Before a September Crusade in New Jersey and an afternoon rally in New York, the Billy Graham organization contacted local Roman Catholic archdioceses to prepare counselors to deal with Catholics who respond to his altar calls.

After the request, Cardinal John O'Connor of New York and Archbishop McCarrick of New Jersey sent letters to the "episcopal vicars urging them to contact pastors and parochial vicars to designate 'parishioners who may assist us in our efforts to return as many Catholics as possible to the practice of their faith,'" according to the Catholic diocesan newspaper, The Tidings.

The news article explained that those follow-up cards indicating a church preference of Catholic will be turned over by the Billy Graham organization to the local Catholic congregations. "Billy Graham's intent as a dynamic preacher is to move people to give themselves to the Lord by returning to the practice of their faith in the religious denominataion of their choice," Cardinal O'Connor said.