December 13, 2013

What was in the news on Dec. 13, 1963?

The ecumenical motivation of the pope’s upcoming Holy Land trip, and disappointment over the council

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. 13, 1963, issue of The Criterion:

  • Ecumenical motive stressed in pope’s Holy Land trip
    • “ROME—Vatican Radio has described the ‘ecumenical aspects’ of Pope Paul VI’s imminent pilgrimage to Jerusalem as having ‘extraordinary importance.’ The Vatican Radio commentary on the journey filled in a void of facts which had followed the announcement of the dates of the visit—January 4 to 6.”
  • Jordanians, Israeli hail pope’s visit
  • Council success seen in change of outlook
  • Shift in ownership: Brothers to take over Cathedral High School
    • “Tentative agreement was reached this week between the Archdiocese and the Brothers of Holy Cross, Notre Dame, to transfer control of Cathedral High School to the religious community, the Chancery Office has announced. Effective date for the proposed change in administration is June 1964. According to Msgr. James P. Galvin, archdiocesan superintendent of schools, the change is being made to‘provide more efficient administration under a single authority.’ The school has been operated by the diocese since its opening in 1918.”
  • Egyptians are critical
  • Msgr. Grosbergs raised to domestic prelate
  • Layman’s appraisal: U.S. bishops ‘emerging’ as a council power
  • Cardinal predicts early use of English in Mass
  • Schulte High sets Christmas music, drama program
  • Confessions in foreign languages
  • Bomb papal birthplace
  • Top U.S. civilian medal given Pope John, J.F.K.
  • Oldest bishop dies in Rome at age 101
  • ‘Singing Nun’ set for Sullivan Show
  • Major disappointment: Why Chapters IV and V were not put to council vote
    • “VATICAN CITY—The Catholic bishops of the world, gathered in the 21st Ecumenical Council in the history of the Church, were not able to vote to condemn anti-Semitism nor to ratify in effect the declaration of Pope John XXIII’s last encyclical, ‘Pacem in Terris’: ‘Every human being has the right to honor God according to the dictates of an upright conscience and therefore the right to worship God privately and publicly.’ The second session of Vatican Council II closed without the expected—and promised—vote which would have accepted or rejected chapters IV and V of the schema on ecumenism as a basis for further discussion.”

(Read all of these stories from our Dec. 13, 1963, issue by logging on to our special archives.) †

Local site Links: