January 10, 2014

What was in the news on Jan. 10, 1964?

Pope Paul VI makes a historic trip to the Holy Land, and an editorial rails again miscegenation laws

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 Jan. 10, 1964, issue of The Criterion:

  • Pilgrim pontiff seen fulfilling three-fold aim
    • “JERUSALEM, Jordan—Pope Paul VI, in the opinion of observers here, went far toward achieving the three main purposes of his pilgrimage to the Holy Land: to promote Christian unity, to foster world peace and to manifest the Church to the world. His efforts for Christian unity were highlighted by his two meetings with Orthodox Ecumenical Patriarch Athenagoras of Constantinople, who said the meetings will ‘become the prelude of a mutual communion, the dawn of a luminous and blessed day, in which future generations, communing in the same chalice of the most precious Blood and Body of the Lord, will glorify the only Lord and Saviour in charity, peace and unity.’ … [Pope Paul] was the first pope in more than five centuries to meet with a patriarch of Constantinople.”
  • Meeting of pope and patriarch breaks centuries-old precedent
  • Pope elevates six priests of the archdiocese
  • Family Day observance this Sunday
  • Fr. Hoffman dies at 89; was retired
  • LBJ hopes to meet with pope
  • Liturgy decree not only matter of vernacular
  • Seeks a better break on insurance for nuns
  • Church attendance poll is conducted
  • The pilgrim returns: Triumphant welcome given pope in Rome
  • Says council statement on Jews will not die
  • Fr. Gustave Weigel dies of heart attack
  • Editorial: One human race
    • “The Christian Church knows only one race, and that is the human race. … This is so basic to Christian thinking that through the centuries Church and civil law in Christian countries never even took into consideration the possibility that color of skin or national origins could in any way become an obstacle to marriage. Laws prohibiting interracial marriage are modern aberrations that sprang from an erroneous and altogether pagan notion which ignored the dignity of the human person and aimed at preserving racial stock pure and unmixed, as though men were so many cattle. … The present law against miscegenation is an evil denial of a fundamental human right. … It is way past time for Indiana to rectify a serious mistake and eliminate a law that is immoral, un-Christian and un-American.”
  • Chair of Unity Octave intentions reworded
  • Pope Paul emphasizes the role of the layman
  • Cardinal Bea stresses renewed bishops’ role
  • Marian homecoming slated this weekend
  • Catholic men to return visit of Presbyterians
  • Vietnam see gets an administrator
  • Churches concerned with bills in Congress
  • Pope leaves gifts in the Holy Land
  • Airborne greeting from pope

(Read all of these stories from our Jan. 10, 1964, issue by logging on to our special archives.) †

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