July 3, 1997 (Fundamental Baptist Information Service, P.O. Box 610368, Port Huron, MI 48061-0368, fbns@wayoflife.org) - The following is from the San Antonio Express-News, April 3, 1997 --

When evangelist Billy Graham invited listeners to commit their lives to Jesus Christ last September in Charlotte, N.C., 1,700 of those who responded to his call were Catholics.

They weren't being proselytized from Catholic parishes into Baptist churches. The decision cards they filled out were given to the local Catholic diocese for follow-up discipleship work, crusade offices said.

Comparable numbers of Catholics have gone forward at other recent Graham crusades. In recent crusades in Minneapolis and Cleveland in 1994, it was nearly 6,000 each.

It wasn't always that way.

"I attended the school of evangelism that was conducted during Billy's 1981 crusade in Houston. I was the only Catholic priest there," said Monsignor Tom Flanagan, pastor of St. Brigid's Catholic Church in San Antonio and one of four priests designated by Archbishop Patrick Flores to rally the Catholic community for the crusade.

"That crusade was a powerful, uplifting, unforgettable experience. I felt very welcome, and I'm looking for the same thing here," Flanagan said.

The relationship is warm and friendly today, but in the 1950s, it reflected the frigid relations between Catholicism and Protestantism in general. Catholic bishops ordered priests to warn their parishioners against attending Graham's crusades for fear they would be proselytized into Protestant churches or tempted to switch on their own. In 1960, Graham led a movement of evangelical leaders to stop John F. Kennedy from winning the presidency, reflecting a wide-spread fear among Protestants that the pope's hand would be on his shoulder.

"Catholics were a hard sell for Billy. There were people on his team saying he ought not to be trucking with Catholics," said William Martin, author of Graham's 1981 biography, A Prophet With Honor. "But he's always been able gradually to break down resistance people have had toward him," Martin said.

Graham's increasingly broadened vision of Christianity also helped open doors to him in the Catholic community. In 1964 Boston Cardinal Richard Cushing--ironically, a close friend of Kennedy's--became the first Catholic prelate to openly endorse Graham and encourage his flock to attend a crusade, Martin said. Today, Catholics at Graham's crusades raise few eyebrows.

"Several months after the 1994 crusade here, Bishop Anthony Pilla invited all the Catholics who had attended the crusade to a prayer service to let them know it was considered part of their Catholic life, not something the church considered evil," said the Rev. Joseph Helinski, ecumenical director for the Diocese of Cleveland.

Helinski said the Graham team's faithfulness in dispatching Catholic decision cards to the diocese after a previous crusade about 15 years ago when the diocese had no official involvement made Catholic leaders eager to cooperate when Graham returned in 1994.

"The Graham organization has developed a sensitivity to Catholicism, and they're very careful," the priest said.

"For example, the decision cards have a place to mark 'salvation,' but they also have a place to mark 'rededication,' which the vast majority of the Catholic inquirers checked off," Helsinki said.

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We have documented the history of Billy Graham's relationship with the Roman Catholic Church in our book Flirting with Rome: Evangelical Entanglement with Romanism. This is a four-volume set of booklets. See the Way of Life Literature Online Ordering Form.

FLIRTING WITH ROME: EVANGELICAL ENTANGLEMENT WITH ROMAN CATHOLICISM VOLUME 1--BILLY GRAHAM (D.W. Cloud) [WOL406B] These volumes trace the amazing history of the evangelical world's journey to Rome. Volume 1 deals with Billy Graham from 1950 to present. Thoroughly and carefully documented. $2.50

FLIRTING WITH ROME: VOLUME 2--KEY EVANGELICALS (D.W. Cloud) [WOL407B] These volumes trace the amazing history of the evangelical world's journey to Rome. Volume 2 deals with popular evangelical leaders and organizations, including Campus Crusade, Christian Research Institute, James Dobson, Chuck Colson, Jerry Falwell, Inter-Varsity Christian Fellowship, D. James Kennedy, J.I. Packer, Luis Palau, John R. Stott, and Youth for Christ. $2.50

FLIRTING WITH ROME: VOLUME 3--THE SOUTHERN BAPTIST CONVENTION (D.W. CLOUD) [WOL451B] These volumes trace the amazing history of the evangelical world's journey to Rome. Volume 3 deals with the Southern Baptist Convention. $2.50

FLIRTING WITH ROME: VOLUME 4--THE CHARISMATICS (D.W. Cloud) [WOL452B] These volumes trace the amazing history of the evangelical world's journey to Rome. Volume 4 deals with the Charismatic Movement. $2.50

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