Billy Graham has died at age 99. My sainted mother, uber Catholic that she was, used to watch his crusades on TV in the Sixties. In his prime, Graham was on a par with Ronald Reagan as a spell-binding orator, but more than that he was a voice crying out for Christ in a dark world. If only we, blessed with the True Faith, had a fraction of his passion for Christ. I will miss him and may he now be enjoying the Beatific Vision.
Amen. People like Graham seem to be the best argument for V-2’s revision of “extra ecclesia null salus”, although I still wonder how that works given the explicit statements of Trent and various pre-V-2 Popes. In any event, RIP and prayers for his soul. A very good man.
God Bless!
RIP. A man who kept me tied to that Christian witness as I walked about in a secular life. He has been missed.
Oh.
So that is why someone posted the quote from him, about not weeping when he dies because he won’t be any less alive– just at a different address.
Our God is Father. He does raise the lowly and brings to naught the mighty who glorify themselves. He knew us from the beginning when He formed us in the womb. He has prepared a place for Mr. Graham. May he rest in peace. May God be glorified in His Angels and in His Saints;
http://www.spiritdaily.com/scandalousmercy1.htm
yes- ” …blessed with the True Faith, had a fraction of his passion for Christ” Yes God please refill and renew Your Church!
Billy Graham was a gift to all Christians including the Holy Catholic Church, acting like a flying buttress- an outside support that was an extra, outside confirmation of faith for Catholics like myself and perhaps Donald McClarey’s mother too.
The comment about Graham’s passion and the wish that so many Catholics today shared that passion reminds me of what I heard a protestant minister from a very large church say …:The world thinks we are growing and gaining so many members because we have live bands and coffee bars- they don’t get that people come here because here Jesus Christ is exalted”
Please God fill our parishes with a holy passion for You.
Billy Graham and the Catholic Church:
https://chnetwork.org/2018/02/21/billy-graham-catholic-church/
I think the greatest preachers of the 20th century were Archbishop Fulton Sheen and Rev Billy Graham. Read the article to learn how they met each other.
Beautiful link Lucius Quinctius Cincinnatus. A mutual respect and shared love for Truth. Mr. Graham will continue his mission, of that I have no doubt.
Thanks for the link.
I hate to be contrarian, but my mother, raised without any faith, went to one of his crusades as a young lady. She accepted Christ into her life as a result. She was very disappointed that all she got afterwards was requests for money. Nothing more. She later became Catholic and gave birth to me. If Billy Graham was such a great evangelist, why did he not become Catholic like my Mom, and why was the result of his evangelism merely requests for mammon?
Good for your Mom, Alphatron. As for seeking mamon, I think Rome has a far bigger problem than the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association:
https://the-american-catholic.com/2018/02/22/popewatch-mammon-3/
Personally, I don’t contribute one red cent to anything Catholic simply because of all the corruption and collusion with funds being diverted to left wing liberal organizations. Indeed, the parish I attend is RICH, and a Filipino hole in the wall Protestant community my Filipina wife found is dirt poor. I would rather give to the dirt poor community because they preach repentance than the rich Catholic parish where the faithful have to endure football and basket ball homilies (that was last week when a visiting priest substituted – older Vatican II man from a liberal parish uptown).
You want my 10% tithe? Preach the Gospel! Not crap. Billy Graham (for all his theological errors) preached the Gospel.
Alphatron,
I can’t account for specific instances, but on the whole, the Graham Organization typically didn’t work like that, and worked to guide people into local churches and to encourage them to continue past their coming forward. At least that was my experience. I don’t think boiling it down to ‘it was just requests for mammon’ accounts for everyone. In fact, it was Graham who was a crucial link to the Gospel in my own life. So that’s one right there.