January 7, 2011

What was in the news on Jan. 6, 1961? Latin America, the pope and much more

By Brandon A. Evans

50 Year LogoThis week, we continue to examine what was going on in the Church and the world 50 years ago as seen through the pages of The Criterion.

Here are some of the items found in the Jan. 6, 1961, issue of The Criterion:

  • Bare Red plot to subvert Church in Latin America
    • “RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil—Communists are carrying out an eight-point program designed to subvert the Church in Latin America, the Cardinal-Archbishop of Rio de Janeiro warned in a radio address. Cardinal Jaime de Barros Camara said the campaign stems from a secret directive given by the Chinese Communist party on February 1, 1960. The plan calls for communists to infiltrate the Church while imploring ‘God’s help in their propaganda,’ the Cardinal stated.”
  • Epiphany parties set in Richmond, Troy
  • Marian gets Lilly grant of $12,500
  • ‘Operation Squeeze’: How one parish eased its financial problems
  • Pontiff to commemorate famed Labor encyclical
    • “VATICAN CITY—His Holiness Pope John XXIII has announced he will issue a document to commemorate the 70th anniversary of the publication of Pope Leo XIII’s encyclical on labor, ‘Rerum Novarum.’ Pope John made his announcement at an audience for diplomats at the Holy See who had come to extend New Year’s greetings. … “We shall therefore promulgate—to celebrate worthily the great encyclical of Pope Leo XIII—a document which will confirm, by adding Our voice to those of Our great predecessors, the constant concern the Church has now not only toward one part or another of the social orders, but toward all together, according to the needs of the time in which we live.’
  • Five children die while parents are at Midnight Mass
  • ‘St. Michael’s Plan’: Collections more than doubled in Greenfield ‘tithing’ experiment
    • By Paul G. Fox: “GREENFIELD, Ind.—“Give God His Share” is the slogan of the 165 families in St. Michael’s parish here. Father Daniel Nolan, pastor of the 100-year-old parish, says he is ‘pleased but not complacent’ since he introduced the tithing program here nearly two years ago. During the past 20 months, the Sunday collection increased from an average of $250 to nearly $600. The parish debt was reduced over $35,000 during the same period. … Core of the ‘St. Michael’s plan’ is a six-man parish finance committee which meets every two weeks to record the individual contributions, analyze the collection and devise means to increase the Sunday collections.”
  • Family Clinic: The morality of kissing prompts a question
  • Social Reform: Is Church in America entering a new era?
  • Holy Trinity captures holiday tourney
  • Catholic overseas relief tops all other agencies
  • Says Orthodox won’t unite with Rome
  • Pope John renews appeal for lay participation
  • Four religions to participate in inauguration

(Read all of these stories from our Jan. 6, 1961, issue by logging on to our special archives.) †

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