November 26, 2010

What was in the news on Nov. 25, 1960?

By Brandon A. Evans

50 Year LogoThis 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. 25, 1960, issue of The Criterion:

  • Trujillo radio opens drive against religious schools
  • Government and music: New Albany parishioner combines two careers
  • Pope praises U.S. bishops’ aid program
  • San Juan prelate retracts chancery office threats
    • “CHICAGO—The Archbishop of San Juan has flatly denied that the Church will punish Catholics who failed to heed their Bishops’ instructions on how to vote. On the contrary, he said, ‘the pardon they desire’ is extended to all such Catholics. Archbishop James P. Davis did not directly refer to a San Juan chancery statement calling for denial of Sacraments to disobedient Catholics and public repentance by them, but he said: ‘Recent statements reported in the press as coming from the chancery office of the San Juan archdiocese were not authorized by the Archbishop of San Juan and, therefore, are without effect.’ ”
  • U.S. Bishops stress the need for personal responsibility
  • Nigerian student alerts homeland to Red threat
  • Question Box: What is the truth about faith-healing?
  • Little Flower wins Cadet football title
  • Increase is noted in class B films
    • “WASHINGTON—The National Legion of Decency rated as objectionable nearly a quarter of the U.S. films it reviewed last year, compared with about 14 percent the year before. The 26-year-old Church agency charted with classifying films by moral content said 24.33 percent of the 222 U.S. films it looked at were put in class ‘B,’ morally objectionable in part for all.”
  • Dutch Catholics promote dialogue
  • Decadent films aid Reds, hurt West, official says
  • Artificial life creation ‘compatible’ with dogma
    • “ROME—The Italian Catholic Medical Association officially declared that ‘the creation of life, or of living beings, by artificial means is not in opposition to the doctrine or dogma of the Catholic Church.’ … Professor Mario Torrioli of the Rome Chemical Institute explained that one of several molecules of the substance now known as ADN and produced in laboratories ‘presented a functional, reproductive and formative activity proving the experimental creation of life.’ … ‘Science today is almost capable of creating life,’ Father [Giuseppe] Bosio said. ‘The Church always has admitted the possibility of spontaneous generation, and life in a test tube can be, and will be, considered spontaneous without changing one iota of our religious doctrine.’ ”
  • Italian bishops charge State bias

(Read all of these stories from our Nov. 25, 1960, issue by logging on to our special archives.) †

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