What was in the news on Jan. 27, 1961? Cardinal Ritter and integration

By Brandon A. Evans

This 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. 27, 1961, issue of The Criterion:

• Cardinal Ritter pays warm tribute to the Archdiocese
  • “Cardinal Joseph E. Ritter, Indiana’s first native-born Prince of the Church, has never forgotten the Archdiocese of Indianapolis. Again and again, while in Rome for the sacred consistories at which he was formally elevated, the former Archbishop of Indianapolis made fond reference to the See in which he was educated and where he spent so many years of his priestly and episcopal life. … In a special statement for The Criterion, Cardinal Ritter said: ‘I am keenly aware that in honoring me the Holy Father has also honored the Archdiocese of Indianapolis, where I was born and educated and where I served as priest and bishop for so many years. The faithful of the Archdiocese of Indianapolis have always been close to my heart, but never more so than in these happy days when I have had reason to be grateful for the devotion and loyal cooperation they gave me during my years in Indianapolis.’ ”
• Vatican City daily praises inaugural speech by Kennedy
• Castro vents ire against clergy
• Chicago prelate issues statement on integration
  • “CHICAGO—Cardinal Albert Meyer has told the priests of the Archdiocese of Chicago to accept Negroes freely into their parishes, schools, hospitals and other institutions. He told them they must do so because ‘all men are equal in the sight of God’ and because ‘we are bound to love our fellow man.’ His instructions were given in a history-making policy statement at a clergy conference last September. ‘We must remove from the Church on the local scene any possible taint of racial segregation,’ he said, ‘and help provide the moral leadership for eliminating racial discrimination from the whole community. We must do it, because the glory of Christ demands it.’ ”
• Catholics played major role in War Between the States
• Recall work of Sisters at Civil War hospital
• Bishop defends priest in sit-in demonstration
• Prayer seen more needed for unity than dialogue
• 120 to compete for Style Show awards Sunday
• Bloomington dance raises $260 for Polio Fund
• Panel condemns drive-in movies
  • “AKRON, Ohio—Drive-in theaters were condemned as a source of sin for teenagers at a panel discussion sponsored by the Council of Parents and Teachers here. … [Father Anthony W. Zepp] said operators of a public entertainment place have a responsibility to their patrons, and stressed that the situation at drive-in theaters is ‘definitely and positively a moral problem.’ ‘Decent boys and girls misbehave at drive-ins too,’ the priest said. ‘Double-dating is no benefit. You only find the back seat doing what the front seat is doing.’”
• Pope gives Indonesia a Catholic hierarchy

(Read all of these stories from our Jan. 27, 1961, issue by logging on to our special archives.) †