Actor Says He Enjoys Portraying TV's Angel Of Death Indianapolis, Ind. (CNS)

The Angel of Death gets lots of mail. So do other cast members of the award-winning and top-rated drama "Touched By An Angel," which airs Sundays at 7 pm on CBS.

Actor John Dye, who portrays Andrew, the Angel of Death, on the spirituality-themed television series, said that he lovves to talk with people about God and is humbled by the overwhelmingly positive public response to the show.

Dye made the remarks in an interview with The Criterion, newspaper of the Indianapolis Archdiocese. He was in town in early November to host the Heartland Film Festival's Crystal Awards banquet. The film festival and awards ceremony honor movies that promote messages of hope and positive values.

Dye said "Touched By An Angel" viewers are continually sending letters of thanks and praisee for the program's spiritual messages , and letter writers also frequently share accounts of their personal experiences of God. "The volume of mail we get is incredible," he told The Criterion. "It's wonderful. And the kind of mail we get is so humbling. We get letters from people specifically talking about an episode (of the show) which reflected their personal experiences of God, and how the show reinforced it and helped them deal with it. "We are reminded of why we are doing this show and the impact we're having by doing it."

The show's exectuvive producer, Martha Williamson, has collected several national awards on behalf of the cast and production staff. An award of excellence from Catholics in Media and a Gabriel Award from Unda, and organization of Catholic broadcasters, honored "Touched By An Angel" for bringing hope and positive expressions of faith to television.

"The show is very hope-filled," Dye said. "It's very empowering. We get to say every week that 'God loves you.' A lot of people go years and years without hearing anybody say 'I love you,' and we tell them 'God loves you.' It's truly wonderful Maybe it sparks an interest in their jouney, some interest and some hope."

Giving hope to others in the role of an angel, a televised messenger of God, is a "tall order," Dye said of his character. "It's a joyful one, a gift. It's a great responsibility. It's also a great opportunity." Although the Mississippi native is a Christian, Dye said he hesitated when he was offered the role of the Angel of Death with angel co-stars Monica (Roma Downey) and Tess (Della Reese). "I had to ask myself if I wanted to be on TV every week talking about God," Dye said. "And whose version of God would I be talking about? I think religion is best left to prayerful individuals or brilliant theologians. I'm a simple man, an actor, so I decided to focus on the character's role as the Angel of Death." Whether people have faith or porfess atheism, he said, "death is the biggest change we can imagine. It's the great unknown. Even with the faith of Job, there is probably a bit of fear for every person simply because it is the unknown." Dye said he decided that because Andrew is the angel who takes people to heaven, he wanted to portray him as "the most compassionate, caring, gentle, accepting face I could possibly put on him. I wanted to make Andrew as welcoming and as strong as possible."

Either on or off the "Touched By An Angel" production set in Salt Lake City, Dye said, "talking about God is one of my favorite conversations." "I love to find out about different people's interpretations of God, or who God is in their life, or if God is in their life," he added. The series also focuses on the beauty of living in the present moment, Dye said. "The nature of the show forces me, and Roma and Della, to be compelling, because we can't fake that. We have to channel the scripts though the best parts of ourselves in order to make them work, otherwise eveyr Sunday night the show is just a sermonette. And who wants to watch that?"