Lord Send Revival: A Catholic Deacon Looks at the Asbury Revival and Remembers Chuck Colson

I watched with great hope as the story unfolded on the campus of Asbury University in Asbury, Kentucky. A great article by Gina Christian, of Our Sunday Visitor, entitled "'Jesus was right next to me': Asbury revival sets Catholics on fire with Holy Spirit should be read by all sincere, faithful Christians, Orthodox, Catholic or Protestant. As a member of the Catholic Clergy, I was happy to read of Catholic interest in this hopeful event.

As many of us enter the forty Day pilgrimage of Faith called Lent, I believe the event in Asbury should focus our prayer. We need a "Revival" in every segment of the faithful Christian community, across the confessional lines. We need Jesus Christ. We need the Holy Spirit.
 
In watching this move of the Holy Spirit unfold on that campus in Kentucky, I was reminded of the early days of the wonderful work of the Lord resuscitating what is now called the Franciscan University of Steubenville. It was then called the College of Steubenville. I followed the Late Fr Michael Scanlan to Steubenville in those early days, finishing my undergraduate work at the College of Steubenville, and commuting to Law School in Pittsburgh so that I could remain a part of the work of the Holy Spirit. In 1990 my first full length book entitled "Evangelical Catholics" was published. I dedicated a chapter to what I called "Classical Revival at a Catholic College".   That is what happened. 

My friend, the late Chuck Colson, wrote the forward to that book. On April 21, 2012, at 3:12 p.m., Chuck Colson, went home to the Lord he loved. The entire Christian community, Protestant, Orthodox and Catholic, lost one of its greatest voices. Chuck was eighty years old and was with his wife Patty and the family, in the circle of love, as he passed from death to life. 

I prayed then, that his life witness would be like a grain of wheat and bear continuing fruit in the whole Christian community, for the sake of the world.  When I heard he was close to death I recalled the words of another great prophetic voice, an Orthodox Christian named Alexander Solzhenitsyn. Chuck and I shared an admiration for him. He spoke these words to the US Congress in 1975: 

"Very soon only too soon, your country will stand in need of not just exceptional men but of great men. Find them in your souls. Find them in your hearts; find them in depths of your country." 
 

Chuck Colson was one of those great men, a man of true Christian courage. He spoke truth to lies without any fear. He faced down the enemies of authentic freedom and refused to be intimidated. I followed his fruitful work and always felt joined to him. I remember him with great brotherly affection. 

Chuck Colson always pointed out that the path to authentic freedom leads to the foot of Golgotha's Hill and through to the empty tomb - to all who would listen. He was the kind of Christian leader we desperately need in this critical hour.  I mourned his passing and still miss him. I thought of him as I read, watched, and heard of the move of the Holy Spirit at Asbury College.  

Chuck wrote the forward to my first book entitled Evangelical Catholics. That was back before it was "cool" to even suggest that Catholics and Evangelical Protestants should work together. I claimed in my verbose subtitle, we had "to penetrate the darkness with the light of the Gospel"  together. I still believe that.

I became the Dean of Students at the College in the 1990's, leaving the private practice of law. I served as a major administrator, General Counsel and finally became the first Dean of Evangelization. In my heart I was then - and I still am - a Catholic Evangelist with a heart for the genuine unity of the One Church of Christ. 

Among my tasks as a Dean - during what I called in a chapter of that first book the "classical revival at a Catholic College" - Fr Michael Scanlan asked me to reach out to the great Evangelical Protestant leaders on behalf of him and the College. Our goal was to build an alliance of Christians who would stand together for life, family, and freedom. 

Of course, Chuck Colson was right at the top of the list, along with Dr. James Dobson. Chuck Colson responded immediately to Fr Michaels invitation to come to the campus. I brought him to the Steubenville to receive the Poverello Award, named after the "little poor man", St. Francis of Assisi, whom the Lord used to bring "revival" to the Church in his day. That began a friendship between us which lasted for years.

 I visited with him in the early days at Prison Fellowship. We forged what I hope helped to promote what is now, decades later, the relationship between what I still call "evangelical" Catholics, Orthodox and Protestant Christians, making common cause together.  

Chuck writing the forward to Evangelical Catholics back then took a lot of courage. I made a claim which got some people quite upset - at least back then. That all Christians were to be "evangelical". Chuck and I were both pilloried, he for endorsing the claim and me for writing the book. He had much more at risk. He was already considered one of the great evangelical Protestant Christian leaders of the twentieth century. 

I remember one conversation at a lunch we shared together. After we had discussed many things - a young man learning from an older Christian leader - we spoke of the mission we faced together in an increasingly secularized West.

The outpouring of the Holy Spirit at Asbury College reminded me of the urgency of the hour in which we now live. It also rekindled in me the conviction that in this age which has forgotten God, we need to find a way to stand together again. 

Lord, send Revival. Rebuild Your Church. 

--------------------------------------------

Deacon Keith Fournier is a member of the Catholic clergy, a Deacon of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Richmond, Virginia, who is currently serving in the Catholic Diocese of Tyler, Texas. He has been ordained for twenty-seven years. He and his wife Laurine have been married for forty-seven years and have five grown children and eight grandchildren. 

Deacon Fournier currently assists Bishop Joseph Strickland, serving as a Deacon in the Diocese of Tyler, Texas. Among his assignments, he serves as General Legal Counsel, Theological Advisor, Director of Deacon Formation and Dean of Catholic Identity for the Bishop T.K. Gorman Catholic School. He is also the Dean and Chaplain of Catholic Online School,