Triumph of tolerance
Media
Part of The Cabletow
- Title
- Triumph of tolerance
- Language
- English
- Source
- The Cabletow XXXVIII (1) July 1962
- Year
- 1962
- Rights
-
- Fulltext
- Triumph of Tolerance Leaving his hotel in Lima Peru, one clay last week, the Rev. Billy Graham was buttonholed by a Cath olic clergyman. "We priest could not go to hear you,” the man said almost apologetically, “but I want you to know that we who heard you on the radio were impressed by what vou said — and what vou said were words of God.” In overwhelmingly Catholic Latin America, this was a warm gesture in deed. Moreover, it was fairly typi cal of the surprisingly amiable recep tion encountered by the evangelist during his four-week crusade through Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador, Pe ru, and Chile. The U.S. State Department had been nervous about Dr. Graham’s plan to preach in Bogota, Colombia, where Catholic-Protestant relations are particularly touchy. “As it turn ed out," reported the evangelist, "there was nothing, not one jeer. Not one stone was thrown. There was nothing but warm welcome everywhere. All of it was far be yond anything we had anticipated.” The reason for this Dr. Graham guessed, was Pope John’s "tolerance and understanding of other religious groups” and also President Kenne dy’s Latin-American visit, which A A ■’brought a lot of goodwill and made it easy for me." Obviously, Dr. Graham was inten tionally overlooking one sour inci dent in Colombia. There, the ma yor of Barranquilla barred him from using the municipal stadium on the ground that his advance worker had broken a law allowing only Catholics to proselyte in public. Unswerved by this obstacle, the evangelist shift ed the meeting to the grounds of a Presbyterian school and drew a whooping crowd of 19,000 for two meetings. Later a leading Catholic citizen apologized for the mayor’s rul ing, and a group of Protestant clergy presented Dr. Graham with a set of cuff links and an emerald-studded lie clasp. ‘There is a strong and dynamic Protestanism in SouthAmerica with great courage, faith and boldness in the face of many difficulties,” said Billy. In Quito, Galo Plaza, former President of Ecuador, summed up much of Latin America’s reaction to the evangelist when he declared that his preaching — attended by some •100,000 people — transcended reli gious barriers, “Dr. Graham’s cam paign," he said, “is benefiting all — Catholics, Protestants, and non-Christians.” —Xeu'week Feb. 26 1962 12 THE CABLE TOW July,
- pages
- 12