O’Donnell Will be Missed
Dear Editor: Congratulations on a great career of service to the CHSAA. (“CHSAA Lifer, Vice President Charlie O’Donnell Announces Retirement,” Dec.4).
You’ll be missed for your experience, character, wisdom, and friendship.
Thank you.
Dan Wiatre
Staten Island
Editor’s note: Mr. Wiatre is St. Edmund Prep’s athletic director, and boys varsity basketball coach.
Haitian Joy
Dear Editor: As a daughter of Haitian immigrants, and an educator in a school that serves primarily Caribbean immigrant students, I was so touched to read about my country in The Tablet this week (“Bishop Urges Haitian Catholics to Keep Proclaiming Joy in 2022,” Jan 15). Thank you!
Please do not ignore the students of Caribbean culture and those who are often forgotten, neglected or pushed to the back of the line.
Our students, of Cristo Rey Brooklyn High School, are so deserving of opportunities not usually available to them simply because of race or income. It’s time for an equitable and noticeable change.
Deanna Philippe
Carnarsie
The Irish Brigade
Dear Editor: I enjoyed reading the article on the Irish Brigade in The Tablet (“Modern-Day New York Guardsmen Honor Civil War ‘Irish Brigade’,” Dec. 25). I have just one nit. The Irish Brigade was pressed into service on July 2, 1863, the second day of the Battle of Gettysburg. In the afternoon, they were rushed to reinforce the collapsing Union Line of the Third Corps around Rose Woods and the Wheatfield. Although they were eventually pushed back, their service allowed for the defenses of Cemetery Ridge to be augmented.
There is a monument to the Irish Brigade along Sickles Avenue at Gettysburg National Military Park, near where they fought. It consists of a large Celtic cross, with an Irish wolfhound at its base. It was blessed by Fr. Corby in July 1888. More noteworthy is the monument to Fr. Corby himself on Hancock Avenue. A statue of him is mounted on a boulder as he blesses and absolves the troops about to go into battle. It is possibly the same boulder that he stood upon on that July day in 1863.
Dennis J. Lynch
Queens Village
A Rare and Little Known Christmas Song
Dear Editor: I really enjoyed John Alexander’s column (“The First 50 Years of Enduring Christmas Classics,” Dec. 25) and his detail regarding the history and background of each song.
There is one Christmas song that is rare and many individuals may not be aware of — “Christmas Auld Lang Syne,” written by Frank Military and Manny Kurtz, recorded by Bobby Darin in August 1960, and released as a single and in album format entitled “The 25th Day of December with Bobby Darin” in October 1960.
The song evokes the images of Christmas, family, hope, and thanks and praise for the birth of Jesus.
Felix Ferretti
Richmond Hill
Dear Editor: How great to read about developing a “Eucharistic self” in Father Lauder’s column (“Creating a Eucharistic Strategy to Include Everyone,” Jan. 1 & 8). Citing an essay by Father Robert Imbelli, Father Lauder agrees that the entire Church needs to get involved in bringing about a deeper love and understanding of the gift of Jesus in the Eucharist. Prayer, study, and discussion are essential.
My life situation, however, makes me pause and express what I think is lacking in Father Lauder’s approach. My wife and I were married for 49 years. She died in August 2020. We were an ecumenical family — my wife was Methodist and I am Catholic. One of my most profound regrets was our inability to receive Communion at our respective Eucharistic celebrations. I was welcome to receive it at her church but she could not receive it at mine. I refrained at her church, simply receiving a blessing.
Father Lauder’s article speaks about a “strategy to include everyone.” Does this “everyone” include people, like my wife, in mixed marriages? In our close to 50 years of marriage, I can’t recall reading or hearing about dialogue on the Eucharist taking place in our respective churches.
As we read in John’s Gospel, Jesus included this topic in his loving prayer to the Father at the Last Supper: “that they may all be one … so that the world may believe that you have sent me.”
That’s my prayer as I recall all the Eucharistic celebrations my wife and I participated in.
Bernard Zablocki
Ridgewood
