What was in the news on Dec. 2, 1960?

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 Dec. 2, 1960, issue of The Criterion:

• Bishops’ committee censures drop in U.S. film standards: Body urges mass protest by Catholics
  • “WASHINGTON, D.C.—A committee of U.S. bishops has added flashes of lightning to the storm gathering over alleged sensationalizing in Hollywood films. The five bishops who guide the work of the National Legion of Decency charged Hollywood with ‘bold departures’ from decency and called for ‘an unmistakable national protest’ by the country’s 10 million Catholics. The bishops noted they are not alone in concern over the moral quality of movies today. ‘We cite the widespread criticism which recent Hollywood films have provoked throughout the entire country,’ they said.”
• Pope voices alarm over smut deluge
• NCCM Official: Declares laity must share blame for blurred image of the Church
  • “[Martin H. Work, executive director of the National Council of Catholic Men] stated that laymen have failed to give a true picture of the Church to non-Catholics in ‘many different ways,’ including: a frequently sectarian approach to community problems; a failure to understand that not every sin should be proscribed and punished as a crime by the state; an inclination to use pressure tactics where persuasion and community cooperation might be more effective. Mr. Work stressed that the Church must not be made to appear as a pressure bloc, a ‘custodian’ of ancient rules and rituals, or a mere administrative agency.”
• Violence in Haiti: Expelled Archbishop bares anti-Church plot
  • “MIAMI—Archbishop Francis Poirier, Primate of Haiti, charged here that his expulsion from the Caribbean republic was part of a long-standing government anti-Church campaign. Police secretly and suddenly hustled the Archbishop of Port-au-Prince out of Haiti on Thanksgiving Day. He was allowed to take with him on the plane flight to Miami only the clothes on his back, his passport and a dollar given him by a priest. Archbishop Poirier blamed his expulsion on the hostility of Haitian President Francois Duvalier’s regime, which he said is carrying on a constant effort to interfere with the work of the Church.”
• What U.S. Catholics are doing for interracial justice
• Lutherans plan book about Council
• Rabbis to study Council approach
• ‘King Basketball’ takes over CYO sports spotlight
• Religion is called human rights key

(Read all of these stories from our Dec. 2, 1960, issue by logging on to our special archives.) †