BELMONT — Ancient Order of Hibernian (AOH) members and Belmont Abbey College students spent a spring evening April 12 learning about Ireland’s Catholic history under persecution at Belmont Abbey College.
Vincentian Father James H. Murphy, director of Irish Studies and the Center for Irish Programs at Boston College, was invited to speak on Ireland’s Catholic history under persecution from the 16th through the 19th centuries and reviewed the contributions of notable Catholics including St. Oliver Plunkett, Cardinal Paul Cullen, Blessed John Henry Newman, and Venerable Mother Catherine McAuley, the foundress of the Sisters of Mercy.
Pictured are members of the Ancient Order of Hibernians and Ladies Ancient Order of Hibernians along with Belmont Abbey College faculty, Dr. Farrell O’Gorman, chair and professor of English, and Dr. Patrick Wadden, assistant professor of history with Father Murphy (back row) after his talk.
The event was sponsored by the local AOH and the college’s St. Gregory the Great minor in Christianity and Culture. The AOH is a Catholic-Irish fraternal organization whose goals are to promote friendship, unity, and Christian charity; foster and perpetuate Irish history, culture and traditions and to protect and defend all life. For details, go to www.aohmeck2.org.
— Mike FitzGerald, correspondent