January 9, 2015

What was in the news on January 8, 1965?

News of the final council session in the fall, and a controversial TV series is withdrawn at bishops’ request

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 January 8, 1965, issue of The Criterion:

  • Final council session opens September 14
    • “VATICAN CITY—Pope Paul VI has decided that the fourth and final session of the ecumenical council will start on September 14, 1965. The pope made his decision known [on Jan. 4] at an audience with Cardinal Amleto Cicognani, papal Secretary of State. The Vatican announced it the next day. The pope again emphasized that the fourth will be the last council session.”
  • TV series withdrawn at bishops’ request
    • “NEW YORK—A four-part television series examining the Catholic Church’s teachings on marriage and birth control, scheduled to begin on Sunday, Jan. 3, was withdrawn upon the request of a number of American bishops two days before the first program was to be telecast. Produced by the National Council of Catholic Men, the program was to have been shown over four consecutive weeks on 100 NBC stations throughout the nation. The ‘Catholic Hour’ series has an audience of 1,500,000 each Sunday. No announcement of the cancellation was made before airtime. … Opposition by so-called conservative prelates was cited as the determining factor in withdrawing the series. …. Some bishops, it was said, pointed to Pope Paul’s request that no further ‘pronouncements’ on the Church’s position on birth control be made until a special study ordered by the pontiff has been completed. The pope’s statement was interpreted as asking Churchmen to avoid talk that would question the Church’s traditional stance against birth control. Philip Scharper, noted Catholic layman, author and editor of Sheed & Ward, was narrator of the programs. He said that the series constituted ‘a balanced, sane, non-partisan presentation of the birth control issue up to the present.’ The programs were ‘really quite good,’ he added.”
  • Cathedral will host unity visit
  • Pope acts to improve relations with Arabs
  • Obscenity case raises key issues
  • Grade school friendship leads to Peru missions
  • Archdiocesan record: Mission charity tops $500,000
  • Abp. Lucey to invoke at inaugural
  • Joint inauguration rite set
  • Ecumenism decree text
  • ‘A hopeful start’: Unity Secretariat goal: self-abolition
  • Teach in archdiocese: Cubans put their talents to work
  • Voices grief at Congo slaying
  • Jewish man to build convent
  • Teach children to live in society, parents told
  • Book banned 30 years published by Vatican
  • Fr. McManus heads liturgy secretariat
  • Says bad ones aren’t only the dirty ones
  • Entirely new society seen in Latin America
  • 4th session agenda is discussed
  • Canonists study role of religious in today’s world
  • Slate ‘Centennial of Science’ at ND
  • Priests permitted to doff cassocks
  • Rap plan to open Birch libraries
  • Hearings on smut are scheduled
  • Law still pending: Franco voices support of religious liberty
  • A new approach: President ‘exploring’ school aid
  • Pope Paul VI extends New Year greetings
  • Vernacular expansion is proposed
  • Priest gives sermon at Anglican service

(Read all of these stories from our January 8, 1965, issue by logging on to our special archives.) †

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