North Allegheny grad highlights church history for Eagle project

Boy Scout Anthony Cicco chose a novel construction project to become an Eagle Scout, the highest rank in Scouting.

Cicco assembled a 14-minute video on the history of 175-year-old St. Alphonsus Catholic Church in Pine.

“I was happy to do it for the church, and I learned a lot in the process,” said Cicco, 18, a 2015 graduate of North Allegheny Senior High School.

“I watch a lot of documentaries and though it would be cool if the church had something like that,” said Cicco, also a St. Alphonsus parishioner, lector and musician at parish Masses.

Cicco screened his fact-filled and photo-packed video after the Mass celebrated July 19 at St. Alphonsus Catholic Church to mark the 175th anniversary of the church's dedication.

As background music for his no-budget, all volunteer-produced video, Cicco used a number of royalty-free, prerecorded selections, including Gregorian chants.

Cicco, son of Leo and Cynthia Cicco of McCandless, made the video with help from about a dozen fellow members of Boy Scout Troop 335, which meets at Northmont Presbyterian Church in McCandless.

“The Scouts did all the filming,” said Cicco, who narrates the video.

“Editing was a big part of this project,” he said. “There was a lot of planning.”

Cicco said his multimedia classes at North Allegheny also helped him make the video.

“They allowed me to use some of their audiovisual equipment and computers,” Cicco said.

To gather parish history, Cicco interviewed longtime parishioners Barbara Wilson and Pat and Mary Remy, plus the Rev. Ed Czemerda, former parochial vicar, and the Rev. Peter Murphy, former pastor.

North Allegheny-area historian Joe Bullick of Pine, also a St. Alphonsus parishioner, supplied Cicco with documents, maps and old photos reproduced in the video.

“He gathered a lot of the information over the years and generously allowed me to use it,” Cicco said.

Bullick similarly praised Cicco.

“He's a very talented young man. I was always impressed by him,” Bullick said. “I gave him a lot of material, and he put it all together in a great fashion and paid great tribute to the 175th anniversary of St. Alphonsus Church and the 125th anniversary of St. Alphonsus School.

Last year, Cicco received the Rob Finley Award from his Boy Scout Troop for being a Boy Scout who best exhibits the qualities of helpfulness. Later this month, Cicco will enter Duquesne University in Pittsburgh to pursue a bachelor's degree in violin performance.

Cicco performed with the North Allegheny Golden Strolling Strings from 2011 to 2015.

“My goal is to audition for and be accepted into a major orchestra,” he said.

Cicco said he hopes to eventually make his St. Alphonsus Parish history video available to the public on a DVD. People can currently view the documentary under the “News & Events” section of the church website: saintalphonsuswexford.org.

Deborah Deasy is a staff writer for Trib Total Media. She can be reached at 724-772-6369 or ddeasy@tribweb.com.