Dear Editor: I wish to thank you for allowing me to offer my opinions and reminiscences in the pages of The Tablet during this past year. Since May, you’ve published four of my letters in the “Readers’ Forum,” as well as two online. Those follow my first letter in the fall of 2008, in which I offered a few anecdotes about Bishop Loughlin H.S. (copies of which I have tucked away somewhere in a box of family photos).

Actually, my first appearance in the pages of The Tablet date back to c. 1964 with a reprint of an article I had written for the “Loughlin Quarterly.” I remember well that Sunday morning when my parents and I arrived for Mass (at SS. Cyril and Methodius Church, Greenpoint) early as usual and I picked up a copy of The Tablet, also as usual, from the pile that rested in the back of the church.

As I flipped through before Mass, to my absolute surprise I found my little article and my name printed for the first time in a widely-read publication. The rest is history.

Again, thank you for the opportunity to share my opinions and reminiscences. I wish you, and The Tablet staff a very Happy and Blessed Christmas.

TOM STRACZYNSKI

Whitestone