Convention will be in Syracuse, NY starting July 11.
• There is a National Award for % of membership increase.
• There is a Hunger Project Award.  Divisions need to file by Feb 2021.  Chance to win up to $5000 for the Divisions Hunger Project.
• Award information is on the AOH National website.
• A new Guideline (Blue Book) is in the works and should be available next year.

Past Events:

I wish to thank Brothers John Holohan, and Bingo Team 2 for their work on Sunday, December 13, 2020.

I wish to thank the following Brothers and wives for attending our Deceased Members Mass on Saturday, November 14, 2020 at 8:00 am

Greg Murray      Greg Rebbert      Tom and Janet Masarick

Rich Alesky        Mike Riley          Mike and Maggie McMannus

John Holohan     Rick Ring           Mike and Suzette Curry

Gerry Laffey       J.P. McCusker    Eugene and Aileen Foeckler

Also attending John and Sue Masarick 

Many thanks to the Nominating Committee consisting of Brothers J.P. McCusker, Greg Rebbert, Vince Fitzpatrick and those that met with the Nominating Committee wishing to become an Officer of the Division.

• Chaplain’s Report:  No report

• Propositions for membership: Report on candidates for membership Initiation of the candidates (Lesson of the Motto):  There is a candidate that came down from the state named Michael O’Hara who is out of the country at the moment.

• Report of the committee on the sick:  No report.

1. Bills and Claims: Financial Secretary — Rich Aleksy

Date	Submitted by		Amount
	Rich Aleksy	Patrick Shea (two-year renewal of our website domain name)	$35.98
TOTAL MONTHLY BILLS & CLAIMS	$35.98

