What was in the news on Sept. 22, 1961? Red China’s ‘terrorist tactics’ on Catholics, and a plea to remove birth control from the political arena

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, which is celebrating its 50th anniversary.

Here are some of the items found in the September 22, 1961, issue of The Criterion:

• Chinese schismatic church failure, Fides agency reports
  • “ROME—Red China’s attempt to force Chinese Catholics to break away from the Holy See has failed in spite of terrorist tactics, it has been reported here by Fides, mission news agency. The schismatic ‘patriotic’ church set up under communist pressure, the news agency said, is only a ‘skeletal’ organization headed by 35 illicitly consecrated bishops and ‘a very feeble number of priests.’ But its failure, Fides added, has not altered ‘the tragic state of the true Church in China’—the great majority of Catholics who have remained loyal to the Holy See.”
• Chinese, Indian Sisters cross paths at Woods
• ‘Blow to Religion’: New education curbs evoke crisis in Poland
• Centennial to be marked by St. Meinrad Parish
• Protestant attitude to Council praised
• Pontiff deplores Cuba persecution
• Groundbreaking set for church of the Little Flower
• Marian College opens its 25th year
• Jesuits reported as largest order
• Interfaith leaders laud unity moves
• Commies broadcast contraception tips
• Aid-to-schools ‘encore’ expected in two years
• Pope again urges quest for peace
• Ask parents to ban dates by high school freshmen
• Bishop puts ban on steady dating by high schoolers
• Legion of Mary leader slain
• Back TV programs on Negro problems
• Women’s retreat slated for Tell City Deanery
• Castro exiles bishop, 135 priests, religious
• Send regrets on Hammarskjold’s death
• ‘Remove birth control from political arena’
  • “NEW YORK—A Catholic educator and author has urged Americans to unite in an effort to remove the birth control dispute from the political and social arena. Father John A. O’Brien, research professor of theology at the University of Notre Dame, also suggested that the National Institutes of Health undertake a research program to render the rhythm method of birth control 100 percent effective—thus helping to resolve the controversy between Catholics and non-Catholics over birth control methods. … He notes that in recent decades, ‘no controversy … has caused more tension, rancor and strife among religious groups’ in the U.S. than birth control.”
• Delegate blesses new printing plant for Sunday Visitor

(Read all of these stories from our September 22, 1961, issue by logging on to our special archives.) †