Schuller Will Give Invocation for Republicans

The Rev. Robert H. Schuller said Friday that he has accepted an invitation to give the invocation at the Republican National Convention in New Orleans on the night Vice President George Bush accepts the GOP presidential nomination.

“I call that an honor,” Schuller said.

Evangelist Billy Graham and a representative of the Mormon church will be on the convention program, said Schuller, pastor and televangelist from Garden Grove’s Crystal Cathedral, a branch of the Reformed Church of America. Catholics have also been invited, he said.

Schuller said his invitation came from Bush personally.

No Endorsement

“This does not mean I’m going on record as endorsing him,” Schuller said. “I never endorse candidates. If I had been invited by Dukakis, I would have accepted that, too.”

Schuller said he once met Massachusetts Gov. Michael S. Dukakis, the Democratic nominee, but he has been personally acquainted with Bush and his wife Barbara since before Bush became vice president.

Bush and Schuller have corresponded in handwritten notes for years, said former Schuller aide Michael Nason. Schuller is more friend than pastor to Bush, said Nason, who added that Schuller did not seek a role at the convention.

“The vice president is extremely personal, quite disarming. Over the years, the relationship he’s established with Bob Schuller is genuine and goes beyond political,” said Nason, who called Bush a “possibility thinker.”

The two prayed together last month, the night of the California primary, in the Crystal Cathedral, Nason said. An organist played some of Bush’s favorite hymns, including “Just a Closer Walk to Thee,” he said.

In 1985, Bush sent videotaped birthday greetings to Schuller to inaugurate the Crystal Cathedral’s new 11 1/2-foot by 15-foot video screen.

Schuller has both Democrat and Republican friends, Nason said. “President Reagan is a good friend,” Nason added. Schuller has prayed with Ronald Reagan by the fireplace in the Oval Office and with Sen. Edward M. Kennedy (D-Mass.), he said. In 1978, he delivered the funeral service for Hubert Humphrey.

“I’m thankful for this,” Schuller said. “It will give me a chance to sincerely pray for what Republicans as well as Democrats seek, which is prosperity and peace in our land and in our world.”

He also expects his audience to be greater than the 2 million who watch his Sunday “Hour of Power” television program. “The nice thing is I wouldn’t have to ask them (viewers) to send letters (money), or buy air time,” he said.