The men’s and women’s groups work in conjunction with each other but are separate entities. The men’s division of about 35 is spearheaded by Mike Joyce, who grew up in a large, boisterous Irish Catholic family in Ohio.

“That Irish Catholic feeling has always been with me, and I always claimed it, sought it out. Big, loud, large family conversations, talking about the peace process in Ireland, and singing the songs and celebrating St. Patrick’s Day with pomp and circumstance,” Joyce said. “My family was always into that, so I have a lot of great memories.”

The AOH internationally promotes important Catholic issues and a “greater peace in Ireland,” he said. Here at home the group hosts fundraisers such as St. Patrick’s Day stew cook-offs and raffles that raise money for various charities — Caritas, the Gabriel Project, and St. Vincent de Paul, to name a few. The group — formally known as Monsignor Richard McCabe Division #1 — meets monthly at VFW Post 8787 in Austin.

The women’s AOH has just one chapter in all of Texas, led by Kathie Bacqué. Its motto is friendship, unity and Christian charity. The order recently donated $2,400 to St. Louise House in Austin, a nonprofit that helps struggling mothers get on their feet and become self-sufficient. Women who qualify are set up in an apartment for a year or two and are coached and mentored on how to interview, get a job and find daycare.

“Louise House supplies all of the stuff in the apartment for them: furniture, basic foods to start with, linens, cookware,” Bacqué said. “Once they’re independent, they move out of the apartment and take everything with them so that they’ve got stuff to start their life with.”

The AOH women hold bake sales and craft sales and host a St. Brigid’s Day tea party annually. (St. Brigid is the patroness saint of Ireland.) Last year, 50 people attended, munching on finger sandwiches and sipping hot tea while waiting anxiously to see if they held a winning raffle ticket. The women also pray virtual rosaries, celebrate corporate Communion and periodically help clean up historic Mount Calvary Cemetery in East Austin, where religious sisters who initially came to the U.S. as teachers and nurses are buried.

The AOH in Ireland was a reaction to the Penal Laws instituted in the 17th century when Catholics were persecuted for practicing their faith. The laws allowed authorities to punish Catholics with fines and imprisonment; priests could be put to death for celebrating Mass. Catholics were also “barred from voting, holding public office and owning land ... and publishing or selling Catholic primers, or teaching.”

In the 1820s and 30s, Irish immigrants who left their home during the Great Potato Famine often faced persecution in the U.S. A nativist group called the Know Nothings harassed and intimidated Irish Catholics, sometimes vandalizing and burning churches. Help wanted signs were commonly posted with the forewarning, “No Irish Need Apply.”

In response to the Know Nothings, the first two AOH orders in the U.S. were founded in the coal country of Pennsylvania and at St. James Parish in New York City in 1836. Today, the AOH is the largest and oldest Irish ethnic organization in the U.S. with 46,000 members.

Both the men’s and women’s divisions are eager to grow their membership. Applicants must be practicing Catholics and part Irish or married to someone of Irish descent. But applicants need not provide definitive proof of their Irish heritage; Joyce said they use an honor system.

One can apply online at aoh.com/membership-info or contact Mike Joyce at (804) 536-6067 or mpjoyceii@gmail.com or Kathie Bacqué at laohtxpresident@gmail.com.