The Éire Society of Boston held their Annual Meeting on Saturday, June 27, 2020 via Zoom, led by President Mimi McNealy Langenderfer, PhD, welcoming three new board members: Irish pub musician Patrick Gavin Butler, Brian Frykenberg, PhD, coordinator of the “Boston and the Irish Language: Fifty Years of Cultural Connection in Oral History,” project sponsored by Cumann na Gaeilge i mBoston, and Irish playwright Ronán Noone whose play “The Smuggler” performed recently at Boston University won the Best Playwright award at the 1st Irish Festival of New York, 2019.  The full board includes President Mimi McNealy Langenderfer, PhD, First Vice President Ann Connolly Tolkoff, Second Vice President Paul Doyle, Treasurer John Mara, Recording/Corresponding Secretary William Smith, Membership Secretary Mary Ellen Mulligan and Directors Christian Dupont, PhD, Barbara Smith Fitzgerald, Tadhg Malone, Michael D. Hanify and Maire Concannon.  With special acknowledgement of our Past President Directors Richard B. Finnegan, PhD, Thomas W. Carty, Margaret F. Flagg, Edris B. Kelley, Cathleen A. McGrail, Catherine B. Shannon, PhD and Margaret M. Stapleton.  

While our year of cultural engagements promoting knowledge of Irish culture through the encouragement of study in the arts, sciences, literature, language and history of Ireland was pre-empted by the pandemic, we shifted focus to support our mandate to raise awareness of the actions made by the Irish for the advancement of American ideals.  To this end, while we are not historically a direct donation organization, we allocated a total of $15,000 to the Boston Resiliency Fund, the Irish Pastoral Center and the Irish Cultural Center in Canton to support our partners who are on the front line working directly with affected communities.

The Éire Society of Boston is optimistic that we will see you again in the Fall to honor our Gold Medal Nominee, United States Congressman Richard Neal, highlighting his leadership as Chair of Friends of Ireland. 

For more information on the ESB and how to get involved, check out our website www.eiresociety.org or email m@langenderfer.net