[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 153 (2007), Part 2]
[House]
[Page 2705]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                    REMEMBERING FATHER PHILIP CASCIA

  (Ms. DeLAURO asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute.)
  Ms. DeLAURO. Mr. Speaker, our community recently lost a treasure, a 
man whose reach extended to communities across the world for the last 
three decades. Father Phillip Cascia made an indelible mark on the 
lives of thousands, thousands of people at his parishes, like St. 
Anthony's Church in Prospect, CT, and indeed across the globe. His 
commitment to children and families was as strong as his reach was 
long.
  Father Cascia will long be remembered for many things. For starting 
the St. Vincent dePaul Society Shelter and Soup Kitchen in Waterbury, 
CT, not only the largest soup kitchen in Connecticut but also its 
largest homeless shelter, a thrift store, a mental health center; for 
when the United States State Department called upon him to help youth 
in St. Petersburg, Russia, paving the way for his work opening an 
orphanage for victims of earthquakes there; and for his work founding 
Intersport USA and other remarkable international exchange programs he 
started in Sao Paulo, Brazil, China and Vietnam, work that led this 
Congress, this body to nominate him for a Nobel Peace Prize.
  Most of all, he will be remembered for being a builder of bridges. 
Mr. Speaker, Father Philip Cascia was never content to live his faith 
confined within the walls of his church. He reached out. Whether you 
knew him for a moment, a few months or a few decades, as I did, you 
were touched by his values and moved by his compassion. Few lived their 
faith with greater commitment, dignity and hope. Father Cascia will be 
missed, but he will always be remembered.

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