Florida Catholic | ‘Loitering’ For God

‘Loitering’ for God

Reading the Bible turned Vinnie Cacace into an evangelist.

BENNET BOLTON | FLORIDA CATHOLIC CORRESPONDENT

Published: 03.14.08

Vinnie Cacace talks about heaven and hell, salvation and redemption, “Our Savior Christ” and why he holds that title, the Trinity and the entire gamut of Catholicism — wherever he happens to be, including time spent with friends and strangers on the golf course.
LINDA REEVES | FC

Cacace’s 261-page book “Loitering With Intent” can be purchased at the St. Joan of Arc Parish bookstore, or by ordering on the Web site, www.popechart.com, for $14.99. It also is available through online booksellers.

BOCA RATON | During the first half of his life, Vincent Cacace considered himself a normal basic Catholic: Mass every Sunday and frequent confession. That was enough.

Then, in the second half, Cacace, now 83, discovered the Bible.

He explored it, read it from start to finish — and it turned him into a dynamic evangelical.

“I was a cradle Catholic who grew up in Waltham, Mass.,” he said. “My father, Tony, was from Gaeta, Italy, and he ran a store with a soda fountain. My mother, Mary, was from Sara, a small place in the Italian province of Foggia. They met in Massachusetts and married. There were so many Italian Catholics there that our parish, Sacred Heart, was the local Italian parish with Mass in Latin and the sermons in Italian. I could understand neither one.”

Cacace told the Florida Catholic that the nun who instructed his first Communion class taught the children how to attain heaven.

“She said we must attend Mass every Sunday and go to confession every Saturday. If you miss Mass once, that is a mortal sin that will keep you out of heaven forever,” he recalled.

“During my first 41 years of life, I thought that was all it took. When I was 41, my pastor asked me to teach CCD (religion classes) to the kids. I protested. I said I was not qualified. I had never even read the Bible, I explained to him. Yet I couldn’t really refuse. So I said, ‘OK.’ … I decided to read the Bible from cover to cover, so I could be a good CCD teacher,” he continued. “I discovered that I was sitting on a treasure — the entire history and concept of Catholicism and how it came out of the Old Testament. It was always there in the Bible, but I had not yet discovered it.”

Cacace is a retired brewery executive. He and his wife, Theresa, married in October 1950 and are members of St. Joan of Arc Parish in Boca Raton. They have four children and seven grandchildren.

At the time he was asked to teach religion classes, the company had promoted him to the field to teach salesmen at five independent beer distributorships in the Boston area — and he wanted to learn how to be a better salesman. He used some of his sales tactics to go from beer to Bible.

“I knew that I could read the entire Old Testament, New Testament, the Letters of St. Paul plus the Acts of the Apostles because early in my career in sales and marketing for the Schlitz Brewing Co., I learned the ‘power of one,’” he said. “One wholesaler in Brocton, Jerry Belliveau, had been my French teacher in high school. He told me that my men in the field did not know the power of one. He explained it to me this way: If a salesman opens one new account a day, that’s five in a week, 20 in a month, and 240 in a year — just by opening one a day. I credit that for my success in my field.”

Cacace still employs that principle today.

He swims half a mile a day in his pool for 22 minutes, six days a week. That adds up to 150 miles a year, so he figures that in 10 years, that would become 1,500 miles, or the distance from Boca Raton to Boston. In 20 years, that would be 3,000 miles, equal to swimming from Boca to Los Angeles.

These days he talks about heaven and hell, salvation and redemption, “Our Savior Christ” and why he holds that title, the Trinity and the entire gamut of Catholicism — wherever he happens to be, including time spent with friends and strangers on the golf course.

That is what Cacace calls his evangelical “loitering,” his “hanging around” to convey a message to anyone who will listen.

“Vinnie is very highly respected here,” said Father John Gallagher, parochial vicar of St. Joan of Arc. “When he does a one-on-one, when he uses the power of one, his methodology is to surrender to the power of God. His mindset is so fresh. He is a wonderful transmitter.”

Cacace wrote a book about his experiences, called “Loitering With Intent: My Adventures in Catholic Evangelization.” He tells of his life as an evangelical, and recently expanded the second edition to 33 chapters, adding from his original 24 chapters.

Just a few weeks ago, Cacace spoke at length at a Koinonia (Greek for “prayer gathering”) weekend retreat for the men of St. Joan of Arc Parish, and related much of the material in his book. For 17 years he has been a prison minister, visiting inmates in the jails of Palm Beach and other counties where he shares his faith and helps those being released to prepare for life outside.

“I’d like to briefly share with you how I do what I do in my life,” he told the men at the retreat. “Some of what I do is ‘Lone Ranger’ stuff, but much of it is in communities. I start my day in community, worshipping God at daily Mass. … Graces come from the Eucharist. I further reflect on the day’s readings using three pamphlets: ‘Magnificat,’ ‘Body and Bread’ and ‘The Word Among Us.’ This gives me deeper insights on each day’s scriptural readings. At night when I settle in bed, I prayerfully reflect on the events in my day. Were my actions in obedience to God’s will? This review helps make me aware of things I can do better next time with God and other people.”

Tom Lawler, former police captain in New York City and now the director of prison ministry for the diocese, said, “When I moved to Florida, Vinnie Cacace was a fellow parishioner and he was my mentor when I first joined the prison ministry in 1996. He is unique, with his great zeal for his faith,” he said.

The book is not Cacace’s only foray into literary and media evangelization. In 2005, he created a DVD called “Our Catholic Roots,” a three-month reading plan to explore Bible history. The parish Knights of Columbus distributed 1,500 copies of it at all the Masses one weekend.

That same year, he wrote an eight-page article called “Our Greatest Gift,” in which he outlined the history of the ancient Jews, how the two covenants are linked, and the growth of Christianity from Christ until today.

The Knights provided the money to print the article and the manpower to stuff 3,500 Christmas bulletins with the message. He plans to get it published as a pamphlet.

Msgr. John McMahon, pastor of St. Joan, shared with the Florida Catholic his knowledge of Cacace: “He is amazing. Vinnie lives out the Gospel message. All of us are chosen by God to preach his love for us under the guidance of the Holy Spirit. Vinnie believes that, and he shares that message through his witness, his writings and his prison ministry.”

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