Note to Msgr. Shelley, my A.P. history teacher

On Tuesday the local Gannett newspaper had a nice feature story on one of my former high school teachers, now Monsignor Thomas Shelley. the article was about his just-published history of the NY Archdiocese. It’s a good article –

A new history of the Archdiocese of NY tells the Catholic story of the last 200 years

http://www.thejournalnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2007712180343

It’s really a very nice article. Yesterday I sent the Journal news a letter with a mea culpa to Monsignor Shelley – here it is:

To the Editor

I was very pleased to see the feature article by Gary Stern on Monsignor Thomas Shelley and his recently published History of the Archdiocese of NY.

I have good memories of Monsignor Shelley, going all the way back to my senior year at Stepinac H.S., in 1968-69, where the then Fr. Shelley taught Advanced Placement European History. It was the first time that particular course was offered at Stepinac.

Fr. Shelley was an excellent teacher with great command of the subject and a very dry sense of humor. As the school year wound down and we headed toward the exam, Fr. on several occasions said that he wouldn’t be receiving a transcript of our exam performance and to please contact him with our results. However I spent the summer out of the area as a camp counselor, and never did contact him.

I always felt guilty about that, so I’m glad to be able to today write and say “Fr., I ace’d it. 5 out of 5.” 

Sincerely

Thomas G. Faranda

Stepinac class of ‘69

I doubt if Fr. lost any sleep over my not contacting him, but it’s good to get it off my chest.