Questions surround 'people's priest'

SCRANTON - Show up late, even by a minute, to one of the Rev. Joseph F. Sica's Sunday services at Mercy Hospital here and expect to stand out in the hall.

He's a Roman Catholic priest who knows how to pack the pews, weave a good tale, and offer the right words at the right time to comfort those in need. He's written several books, appeared in a Hollywood sitcom as himself, and is a sought-after speaker.

Sica's boss at Mercy Hospital calls him "the people's priest."

But Sica is also a priest who, early in his clerical career, developed a relationship with the most notorious mobster in Northeastern Pennsylvania, Russell Bufalino. While Sica once defended him as a man of "generosity [and] justice," federal officials called Bufalino "one of the most ruthless and powerful leaders of the Mafia."

That relationship, and an older and closer one with casino owner Louis DeNaples, has thrust the 52-year-old man of the cloth into the center of an ongoing grand jury investigation involving his Mount Airy Resort Casino, Pennsylvania's first free-standing casino.

The panel is investigating whether casino owner DeNaples, 67, misled state gaming regulators when he denied having connections with organized crime; evidence showing otherwise could disqualify him from holding one of the state's 14 lucrative slots licenses.

Last week, prosecutors charged Sica with perjury in that investigation, saying he lied to a grand jury about his relationship with the late Bufalino in order to protect DeNaples.

Sica and DeNaples are close. Their relationship goes back 40 years, to when Sica was barely a teenager. In his 2003 book Embracing Change: 10 Ways to Grow Spiritually and Emotionally, Sica thanked DeNaples and his family for "opening your hearts and home to me and inviting me inside."

The perjury charge hinges on Sica's testimony to the grand jury that he had a chance meeting with Bufalino in a hospital more than two decades earlier, before he became a priest, and never developed a personal relationship with mob boss, who died in 1994.

However, the grand jury was later presented with photographs and letters that appear to contradict those statements. A photo taken decades ago at a party celebrating Sica's ordination as a priest shows him with Bufalino and Bufalino's wife, according to the grand jury. The photo is undated but Sica has been a priest since 1982.

A note with the picture reads: "Dear Russ & Carrie - Words cannot express my thankfulness to both of you! You have done a lot for me and you mean a lot to me. Rest assured of my continued love and prayers. Love Joe."

Another photo shows Sica arm-in-arm with Bufalino at a table with William D'Elia, another reputed mob leader from Northeastern Pennsylvania.

DeNaples won his license after assuring the state Gaming Control Board that he had no connection with D'Elia.

The grand jury report also said Sica had written a letter in 1982 to Ginny Thornburgh, wife of then-Gov. Richard Thornburgh, seeking her help in getting Bufalino out of jail.

In that heartfelt letter, Sica called Bufalino his friend and said he was the victim of a law enforcement "conspiracy."

"If the government spent all their time and energies looking at the good Russell has done for his fellow man/woman Pennsylvania would be a better place to live," he wrote.

The news of the perjury charge - the first criminal count to come from the grand jury probe - made headlines across the state, including in Sica's hometown, where many were left in disbelief.

After his arrest, Sica asked for and was granted a leave as chaplain of Mercy Hospital by the Diocese of Scranton, pending the outcome of his case.

A hospital housekeeper tried to make sense of it all as she dusted Sica's offices Thursday, the first day of his leave.

"He is just such a wonderful priest in every respect that this has to be some kind of a big misunderstanding," Carol Matassa said. "He listens, and when he talks to you he has such powerful words that he strengthens us all. To us, he just can't do anything wrong."

Sister Susan Evelyn, a Mercy Hospital vice president, said Sica was a dedicated priest and a "tremendous homilist" with an ability to connect with people, whether while giving a sermon or consoling a family that suffered a loss.

"He is kind, compassionate, and willing to go the extra yard in any situation. He's on call 24/7 and has never not responded to a need here," she said. "He's the people's priest."

J. Duane Gavitt, the pastor at St. Aloysius Church in Wilkes-Barre, said Sica was the kind of priest other priests would go to if they really needed a priest.

"When a moment, a liturgical moment in particular, was of utmost importance, you would be honored to have Father Joe Sica speak," Gavitt said.

Norman Kirkpatrick, a parishioner at St. Aloysius, where Sica worked for several years, said Sica "always tried to build people up."

"He loved people and they loved him. You can't find someone to say an ill thing about him," Kirkpatrick said.

DeNaples' family befriended Sica when he was very young, and the two men have remained close ever since, said Kevin Feeley, DeNaples' spokesman, who once described the priest as a "talisman" in the bid to win a slots license.

Sica was at DeNaples' side during several public hearings to determine which applicants would win coveted slots licenses. He also was among a small group who helped DeNaples cut the ribbon to open the casino in October.

Since Sica's arrest, other details of his life have emerged.

Prosecutors said that he bought and legally registered a handgun within the last year. It wasn't on him when police took him into custody Wednesday morning, but $1,000 in cash was.

Sica ran into financial troubles in 1997 when, while making less than $900 a month as a priest, he filed for bankruptcy protection, citing $218,000 in debts, $148,000 of which was owed to the bank headed by DeNaples. Two months after he filed for bankruptcy, Sica sought to have the case dismissed and none of his creditors objected, the file shows.

Public records show that the next year, Sica gave $1,000 to the congressional campaign of Don Sherwood, and in 2003 gave $2,000 to the Bush-Cheney campaign.

Sica, who played himself in 2004 on the ABC sitcom Life With Bonnie, brushed past news cameras after his arraignment Wednesday, and subsequent attempts to reach him and his attorneys for comment were unsuccessful.

But every day there is a fresh inspirational message from him on www.appleinspirations.com, a site sponsored by his publishing company.

It features an image of Sica, smiling in priest garb, walking forward and gently tossing an apple that turns into the daily inspiration.

On Thursday, the day after his arrest, the message was focused on guilt trips, and contains this conclusion:

"Cancel the guilt trip and book another trip: I'm sorry, and I'm changing. Switching from guilt to this after doing something regrettable says, 'I goofed. Give me a chance to make it right.' "

Go to http://go.philly.com/fathersica for video of the Rev. Joseph F. Sica leaving court after his arraignment.

Go to http://go.philly.com/sica for Sica's Web page of daily inspirations.EndText