August 5, 2011

What was in the news on Aug. 4, 1961? Religion helps determine a family’s size, and Finland plans for its first priestly ordination since the Reformation

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, which is celebrating its 50th anniversary.

Here are some of the items found in the August 4, 1961, issue of The Criterion:

  • Red press prints data showing Polish youth remain Catholic
  • Find religion determines family size
    • “PRINCETON, N.J.—Religion provides a better forecast than economic class or status in determining how many children a young American couple desire to have, a survey completed by Princeton University’s Office of Population Research disclosed here. … Formerly it was thought that as nations progressed from agricultural to an industrial economy, and from a rural to an urban society, the birth rate would drop. This has certainly not been true in the United States, according to the authors.”
  • Protestant Journal: Salutes new encyclical
  • Catholic Intellectuals: Say ‘yes’ to present age
  • Church feels Pope’s loss of Cardinal
  • Economists talk against health plan
  • Train for the simple life, Pope advises seminarians
  • Nuns’ story: Little food, no privacy in Cuba
  • Dutch prelate hits nationalism
  • How radio brings knowledge to Colombian illiterates
  • Latin Viewpoint: Upholds right of poor to choice of schools
  • Dallas gets integration without fuss
  • Congo Catholic U graduates natives
  • Lutheran women decry obscenity
  • National Review versus Pope’s encyclical
  • Labor, industrial leaders praise social encyclical
  • Moslems visit Marian shrine
  • Mexico denies threat to schools
  • Around the Archdiocese: Parish picnics, dinners fill weekend calendar
  • First ordained since Reformation
    • “HELSINKI, Finland—The first priestly ordination in Finland since the Reformation will take place in September. … Finland has only some 2,200 Catholics in a total population of 4,400,000. They are served by 20 priests, 16 of whom are Religious, through five parishes.”
  • Respect other faiths, African bishops order
  • Questions modern morality
  • California gets strict smut law
  • Need centuries to solve the mystery of creation
    • “The universe may have been created all at once with a great cosmic explosion which sent matter flying in all directions, [Rev. Francis J. Heyden, S.J., director of the Georgetown University observatory] said, or the creation of matter may be a continuous process going on all the time in distant nebulae. But it will probably take man at least 20 or 30 centuries of research and space exploration to determine the final answer, the priest suggested.”
  • Religious groups seek new policy for immigration
  • Religious leaders back long-term foreign aid
  • Says Castro planned patriotic national church
  • Nun in modern dress

(Read all of these stories from our August 4, 1961, issue by logging on to our special archives.) †

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