Dear Editor: Perhaps I am becoming a bit prudish in my old age, but I just read that the Theme for the 2018 Met Gala is “Heavenly Bodies: Fashion and the Catholic Imagination.” The article said there would be clothing on display from the Sistine Chapel and the event was meant to draw attention to the religious works at the Met.
letters to the editor
A Christmas Story
Dear Editor: Two days before Christmas in 1973, it was cold and beginning to snow when I set out from Great Lakes, Ill., at 6 a.m. to get home to my two boys on Long Island. My sons, Tommy and Bobby, were in a foster home in Levittown because my wife had left us. I was in the Navy and hadn’t enough money to fly home. I always kept my promise to my boys and didn’t want to disappoint them.
Sunset Park Jubilee
Dear Editor: Congratulations to Our Lady of Perpetual Help parish on its 125th anniversary.
Fr. Flanagan of Dunwoodie
Dear Editor: It was good to read Effie Caldarola’s column (Nov. 4) in The Tablet.
Father Edward Flanagan studied at St. Joseph’s Seminary here in Dunwoodie before falling ill and eventually moving on to Omaha. I believe he studied under the great Father Duffy whose statue overlooks Times Square.
Maronite Memories
Dear Editor: You recently posted something from Our Lady of Lebanon Maronite church in Brooklyn Heights.
Questions Article’s Timing
Dear Editor: Can The Tablet tell us why Justin Brannan had a profile story in your paper four days before the election and nothing on John Quaglione?
Long-Range Assistance
Dear Editor: As a longtime parishioner of St. Agnes (now a worship site of St. Paul-St. Agnes parish), I was very buoyed by the response of the Diocese to the conditions faced by the citizens of Puerto Rico who were affected by Hurricane Maria. At our two houses of worship, we collected donations from parishioners and community residents for several weeks.
The Informed Conscience
Dear Editor: I am glad we are not living in the era of Pontius Pilate who said: what is truth? We Catholics believe in absolute moral truths; unfortunately the secular world around us keeps eroding it and I am afraid “the smoke of Satan has entered the temple of God” indeed (Pope Paul II).
Secretary Will be Missed
Dear Editor: She wasn’t a nun or a priest or a deacon but Valerie Balsamo, parish secretary of St. Luke’s, Whitestone will be missed by all religious and parishioners. Valerie was an integral part of the fabric that bonds the parish of St. Luke as one tight knit family. Valerie passed from this earth on Nov. 1, 2017. How appropriate that day was All Saints Day!
Part of Catholic Culture
Dear Editor: Reading Father Lauder’s column entitled “Conversations with My Favorite Authors,” I was reminded of a work by James Joyce, “A Portrait of an Artist as a Young Man.”