BELMONT, N.C. — In 1967 Belmont Abbey was a small, unimposing
Catholic college seeking to make itself known.
For many colleges, the strategy then, as it is today, was to
invite well-known speakers to the campus to give a talk, sometimes in exchange
for an honorary degree.
The late Benedictine Father John Oetgen, a past president of the
college and a monk of the Belmont Abbey Monastery, had a groundbreaking idea:
invite the extremely popular evangelist the Rev. Billy Graham to the school for
a talk and a degree.
Rev. Graham, who was born in Charlotte, accepted. The groundbreaking
part was that the Baptist preacher had never before been invited to speak at a
Catholic institution.
"That was seen as quite a startling move — both that Billy
Graham would accept and that we would confer the (honorary) degree," said
Benedictine Abbot Placid Solari in Father Oetgen's obituary. "That sounds
strange now, but it was a forward-looking gesture at that time on both
parts."
A 1967 account of the event from the Gaston
Gazette in Gastonia quotes Rev. Graham as relishing the opportunity to
speak to Catholics. He called it "a time when Protestants and Catholics
could meet together and greet each other as brothers, whereas 10 years ago they
could not."
History professor Frank Murray, who was just starting his 50-year
tenure at the school, recalled: "Dr. Graham spoke in the Haid and it was
more packed than I had ever seen." At that time the Haid building was the
school's main nonliturgical gathering area for students.
Rev. Graham's talk was open to the public and nonstudents flocked
to the school. "I have never seen so many bibles on the Belmont Abbey
campus," quipped Murray.
Father Oetgen introduced the evangelist: "We welcome Dr.
Graham here tonight. Because of his presence we have received great praise and
recognition nationally."
But not all of the recognition was positive. A slew of websites
that can be found by using the search term "Billy Graham and Belmont
Abbey" are harshly critical of Rev. Graham's association with the Catholic
Church that began at the Benedictine Abbey in Belmont.
Rev. Graham often began his talks with some gentle humor. At the
abbey, Murray said that the preacher joked around saying, "I'm not sure
but this could start me being called 'Father Graham.'"
Rev. Graham was not alone in thinking like that. Murray, who was
seated among the monks who were also members of the faculty, overheard one of
them say, "Wouldn't it be marvelous to put a habit on this man and take
him into the monastery?"
In retrospect, Rev. Graham's talk that day answered his critics
by quoting the well-known first verse of the Book of Ecclesiastes: "Vanity
of vanities, all is vanity."
On a more serious note, Murray recalls that Rev. Graham
recognized the ecumenical gravity of the invitation from Belmont Abbey. "I
consider this a new stage in my ministry," said Rev. Graham.
Murray said Rev. Graham's speech was a blessing both for the
college and for Christianity. "He was open to everyone," he said.
Did the speech put Belmont Abbey on the map as Father Oetgen
intended? Murray said yes. "In every possible way."
Murray also witnessed talks at the school by Cardinal Terrance
Cooke; Archbishop Fulton Sheen; former President Gerald Ford; Jack Lynch,
president of the Republic of Ireland; and Werner Von Braun, father of the
modern rocket.
Rev. Graham went on to speak at many other Catholic institutions,
and in the late 1970s he had his first of several meeting with the pope. In
that meeting, St. John Paul II renewed Rev. Graham's call to ecumenical
friendship by calling the Charlotte native "a brother."
Father Oetgen, who according to Murray was never at a loss for
words, thanked Rev. Graham by saying, "Instead of praise, we should be
blamed for not inviting Dr. Graham a long time ago."
Hains, director of communications for the Diocese of
Charlotte, writes for the Charlotte News Herald, the diocesan newspaper.