Jubilee – A Holy Year of Hope
As my wife hesitantly took down our Christmas tree, my employees stripped our business walls of holiday decor, and our very own neighborhood Clark Griswold pulled the last strand of lights from his roof – it was official, the holidays were over. A new year has once again snuck up on us, and if you’re anything like me, you’re wondering how 2024 went by in the blink of an eye.
As we embark on this new year, we get to reflect on the things we want for ourselves, our families, and our jobs in hopes that we always strive to make this year better than the last. Pope Francis proclaimed this year as the year of Jubilee, rather the year of hope. So, I began looking at my own commitments to the AOH and what I hope for the organization in 2025.
I was blessed to have a very mixed emotional phone call with one of my State Presidents. A phone call that started with stubbornness, frustration and pride, ended with understanding, truth and openness to one another’s goals and hopes moving forward. My hope for the AOH is that from the top to the bottom in this organization, we start having open, honest conversations with one another, bring down our walls, and strive to make the organization better.
The more I dig into our roster systems, the more I find missing emails, officers absent from Form 9s, and we continue to get word on how many individuals are being suspended from divisions without the correct protocol. My hope for the AOH is that we strive to make the Order 100 percent accessible to every member. The way we do that is by making sure we fill every position needed, and embrace the new technology coming our way. We fill in all contact information for members. We as officers work hard for our members, so that they have all information needed as a member about what is happening within this organization.
Lastly, in my own division at home, we lost a member. He was a staple of the community, and one of our original founding members. Our Order is aging – my hope for the AOH is that we strive to bring new members in who can influence our technology, and youth, but continue to honor our members who made this organization function long before e-mail was even a thought. It’s on their backs that this organization became the greatest Irish Catholic Order, and I hope that we can now take that responsibility moving forward.
I truly hope you all had a wonderful Christmas, and happy new year! I also hope that each of you has a prosperous 2025, and as we move into Irish Heritage Month and Saint Patrick’s Day that we all remember why we joined this Order.