Death cannot end man's cause

The children of a man who died of cancer will carry on his mission to have the host of a religious TV show named the patron saint of the media.

By WAVENEY ANN MOORE

© St. Petersburg Times, published July 8, 2000

ST. PETERSBURG -- Paul Cicarelli died July 4.

Though his most ardent prayer, to be cured of cancer, went unanswered, his efforts to foster the canonization of the late Roman Catholic Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen apparently will live on.

Cicarelli's five children have pledged to carry on the cause that could see Sheen, host of a popular 1950s religious television program, named a saint.

"My father really wanted us to. He put a lot of time into this. He wanted this to happen not only for himself but for the archbishop," said Diane Cicarelli, 20.

Her father, a former freelance television producer, hoped Sheen would become the patron saint of the media.

"It's funny, there's no Catholic patron saint for the media. We need it," he said, smiling briefly during an interview in his Northeast St. Petersburg apartment Monday, the day before he died.

Cicarelli, who was 53, began his campaign for Sheen's canonization about two months ago, launching a Web site (http://www.tvsaint.com) to promote his cause and distributing prayer cards and fliers to area churches.

"It has taken a major traumatic illness in my life, and the suggestion of a very close friend to call upon Archbishop Sheen as an intercessor before God," he wrote on his Web site.

He also begged people to pray that the late archbishop would intercede with God on his behalf so that he would be cured of cancer. Such a miracle, he hoped, would help his campaign for Sheen's sainthood.

"I'm dedicated to the cause," Cicarelli said Monday through labored breaths.

"Regardless of whether I get a healing or not, it's important to foster this work. I believe God gave it to me at least to bring it to this point."

Joining Cicarelli's children in their promise to help carry on the cause is George Fournier, a good friend and freelance writer in Orlando.

"He has kind of left us a legacy," Fournier said.

"The funny thing is, even if nothing happens with this, what Paul did, it will not have gone to waste. For Paul, it was a prayerful exercise and for the people who saw what Paul was doing, those people saw the hand of God in what Paul did. I think the example of his courage and his deep faith were just a wonderful testament to the people who knew him. . . . For me, Paul left me a great gift, the way he bore the suffering and affliction. His affliction didn't stop him. His faith was stronger than the cancer."

Less than 24 hours before his death, Cicarelli stubbornly pursued his objective.

"This is so important," he told daughter Diane and a hospice nurse as they tried to get him to take a break from a newspaper interview.

As her father struggled to speak, Diane Cicarelli tried to make him comfortable by massaging his back with an electric massager. She gave him water in a black sports bottle and fetched oblong bits of paper towel to wipe the sweat from his face and neck. He had had a bad night, she explained.

But morning found him at his computer, eager to spread the word about the archbishop's merit for sainthood.

"I hope my action will reduce "normal' bureaucracy and expedite the cause," he said.

That seems unlikely. The process toward canonization is traditionally lengthy and follows strict protocol, starting with a thorough examination of the life of the would-be saint. Candidates who pass the initial scrutiny are given the title of "venerable." Moving to the next stage, "beatification," requires at least one approved miracle, except in the case of martyrs. The final step, sainthood, is conferred only after yet another miracle has been verified after beatification.

Sheen's life apparently was praiseworthy.

"His was a life of service to the proclamation of the gospel," said the Rev. Myles Murphy, whose biography of Sheen, The Life and Times of Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen, was published in May.

"He loved God and he loved people and he wanted to share the gospel with as many people as possible and he used whatever means possible to do that. He was one of the greatest preachers of the century, according to Billy Graham," said Murphy, of St. Gabriel's parish in the Riverdale section of the Bronx in New York.

Murphy said the prelate was best known for his television program, Life Is Worth Living, which ran from 1952 to 1957, and was produced with a minimum of fuss.

"He basically had two props. He had the blackboard and a statue of the Blessed Virgin and he named her Our Lady of Television," the priest said. "He appealed to people of every denomination. . . . His purpose was not so much to evangelize as to make people feel they are loved by God."

The archbishop's sister-in-law, Connie Sheen, who lives in Belleair Bluffs, recently spoke of Sheen.

"He was the easiest person in the world to talk to," said Mrs. Sheen, widow of Al B. Sheen, the archbishop's youngest brother.

"He was a very, very sweet, tremendous person, a very dear soul."

Cicarelli's Web site notes, "Bishop Sheen's greatness was predestined by God and it is up to us to recognize all that he accomplished, and to do something about it."

Cicarelli's commitment was evident Monday in the thick, three-ring binder that held copies of letters he has sent to members of the Catholic hierarchy, including Bishop Robert N. Lynch of the Diocese of St. Petersburg and Archbishop John C. Favalora of the Archdiocese of Miami. The binder also displayed letters he has sent to television shows such as Dateline, the Rosie O'Donnell Show and Oprah, asking that his story be covered.

The tiny living room that served as his office also was home to stacks of fliers telling of his cause and prayer cards bearing Sheen's photograph.

"If it be according to your Holy Will, Eternal Father," the prayer cards read, in part, "glorify your servant, Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen, by granting the miraculous recovery of Paul Cicarelli through the prayerful intercession of the Bishop."

Sometimes, Cicarelli conceded Monday, it had been difficult to have faith that he would be healed.

"Other times, no," he said. "Nothing is impossible. His (God's) will is something else."

Cicarelli's eldest son, John, was philosophical as he made funeral arrangements Wednesday.

"Obviously he didn't get his miracle," the 25-year-old said, "but maybe in some type of other way, he did get his miracle. He was with us for nine months and he got a chance to start up a cause for Bishop Sheen. My father stated to his family that there are to be no hard feelings, no matter what happens. . . . that we had no control of this in the first place. That there would be no hatred toward God. When my father believed in something, he was very strong. His faith extended to six football stadiums."

The lung cancer diagnosed in November took Cicarelli's life early Tuesday. Besides his children, the youngest of whom is 15, he leaves behind his 86-year-old mother, Betty Cicarelli, who lives in Pennsylvania.

There will be a wake Sunday evening at Brett Funeral Home. The funeral Mass has been scheduled for Monday at St. Mary Our Lady of Grace Church, where he often attended weekday services. A military burial will follow at the Florida Veterans Cemetery near Bushnell.

"I think and believe this is something God gave me to do," he said of his cause in his waning hours.

"Whether I get healthy or not is irrelevant. That I've used my talent to his benefit is, at this moment, most important to me, so that I do not feel that I have failed God."

To those who outlive him, he offered this advice.

"We know not the time, the date," he said. "We should always live life with that in mind. It's the truth. That's just the truth."

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