1. Report on the Standing Committee:  No Report

Committee	Chairman	Report / Discussion
Events/Calendar	Greg Rebbert	In January we will have the installation of officers in the chapel of All Saints Church
Freedom for all Ireland	Tom Masarick	AOH National President Daniel O’Connell has organized a webinar for Dec. 16 at 12:30 regarding Border Communities Against Brexit. He encourages everyone to sign up and participate.
Historian	John Holohan	At the last meeting in November, I talked to you about what it was to be Irish, and that for seven centuries of torment from England, because the Irish would not be English. They live with that seven plus centuries of torment. Today I will talk to you about how that started. It started in the 11th and 12th century. The Catholic Church changed. They wanted to create a tight new order of rule by powerful bishops, with the Pope as the monarch. Well one of those reformers was Adrian the fourth, who was the only English pope from 1154 to 1159. Adrian received some false news that the Irish were barbarous people, that they, were Christians in name only and pagan. The Pope then sent a letter to King Henry the second of England and told him to invade Ireland and take the Irish church back into the fold. Well, that was false news because for seven centuries the Irish had a very popular church. They were promoting Christianity. They had a golden age of literature and art. Monasteries were flourishing. They had created small areas for the bishops, so that they didn’t have one bishop controlling big areas. But Pope Adrian gave the king his blessing to invade and restore the Christianity. The pope also sent a letter to the Four Kings of Ireland to tell them to follow the king. And so we did end up with an invasion and then the Irish were faced with seven plus centuries of torment.   And I would like to end today with a short story, and I do this, especially for John Oliver since he likes my stories. And there was this guy middle aged guy named Ron Devlin. He went out and bought a sports car. And he took that sports car out on a highway and got it to 120 miles an hour. Well, he looks in his mirror and there’s flashing lights behind. A cop pulls up and says, I’m getting off work in 10 minutes. If you can give me a good excuse why you’re doing 120 miles an hour, I’ll let you go. So, Ron Devlin says to him, 20 years ago my wife ran off with a cop and I thought you were bringing her back.    Merry Christmas everybody.
Immigration	Rick Ring	No report
Trip to Ireland	J.P./Greg	As of this evening we have sold 106 tickets. And we have 281 in circulation. That leaves us with 613 in inventory waiting to be sold. We really need to pick up on the trip to Ireland and the ticket sales. Everybody sell some tickets. I’ll just add on to that briefly, we did send out a couple of emails asking for people if they wanted to sell them and we have had some, some success that
Parade	Vince Fitzpatrick	Right now, we’re just hanging in there with planning for holding the parade on March 13.
Pro-Life	Mike McManus	No report
Webmaster	Brian Tumulty	No report.
Political Education	Vince Fitzpatrick	No report
Veteran’s Affairs	Mike Riley	The American Civil War might seem like a long time ago, but the last pensioned Irish veteran was still alive in 1950.   Oct 19, 2014 By Damian Shiels   ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY-SIX years ago, on 19 October 1864, Irish emigrant Charles Reilly found himself a long way from his boyhood home. The 45-year-old was one of thousands of Union soldiers then in Virginia’s Shenandoah Valley, camping near a river called Cedar Creek.   That night, as Charles and his comrades had been sleeping, their Confederate enemy was on the march, readying themselves to launch a devastating early morning attack. Now, that onslaught was surging towards Charles’s position. As the drums beat and the Irishman rushed to meet the foe that morning, he was probably more concerned about the man beside him than himself. That’s because the Yankee at his shoulder was not just another comrade – it was his 19-year-old son Anthony.   Charles Reilly was one of approximately 200,000 Irish-born men who fought in the American Civil War. His son Anthony was one of the tens of thousands more who were just as much a part of the Irish-American story, those born in the United States to Irish parents.   It was the following year that their eldest, Anthony, decided to join the Union army. Perhaps he was seeking adventure or, wanted to supplement his father’s wages with steady army pay. Whatever the reason, the young man enlisted in the 9th New York Heavy Artillery on 15 August 1862. A little over a year later his father also decided to join up. On 20 December 1863 Charles Reilly joined his boy as a Private in Company F.   So it was that father and son stood side-by-side on the battlefield of Cedar Creek in 1864, as the Confederate attack surged towards them. Pretty soon the air around them was ‘boiling and seething with bullets.’   Charles Reilly survived the battle, a fight in which the Union were ultimately victorious. The emotional horror the Irish emigrant experienced during these moments is unimaginable, witnessing the death of his first-born in such brutal circumstances. Charles carried the added burden of having to communicate the loss to his wife Marcella and the other children at home, without being in a position to comfort them.   Unfortunately for Marcella, her hardships were only just beginning. Charles marched on with his regiment, as the war dragged into 1865. He was present for the protracted fighting at Petersburg, Virginia, where the trenches and fortifications that developed around the city were breeding grounds for disease. Charles eventually fell ill and was removed to a hospital behind the lines at City Point. Tragically, he died on 20 March 1865 – less than three weeks before the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia surrendered. In the space of less than five months, Marcella Reilly had lost both her husband and her eldest son.   When Marcella and Charles Reilly left Ireland for America in the 1840s they must have dreamed of a better life. Certainly, Marcella could never have imagined what would be taken from her in the years to come. Many of our emigrants went on to create lives in the United States that they could never have dreamed of in Ireland. However, for many, including many thousands of our Famine emigrants, the American Civil War brought hardship, suffering and death.   The American Civil War and World War One stand alone in Irish history in terms of sheer scale of Irish involvement. Only 49 years separate the two events. Indeed, it is the case that many Irish counties saw more men fight and die in the American Civil War than any other conflict in history, including World War One. We may feel like it was a long time ago, but the last pensioned Irish veteran of the American Civil War was still alive in 1950.
Hunger Project	Bart Emanuel	Bart requested that those able to donate to their local food pantries, please do so especially through the parishes in lieu of an active collection effort this year.
Project St. Patrick	Rich Aleksy	No report
Charities	Rich Aleksy	No report
Bylaws Committee	Rich Aleksy
Nominating Committtee	J.P., Greg, Vince	The nominating committee has recommended these people and it does not preclude others:   For president, Tom Masarick For vice president, Patrick Sullivan For recording secretary Brian Tumulty For financial secretary Richard Aleksy For treasurer, Richard Ring For standing committee, Pete Hawkins For Marshall, Mike Curry. For sentinel, Dan O’Leary   Patrick Sullivan also nominated Mike Riley for president.   The nominating committee’s report is a recommendation and does not preclude anyone seeking to run for any of these offices from the floor.
Bingo	Tom Masarick
Audit	Vince Fitzpatrick Jerry Partsch Patrick Sullivan
Club Room	Tom Masarick	Closed for another month.
Bereavement / Committee	Tom Masarick
Music	Jerry Laffey	No report
Spring festival	John Holohan	It was canceled

1. Report on Special Committees:

Receipts of the Meeting (Income): Financial Secretary — Rich Aleksy

Date	Submitted by	For	Amount
14 Dec	Rich Aleksy	Bingo Kitchen	$  91
14 Dec	Rich Aleksy	50-50 Raffle	$  13
14 Dec	Rich Aleksy	Ireland trip raffle	$495
14 Dec	Rich Aleksy	AOH decal	$5
Total	$604

1. Report of the Treasurer: Richard Ring

Starting Monthly Budget Balance for November 2020        = $13,772.84           

October 2020 Deposits (INCOME) = $270.00

October 2020 EXPENSES = $ 649.00

Ending Monthly Budget Balance for November 2020 = $13,393.84

            Uncashed checks

 #1604 McGrath School of Dance $300

#1607 Project St. Patrick $300

#1611 FFAI Christmas $100

Closing Bank Statement Balance                     $14,093.84

Closing Bank Register Balance                         $13,393.84   

Bank register is reconciled

Updated Dec. 01, 2020

1.  Unfinished business: None
2. New business:

John M. said, Brothers under the head of new business the election of officers for the ensuing year is now in order. Appointed tellers. For the club room we have JP McCusker and brother, Greg Rebbert on the computer. We have brother Rick Ring and Joe Cahill. And then on the phones we have Mike Curry. And brother JP McCusker will also help on the phone with the boys over and verify with them.

The number of ballots cast in the club room must agree with the number of valid members in good standing, that we can’t have more balance than we have people. The number of balance cast on the phone, same thing, it can’t exceed the number in good standing. The judge will announce the results of voting. After each office has been voted, and you will hear the total number in attendance.

There are 36 people eligible to vote.

Brother Tom Masarick was recommended by the nominating committee and then nominated from the floor we have brother Mike Riley.

Candidates competing for an office will be allowed three minutes to address the division members in attendance in the club room and on the computer.

I will now ask the candidates to speak for three minutes, I’m going to start with brother Mike Riley.

Mike:

So brothers it’s most gratified to be nominated to be your president of this division. And I seek your indulgence and ask you to join me in a prayer before we start, gracious God we seek your guidance his wisdom as we chart the course of this organization toward fulfilling your glory. Amen. My credentials again, gentlemen. They show you a demonstration of leadership, financial oversight strategic planning and participation. And I’d like to thank john for all the work he did putting these both together. And I know it was a pain in the butt, especially in the time of us being in this pandemic so you need to be lauded for your effort. So I have been a charter and continuous member of this division. I have been a charter, and continuous member of the board of directors for Innisfail, the holding company for the parade. I have been a continuous member of the St. Patrick’s Day Parade committee, and I participate in all except when I was deployed to Iraq. I have provided organization for AOH degrees installation of officers. I organized and executed the charter 30th anniversary dinner. And looking at the crowd tonight, it’s I’m gratified to see that many of you are here, participating. Many of you were at the charter dinner. It’s good to see a large crowd tonight. I also have published the monthly Irish veterans report, which you heard earlier. I’m a retired Marine Colonel. I spent 31 years in the Marine Corps, serving a year in Iraq. I hold a doctorate in education, a Master’s of Public Administration, and a Master’s of Science. Our mission, as President John shared last week or last month, we are the oldest Irish Catholic fraternal organization founded in May, 1836, it will bear the need to protect the welfare of fellow Irish Catholics, especially the clergy who risked immediate death. While this requirement no longer exists, we continue to provide our community with donations to charitable organizations, road cleanings, supportive food pantries, social gatherings, cultural heritage to play displays with break and stained glass for the new church. We have a big raffle coming up right now, JP, I want 30 tickets. I need you all to be participating, not just by coming to meetings, but get involved with the parade, get involved with supporting the community and sell tickets. Thank you very much.

