Any Catholic preachers like Billy Graham?

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The reason is because in Catholicism, we support rationality over emotion, and emotion should flow from rationality. Paraphrasing and reusing that from the late, great Venerable Archbishop Fulton Sheen, so we are not so fiery and our conversions are much more calm.
The thing is, Billy Graham too was like 50 years ago as well, so why not count him?!
 
To be fair, in some places Evangelicals are seen as quite a culture shock in lots of places!
 
Agree 100%


^^^^^ Sounded like a positive message to me…and I say that as someone who’s never had any desire to be anything other than Catholic.
 
glencor63 said:
Reverend Billy Graham was called by God to evangelize. He was not called to convert non-believers to any particular sect or denomination. His mission was to spread the gospel
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Well written reply, and one I agree with 100%.

Especially with the Church debating and struggling with the role of laity, I think Rev Billy Graham p(name removed by moderator)oints exactly how a call from God could look like.
 
Archbishop Fulton Sheen was the Catholic Billy Graham.

The only difference was that Billy Graham lived longer and was able to focus more years devoted to evangelization.

Billy Graham was also in ministry longer from 24 years old till 99 years old.

Archbishop Sheen was in televangelist for less years than Billy Graham, but the good Archbishop was very much the televangelist as Graham.

God Bless
 
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Perhaps this is (somewhat) on topic.

It is an Australian talk on the need to evangelise with love.

 
Yes, Billy Graham’s are needed today; we also need preachers in the spirit of John the Baptist,
but I think that Pope Francis is such an authoritative preacher, even a stronger preacher, not in the sense of rhetoric and the ability to denounce but in the sense of moral and spiritual authority.
 
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My late MIL became a Christian in the UK many years ago after attending one of Billy Graham’s big conventions. Later on, she converted to Catholicism, but I think she always missed that old-style, passionate from-the-heart preaching that Rev Graham understood so well.

The congregations that are flourishing here in England are the evangelical community ones, not the Church of England ones.
 
Fr John Corapi’s way of preaching has brought many back to the Church.
 
TigerLily-1 said:
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observer333:
I have never heard the message of salvation, the Gospel, and the “centrality” of Christ so clearly preached as by Billy Graham (& similar evangelists). I
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I liked Billy Graham. He was very effective and there isn’t anyone, Catholic or otherwise, that I can think of who is even close in effectiveness. It was also a good thing that he directed people to join their own Churches.

Otherwise, Billy Graham preached a way of salvation (called “decision theology”) which is based on emotion. That theology needs an urgent and emotional style of preaching, urging people to invite Christ into their hearts and get “saved” along with altar calls (and ignoring Baptism and other Sacraments) and isn’t believed in or taught by any of the ancient Apostolic Churches or protestant churches of the Reformation.

As far as Catholic teachers, I like Bishop Barron.
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Many excellent posts in this thread. My thoughts:
  • The fact that Billy Graham could not reach all kinds of people does not diminish the value he had for reaching many kinds of (1950s) people.
  • Unlike many evangelicals he did see the importance of local church follow up. And like them, he did not see the value of sacraments or tradition, but perhaps some of the people he attracted back to Christian faith did revert back on their own to sacraments and tradition.
  • Graham succeeded at a time when the great majority of Americans knew who Jesus is; but they needed a reminder to get back in relationship with Him. America is far more secular now. Bishop Barron helps Catholics build on the faith they already have, but we need people who can connect with people who are not even thinking about Christianity at all.
  • Would it take an emotional style, perhaps to reach those millions who are now hurting? Or an intellectual style? Bishop Sheen could assume that most listeners then understood the value of Reason, so he could use Reason to bring people to Faith. Today the Church has to defend Reason, to explain the value of logic! Sheen didn’t need to do that. We do.
 
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commenter said:
Would it take an emotional style, perhaps to reach those millions who are now hurting? Or an intellectual style? Bishop Sheen could assume that most listeners then understood the value of Reason, so he could use Reason to bring people to Faith. Today the Church has to defend Reason, to explain the value of logic! Sheen didn’t need to do that. We do.
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Very true… but Archbishop Sheen could argue with reason in a way that even the most unreasonable person could understand.
 
As a side note Graham owed the success of his ministry -
to the fact of one rule he made all men keep -
Never - to be alone with a woman - anywhere - ever -
( not in a elevator 😛 not anywhere )
 
Fulton Sheen. Fulton Sheen. Fulton Sheen. A thousand times, Fulton Sheen.

Graham himself called Sheen “the greatest communicator of the twentieth century.”

Lots of material on YouTube.

(Please Note: This uploaded content is no longer available.)
 
I agree with others that Fulton Sheen is the winner.

Of course there are many wonderful Catholic evangelists great and small.
 
Fr John Riccardo has a show entitled Christ is the Answer that you can find on PodCasts. He’s not on EWTN much anymore (not sure why), but I have found him to be a wonderful orator. If you are lucky enough to live in Michigan, he is the Pastor as Our Lady of Good Counsel in the Detroit area.
 
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