This reporter hit the wall recently with the death of a very close friend. I would not allow anyone but myself to tell his story. I grieved that first day by celebrating his life and sharing it with my television family.

Yes, cancer took its toll on Rev. Philip Cascia, but that's not what killed him. His body couldn't overcome other internal stresses, blood clots and finally a stroke at the age of 55.

What a wonderful brilliiant man. This Roman Catholic Priest walked as easily among our homeless and poor as he did with the leaders of the free and not so free world. He carried humor in his pocket, along with a few choice Cigars to make friends and help ease the tensions between the United States and Countries that didn't see eye to eye with us.

In 1991 Father Cascia invited me and photographer Tim Clune to take a trip to Vietnam. Like the pied piper, Fr. Phil led a delegation of some 40 High School wrestlers -soccer players -chaperones and a TV crew for two weeks on a very historic and significant journey.

The first stop was Helsinki, Finland and a 10 hour wait for an airplane repair before lifting off for a 12 hour flight to Bangkok, Thailand. Welcome to "Cascia Tours"! After some 3 days of competition with local high school kids and waiting for critical paperwork we took off on Vietnam Air for Hanoi.

Shortly after we settled in, I took a still photo of Fr. Phil and some local politicals as the visiting AMERICANS raised for the U.S. Flag in Vietnam. It was the first since the end of the War. This was Fr. Cascia's INTERSPORT U.S.A. Program. It was President Reagan's idea and he asked this local Catholic priest from Waterbury, Connecticut to travel the world with local High School teams and foster good relations with their peers in Nations we did not have good relations. He had a gift. We became good friends.

During Thanksgiving 1997, Father Cascia revealed to me another mission, another trip, Havana, Cuba. He was quietly working behind the scenes with the Vatican for the Holy Father to meet Cuban President Fidel Castro in Havana. The eyes of the world watched that opening historic meeting before there was a media exodus back to Washington DC to cover the Clinton White House scandel.

Father Cascia was tireless. Shortly after his ordination and assigned to Waterbury, he started a homeless shelter which spawned a thrift store and later a soup kitchen. His work helped thousands of people through the St. Vincent DePaul Society, now called the St. Vincent DePaul Mission. But Father didn't stop there, he also become pastor of St. Anthony's Church in Prospect and oversaw all of the ventures he spawned.

Last June, Fr. Phil called to let me know he's OK, he was in the hospital and the doctor's said he's got Burkett's Lymphoma. Father Cascia: "They plan to run some tests and maybe treat it very aggressively with chemo." On January 16th, a little more than a week after his final dosage of chemo, Rev. Philip Cascia died.
His wake and funeral were a true celebration. Now, it's up to his friends and others to carry on his legacy, his missions.

If I may respectfully sum up this message in the way Fr. Cascia did many of his: