On Friday, the luck of the Irish extends to parking meters in Boston

Skip the grievance act, John, it's been stale for a long time. For once stop deliberately misconstruing what people say in order to get your grievance jollies. The point is a simple one for anyone not trying to hear it over the sound of a grinding ax: St. Patrick's Day has a reputation that is bolstered every year by the practices and behaviors that have come to be common on that day. If you, as an Irish-American, don't like that reputation, if you find these antics deplorable, then you as an Irish-American are in the right position to do something toremedy that. How? That's up to you, there are all kinds of possibilities. Creating cultural events that do not focus on (or perhaps even include) alcohol is one option. Producing educational materials about the day and its history is another. Abstaining from celebrating, or pointing out that it's a saint's day and that there are better ways to observe it, maybe that's another. I'm sure you can think of others.

And, by all means, feel free to call out the assholes who deck themselves in plastic hats covered with green glitter and pander to cringeworthy cultural stereotypes. They deserve it, and I fully support you in doing so. But here's the thing, and I say this with every good intention: you're going to have a hard time shutting down the assholes who put the label "Irish" on their ridiculous behavior unless you tell the story of who you are. "No, we're not" won't do the job by itself, no matter how loud or angry or abusive you are in saying so. All people who are on the receiving end of negative stereotypes need to use a whole range of tools to fight back, and you're only using one.

You left out the AOH

But just to clarify, are you saying its unfair to take the actions of some members of a homogeneous group and place responsibility on the larger portions of said group to address and reform around those issues?

I'll dissect ibb's raving later (if I have time after the last glimmer of heat from my tournament brackets crashing and burning), but just wanted to put geographic context into your synod, John. If it's "we pale monkeys outside The Pale", then by definition shouldn't 4 counties get only partial representation?
Oh - and you forgot Montanna!