9th Annual Easter at Boys and Girls Haven April 5, 2023

The Ladies Ancient Order of Hibernians, Inc., were formed in Omaha, NE, in 1894. First known as “The Daughters of Erin”, the Ladies first mission was to welcome new Irish women & children immigrating to America. The Ladies offered guidance, education, and employment opportunities in a new country while providing the “comforts of the motherland”.

The local Division was opened on April 27, 2014, with 15 faithful sisters. We currently have over 40 members, and continue to grow.

 We are a local division as part of a national Irish Catholic charity organization known as the Ladies Ancient Order of Hibernians (LAOH). There are over 229 divisions across the U.S. 

Our local Division was named after Catherine Elizabeth McAuley, (born Sept. 29, 1787, County Dublin, Ireland), founder of the Religious Sisters of Mercy (R.S.M.), a congregation of nuns engaged in education and social service.  After the death of both her parents, Catherine went to live with relatives who embodied the strong anti-Catholic atmosphere of the times. This was a difficult trial for Catherine, but through it she developed a spirituality based on God's Mercy. She found "peace in the Cross, joy in suffering, prayer in action and action in prayer" (Bolster, "Catherine McAuley").  In 1824 she used her inheritance from an Irish couple she had served for twenty years to build a large House of Mercy where she and other lay women would shelter homeless women, reach out to the sick and dying and educate poor girls. The House on Baggot Street opened in 1827. To give these efforts greater stability, Catherine and her co-workers founded a new religious congregation. On 12 December 1831, she and two others professed their vows as the first Sisters of Mercy. Before her death on 11 November 1841, Catherine founded convents and works of mercy throughout Ireland and England.