I was interested enough in the final status of the Rev. Billy Graham to go to a couple of authoritative Catholic sites. EWTN said "bishops" praised his Christian witness, but it named only two. EWTN filled out its report with a quote from Robert George, the go-to Catholic quote from Princeton, who said Graham was "firmly rooted" in his denomination. That sounded odd because Graham sent the folks who got God at his rallies to the denomination of their original choice, Baptists to Baptists and Episcopalians to Episcopalians. He even sent Catholics to their own parishes.
A search on Vatican Radio revealed: "There are no results for Billy Graham."
Others might differ. When I was a lad and the Rev. Billy was packing arenas and stadiums, Catholics were, mildly or firmly, admonished by their shepherds that he preached Protestant errors, and his altar call was no place for a son or daughter of Holy Mother Church. Then Vatican II came along, and"hostility to Graham waned on the Catholic side. Despite the denomination in which Graham was "firmly rooted," where the pope is still equated with the whore of Babylon in some pulpits, he didn't rail against Rome. And despite where the current president's supporters came from, and why, Graham's rallies were desegregated before desegregation was cool. Old film proves it.
Sadly, much of the memory seems to be of Graham as "pastor to presidents." Those were not his finest hours. It started with Truman feeling he was being used and ended with Obama seeking Graham's counsel for whatever reason. In between, there was a lot of back and forth, but when one is going back and forth with power, one must expect go be used as well as useful.
You have to get power to listen if you are going to speak truth to it. But power always grabs something back when it lends an ear.
From what I saw, Graham was probably closest to the buttoned-down Bushes, of all presidents. W famously credited Graham with leading him to God. The last time I saw Graham was at Florida Gov. Jeb Bush's first inauguration, a day that would have been darned cold in Boston and was brutally cold in Tallahassee. Even with a heavy coat and scarf, the profile of the 80+ preacher was unmistakable. God certainly gave him he look for the job.
Graham's religion was not sophisticated, but it was sincere, and he helped a lot of people who were not sophisticated and some who were. RIP, Rev. Billy.
Billy mostly preached to the choir. The people who attended his rallies were recruited by local churches. Most of those people were committed members with some lukewarm people who came along out of curiosity.
ReplyDeleteThe Billy Graham organization was more a parachurch than a denomination. Like the Moody Bible Institute and many evangelists since these parachurch organizations function more like Catholic religious orders, i.e. outside of the parish and congregational structures.
ReplyDeleteAslso Like Catholic religious orders these parachurch evangelistic organizations provide a spirituality that that sets its followers off as an elite in comparison to what is going on in the denominations. In the case of most Protestant parachurches it is more notional than practical, i.e. it has to do with how faith is articulated.
Like Catholic religious orders, the leaders of these parachurches function as saint founders, endowing their followers with this charisma.
Jack, interesting comparison with parachurch movements. I suppose kind of like the Neocathechumenal Way (wow, that's a mouthful!)or Communion and Liberation. Opus Dei are a horse of a different color; I wouldn't want my kids involved with them.
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ReplyDeleteThe Billy Graham Crusade was off limits to us as Unitarian children (along with the Three Stooges, The Honeymooners, Divorce Court, and Big Time Wrestling; Bishop Sheen was OK). So we watched Graham with the Catholic neighbors, who viewed him with amused tolerance. They liked the singing.
ReplyDeleteMy childhood view was that Billy was a Bible thumping ego maniac who seemed like the type of guy who'd take a belt to you for your sins. I remember thinking that this guy would scare anybody who actually believed anything he was saying. He mellowed a bit as he got older.
I am skeptical of people who are so sure of going to heaven. He might be surprised to be making a sidetrack to Purgatory with Dick Nixon for a spell.
I did not know he integrated his audiences in the 1960s. So there's that.
Bottom line: "By their fruits shall you know them," and I never heard that he ever did anything for anyone other than take their free will offerings, run his mouth, and make quite a nice living for himself.
Two fruits: W. Bush whom I mentioned. And the great, old Swedish hymn that the wonderful Canadian singer -- the soloist heard (thanks to TV and BG's worldwide crusades) heard by more people than anyone else -- made famous in English: How Great Thou Art and George Beverly Shea.
DeleteHow Great Thou Art; organists love that one. The note intervals are such that a nice legato just flows naturally.
DeleteI still get choked up when I hear "Just As I Am"--many conflicts and doubts, that's me! Sing it George Beverly Shea! There's even a dramatic talking part. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CkbhxAPadXQ
DeleteWell, he was a landmark there during my whole lifetime. I never paid all that much attention since he wasn't my style but I knew he was around somewhere. What's next? Sears and Craftsman Tools?
ReplyDeleteQueen Elizabeth is a landmark. She seems to keep ticking, though. Charles turns 70 this year.
DeleteMmmm, Craftsmen tools! Lifetime warranty!
Delete"Graham's religion was not sophisticated, but it was sincere, and he helped a lot of people who were not sophisticated and some who were. RIP, Rev. Billy." Agree with that, Tom. I think he was the real deal, even though I have some issues with evangelical theology. My Baptist grandparents loved him. They were "Northern Baptists" rather than Southern; they call them American Baptists now. They separated from the Southerns over slavery back in that day. Even my Catholic grandma kind of liked him. My parents were like, "Yeah, whatever." That pretty much describes my feeling about t.v. evangelists also; of any denomination. If it does something for you, fine. If not, it's optional.
ReplyDeleteThe PrayTell blog has an interesting piece about Graham and St. John Paul II.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.praytellblog.com/index.php/2018/02/21/billy-graham-and-pope-john-paul-ii/