Influence

Over the years what I have always read about, heard about, and believed was Billy Graham had a way to proclaim Christ and be a friend of high powered people without having much of a political agenda.

Then I came across a documentary on a Catholic priest named Theodore Hesburgh. It was unreal how he influenced major government decisions across the board, from Civil Rights to nuclear treaties to the Vietnam War.

I guess I grew up really not having a positive view of the Catholic Church to miss someone THAT influential.

I am now ready an autobiography on Dorothy Day and I continue to be stunned by my own ignorance. (I get more impressed with it every year, quite frankly.)

As I came to the end of the documentary on Father Hesburgh, I wrote: “I’ll never have his impact, but I would sure love his heart and spirit!”

We need prophetic voices in our culture that cut through political and ideological loyalties. We need voices of love and friendship that will lift up Christ and not take agendas into meetings. We’ve definitely lost that in the last few decades. We may never get it back. But I would sure love to have that man’s spirit and heart at least in my local setting.