December 5, 2014

What was in the news on December 4, 1964?

Editorials note the reaction to the ‘new Mass,’ and the launching of an important space mission

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 December 4, 1964, issue of The Criterion:

  • Record throngs greet Pope Paul on India trip
  • An over-all appraisal: Third session brought council to maturity
  • Jordanian Catholics answer press attack
  • Tiara made gift to U.S. Catholics
  • Dedication slated at Ritter High
  • Pope consecrates 6 bishops in India
  • Saw ‘faults’ in statement on freedom
  • Orthodox to hear Providence nun
  • Urges Bishops’ Board to help rule Church
  • Sees no suppression of Marian devotions
  • Britain preparing vocations exhibit
  • Archdiocesan program: Course is held for catechists
  • Sought prelate’s freedom: Tells of dramatic Khrushchev interview
  • Editorial: Bon voyage
    • “Man poked his finger deeper into the cosmos last week. If all goes well, the next Fourth of July should find Americans and the whole world in a dither. The rocketing of the interplanetary spaceship, Mariner 4, from Cape Kennedy toward Mars is a long-shot effort to get some fairly close television photos and other data about the intriguing planet 325 million miles away, as spacecraft fly.”
  • Editorial: Meaningful Mass
    • “An elderly parishioner wept as she uttered the words of the Kyrie, the ancient cry for mercy. But her faltering voice joined the swelling intonation of the vernacular as liturgical history was made throughout the archdiocese. Whether she wept for the ‘old ways’ or for what she had been missing all these years, we shall not venture to guess. The sweeping reforms of the Vatican Council came to churches in cities, towns and villages last Sunday. To expect changes in centuries-old customs and traditions to meet with unqualified approval is foolish. No doubt many clergy and laity still have misgivings about the inception and future of the updated Mass. To have disturbed the perfect prayer, the perfect sacrifice, they deem unwise. Precisely because the Mass was not the perfect prayer for a majority of Catholics, the council stepped in with a solution for what some Church leaders have called the ‘Sunday-morning crisis.’ Meaningful worship must not only be acceptable to God, but intelligible to the worshiper. In too many congregations, the Mass had become a communication between God and the clergy, with too many laity being detached, often disinterested, bystanders. The changes are spiritually wholesome. As they are more fully implemented and more fully understood by both priest and layman, the Vatican council harvest will be reaped in joyful abundance.”
  • Question Box: Should I buy a new missal?
  • ‘Obsolescence’ seen threatening K of C
  • Shipboard college group sees pope
  • Benedictines plan microfilming of rare manuscripts
  • Allocate funds for mission work in Latin America
  • Snowstorm interferes with Quiz
  • Chatard musicians will entertain
  • Detroit University gives up football
  • New stamp honors Chinese scholar
  • Musical comedy set by Theatre Guild
  • Vicar general for laity named
  • Franciscan Brother leads farmer’s life
  • Magdalen Sisters announce change in their name
  • Nun tells grim story of Congo atrocities
  • Denies charges Pius XII had sympathy for Nazis

(Read all of these stories from our December 4, 1964, issue by logging on to our special archives.) †

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