Monthly meetings
Second Monday of each month. 6pm Social Hour, 7pm Business Meeting.
Meeting Places
We meet at Delaney's Irish Pub on main street in downtown Spartanburg.
Delaney's Irish Pub
117 West Main Street, Spartanburg, SC 29306
The division
About the Father Timothy Gahan Division
Irish Catholic men in Spartanburg, joined in Friendship, Unity, and Christian Charity — preserving heritage, serving the Church, and looking after one another.
Who we are
The Father Timothy Gahan Division of the Ancient Order of Hibernians was established in Spartanburg, South Carolina to bring together Irish Catholics who wish to preserve and promote our cultural and religious heritage. We are proud members of the oldest Catholic lay organization in America, at work here in the Upstate.
Membership is a bond of fellowship: meetings, a pint now and then, the St. Patrick’s Day parade on Main Street, and the quiet charitable work that does not make the paper.
What we do
Brotherhood
Happy hours and social gatherings that keep the division close between the formal works of the Order.
Family gatherings
Summer picnic, Christmas party, and other days set aside so wives, children, and friends can share the table.
Fundraising
Fundraisers and other works that put money toward local need.
Parishes of the Upstate
We work with Catholic churches in the Spartanburg area — serving priests, vocations, and parish life.
From parish festivals to Masses with our bishop, our brothers show up when the Church calls.
Project St. Patrick
Money raised is distributed by the South Carolina State Board as gifts to seminarians of our diocese.
Every dollar helps form the priests who will serve our parishes for years to come.
Since 1836
The Order
In 1836, Irish miners formed a Hibernian Benevolent Society and marched in New York’s St. Patrick’s Day parade — the early beginning of the Ancient Order of Hibernians. The Order is now the oldest Catholic lay organization in America and the largest Irish Catholic society in the world, with divisions across the United States and close ties in Ireland, England, Scotland, and Wales.
At every level, the AOH raises millions for charity, serves the Church, and never forgets homeland Éire. The Father Timothy Gahan Division continues that work in the Upstate: parades, parish support, Irish gatherings, and care for members and priests.
“To be Irish is a Blessing, To be a Hibernian is an Honor.”
Irish history in South Carolina
A debt to Irish blood and spirit
The Irish people have advanced culture worldwide for centuries — especially in the United States and the American South. South Carolina’s rich history owes a great debt to Irish blood and spirit.
“I am no renegade to Ireland; but I am now an American… Where upon your approach to the polls, any person address you as an Irishman, or Frenchman, or an Italian, or by any appellation but Carolinian or American, his language is distraint and offensive. He is either ignorant, or supposes you to be so, or has some sinister view. There is a bribery of the affections. There is a bribery in reminding you of the bravery and the patriotism and the generosity of the Irish. And all this is the more insulting as the object of the adulation, or the familiarity, is too plain to be mistaken. I warn you of your solemn serious obligation, that in giving your vote, you recollect that you are an American! A Carolinian!”
— Bishop John England, first Bishop of Charleston