What was in the news on Nov. 1, 1963?

The latest news from Rome about the council, and the involvement of America’s bishops

(Editor’s note: On Oct. 31, 1963, a gas explosion at the Indiana State Fairgrounds Coliseum killed 74 people in the largest disaster in Indianapolis history. Because that week’s issue of The Criterion had already been printed, coverage of the event, including the ministry of priests and religious sisters who responded to the tragedy, appeared in the Nov. 8 issue. Check this column next week to see how we covered the disaster.)

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.

Here are some of the items found in the Nov. 1, 1963, issue of The Criterion:

• Bulletin
  • “At press time Thursday morning, the Associated Press carried reports that the council Fathers have adopted the view that the Church’s bishops as a whole, and by divine right, possess in union with the pope ‘full and supreme power over the universal Church,’ but that the pope retains his primacy. The press also stated that the council Fathers approved in principle the revival of permanent deacons, but did not go into the question of whether the deacons might by married.”
• Late pontiff’s anniversary marked by historic address
• U.S. bishops at council: Request racial equality, Church-State positions
  • “VATICAN CITY—America’s bishops provided the highlights of the fourth week of the ecumenical council’s second session by calling for council statements denouncing racial discrimination and clarifying Church-State relations. … Bishop Victor J. Reed of Oklahoma City and Tulsa reported that the U.S. bishops did not like the phrase ‘regrettable separation’ of Church and State that was in the council document under discussion. He said the experience of the bishops in the U.S. where Church and State are separated ‘has been very good.’ Bishop Robert E. Tracy of Baton Rouge, La., said the council should make it clear that racial discrimination cannot be ‘reconciled with the truth … that God creates all men equal in rights and dignity.’ ”
• Plan would speed up work of the council
• Anti-racism stand taken by UN unit
• Departure ceremonies slated at St. Meinrad
• Council tidbits: Red light indicates when pope’s watching
• Council progress toward ecumenism
• Fields loaded questions: Quick-witted Fr. Gustave Weigel is council’s press corps favorite
• Editor comments from Rome: Council session is bogging down in morass of long-winded oratory
• Negro protest campaign is not a ‘revolution’
• North Vietnam bishops excluded from council
• Permanent diaconate needed, prelate says

(Read all of these stories from our Nov. 1, 1963, issue by logging on to our special archives.) †