Tom:

I want to thank everyone that’s here and I want to thank the nominating committee, my qualifications are currently the vice president and have been for two years for a lunch with a Father Kelly division. Chairman of Freedom for All Ireland. Anyways fish fry, bingo kitchen, and clubroom are three different areas are fundraising by selling a trip to Ireland. I was secretary for two years and webmaster and setting up for two years. I put a flier together of my qualifications I’ll be glad to send those out. And basically, I was Grand Knight last year. I managed 771 members. I’m good at delegating calendar and budgeting for a much larger, larger group. And whenever five state awards. Now, ah contributions. Say, events, was gave me the opportunity to be St. Patrick in 2015 St Patrick’s Day Parade, I built a website from scratch, but 160 hours is still standing. I’m very proud of that. I raise funds for a trip to Ireland which many of you here for the Fall Festival in Manassas, I’ve raised funds for the church window Christ the King. So the round the round in all saints, that window funds for bingo kitchen and the put together Memorial Day. My desire comes from my mom. Mom was an Irish naturalized citizen in 1957, and we were raised with a lot of Irish pride. I married young lady, being Janet, who also has Irish parents, I’m very interested in Irish history, and I’ve learned a lot about freedom for Ireland, and I’m very interested in that, in that area Irish folks are rugged, and I’ve gone to a lot with British influence and painful massacres I’m interested in Irish music in food and social gatherings. I’ve spent some time in Troy’s. I spent some time and watch my promises, if you like be present I promise to build. Ah, 2021 calendar with the officers and with your input we’ll start from scratch when we did, we’ll go from there. I noticed some changes you want to make. Let’s do it. I plan to build a budget, with your help and officers I plan to attend every meeting for next two years. I plan to attend all state meetings, I plan to march with St. Patrick’s Day Parade. I pray and improve the meeting facilities and attend to grow the division. In closing, I’ll just say, I’ve enjoyed working with my Irish brother and I look forward to the challenges ahead. With your help, and I greatly appreciate your vote. Thank you very much, brothers.

Total reported attendance in the club room was 14. Attendance on the computer was 14 and attendance on the phone was eight, for a total of 36, and we needed 19 to win.

Here in the club room brother Tom got five; brother Mike got nine.

On the computer brother Tom got 12; brother Mike got two.

And voting by phone, brother Tom get eight; and brother Mike got zero.

A total of 25 votes for brother Tom and 11 votes for brother Mike.

And brother Tom was declared the winner.

Patrick Sullivan was elected vice president unanimously.

Brian Tumulty was elected recording secretary unanimously.

Rich Aleksy was elected financial secretary unanimously.

Rick Ring was elected treasurer unanimously.

Pete Hawkins was elected to the standing committee unanimously.

Mike Curry was elected Marshall unanimously.

Dan O’Leary was elected sentinel unanimously.

John: That concludes the election for tonight. I wish to thank the nominating committee for their hard work. And I’d like to retire the nominating committee.

1. Adjournment Motion & Closing Prayer

Prayers were requested for Brian Tumulty’s uncle, Bob Stover, a 99-year-old WWII veteran who served on the USS Texas and has COVID-19.

Prayers also were requested by Brothers Jerry and Tom.

1. Closing Ode:  none

1. 18. Adjournment: Time 9:19 pm