December 6, 2013

What was in the news on Dec. 6, 1963?

Pope Paul VI closes the second session of the council, and announces a trip to the Holy Land

Criterion logo from the 1960sBy 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 Dec. 6, 1963, issue of The Criterion:

  • Pope Paul VI announces plans for historic trip to Holy Land
    • “VATICAN CITY—Pope Paul VI closed the second session of the ecumenical council Wednesday with a dramatic announcement that he will make an historic pilgrimage to the Holy Land. The visit, planned for next month, will be the first time a pontiff has set foot on Holy Land soil since St. Peter left Palestine and established the papacy in Rome. Vatican sources said the pope would travel by plane—the first pontiff to do so. It probably would be by chartered airliner. Pope John XXIII did some flying, but not as Supreme Pontiff. … It also will be the first time a pope has left Italy since the time of Pius VII, who died in 1823. Pius VII was taken prisoner by Napoleon and carried to Fontainebleau, France.”
  • 2nd council session comes to a close
  • More power is accorded to bishops
  • U.S. bishops meet: Steps are taken to bring English into the Mass
    • “VATICAN CITY—Preliminary steps to change parts of the Mass from Latin to English have been taken by the hierarchy of the United States at a meeting here, Archbishop Paul J. Hallinan of Atlanta said in an interview. Legislation permitting these changes, approved overwhelmingly by the Fathers of the Second Vatican Council, was solemnly promulgated by Pope Paul VI at the closing public assembly on December 4. Archbishop Hallinan told this correspondent that the American Bishops voted full use of the concessions granted in the new decrees, which allow the vernacular language in the parts of the Mass that are said aloud up to the Offertory, with one exception, the Collect. In addition, the Bishops agreed to English for the Offertory, Sanctus, the Lord’s Prayer, the Agnus Dei, the Domine non sum dingus, and the Communion antiphons. Asked how the decrees would affect the administration of the sacraments, Archbishop Hallinan said that the entire rite, as for instance in Baptism, is from now on permissible in English.”
  • Third session set: Liberality is keynote of final council week
  • Novitiate dedication set at Lady of Grace
  • Parish men challenged by bishop
  • Kennedy stamp
  • Orthodox prelate praises council
  • Editor comments from Rome: The second session—its disappointments and accomplishments
  • The Catcher in the Rye defended by nun-teacher
  • Matt Talbot cause progress reported
  • Urges nuns stress public relations
  • 4 of 10 teachers are lay persons
  • Unanimity is hailed as session highlight
  • President Johnson asks prompt action on civil rights bill
  • Urges Catholic schools to add a ninth grade
  • College founds Kennedy medal
  • LaFarge memorial planned in Israel
  • 30,000 take part in rights march

(Read all of these stories from our Dec. 6, 1963, issue by logging on to our special archives.) †

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