I recently wrote a column about a local priest named Father Nacca, who passed away recently at the age of 92.

Emily (Buttarazzi) Hall has plans to put a book together reflecting the life of Father Nacca and the lives he touched. Father Nacca became pastor of St. Francis of Assisi Church in Auburn in 1949.

I mentioned in my column that Father Nacca's achievements would take a book instead of a newspaper column and that is exactly what Emily is trying to do.

Many of those lives that were touched by this priest are from our very own community so I felt it was worthwhile to print this letter:

Hi Judy,

Thank you for your great tribute article to Father Nacca. Father John was my great uncle and we also considered him our grandfather as he raised my father, Dr. Buttarazzi, and his brother, Ron Buttarazzi.

Father John served as such a great inspiration to so many and to hear the stories of all those lives he touched is certainly bookworthy as you stated in your article. After the weekend of his passing, the idea of a book was discussed and as of last week I began soliciting stories and photos from my family and the community.

My intention is to create a hard-bound book to be passed through the generations. We can all agree there is a Father Nacca element missing and deeply needed in the lives of so many young children and families.

I have to say I am 28 years old and Father Nacca had a tremendous influence on my life. After hearing the stories of the generations before me I have learned so much more about the Christ-like way he lived his life.

What a blessing.

I need assistance in getting the word out to the community about this book. Stories or photos can be sent to me by e-mail or postal, handwritten, on tape or of course in e-mail form.

Even if someone would like to call and talk to me I'd be happy to save the stories that way. I hope you may be able to help me spread the word.

Please let me know if you wouldn't mind helping or even if you have ideas on how to get the word out.

Thanks for any help you may be able to provide and thank you again for you beautiful article.

Take care!

Emily (Buttarazzi) Hall

112 56th S

Virginia Beach, VA. 23451

(757) 761-9386

Judy Ducayne's column appears Tuesdays in The Citizen, and she can be contacted at

sacredheart6005@hotmail.com