November 21, 2014

What was in the news on November 20, 1964?

Editorials discuss the early arrival of Christmas, and the remembrance of a sad anniversary

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 November 20, 1964, issue of The Criterion:

  • Bishops move to apply ‘aggiornamento’ to U.S.
  • Editor comments from Rome: A vast amount of work begets council schema
  • State aid for schools issue aired at council
  • Campaign for clothing announced
  • ‘Dialogue’ is delayed
  • Council tidbits: It’s a woman’s world, all right
  • U.S. bishops approve grant for Montezuma
  • Announce prelates on NCWC board
  • Drop ‘Thou’s, Thee’s’: New epistle, Gospel use ‘modern’ English
  • New texts of epistle, Gospel for Nov. 29th
  • Editorial: The rush is on
    • “Last Saturday, the temperature was about 70. Maples still were shedding. Youngsters were romping around in T-shirts and shorts. Sweltering beneath a synthetic beard and fur-trimmed suit, the season’s first Santa arrived in Indianapolis that day. This out-of-kilter business pointed to the practice of storming the gates of Bethlehem almost in the dying flicker of a Halloween jack-o-lantern candle. The stampede to Santaland is on. No sooner did classrooms open for the 1964-65 season than back-to-school sales counters were rearranged for Yuletide baubles. Thanksgiving? Guess that’s for pilgrims and supermarkets. … Must the hapless citizen be subjected to a two-month barrage of gaudied glee, phony sentiment, and frenzied pressure before the frost is even on the pumpkin and the turkey is in the oven?”
  • Editorial: Anniversary
    • “A year ago, November 22 fell on a Friday. It was, for most, just another Friday. Then, shortly after 12:30 p.m., Central Standard Time, the President of the United States was shot dead. There was an illusion of time standing still, traumatized. The fact was, time continued moving apace, the nation and the world quickly emerged from the wilderness of shock, and history’s caravan proceeded onward. Yet, on this Sunday, a year after the assassination of John Fitzgerald Kennedy, millions upon countless millions … will sense in their hearts that the tragedy of November 22, 1963, is beyond forgetting.”
  • Cites need to explain liturgical reforms
  • St. Joan of Arc cops CYO Cadet grid title
  • Hope for Church seen in E. Europe
  • Indian premier plans to meet Pope Paul VI
  • Pope meets brothers cured of blindness
  • Council schema on seminaries stresses pastoral training
  • In council speech: Belgian prelate asks ‘new deal’ for nuns
  • Pope plans 20 talks during India visit

(Read all of these stories from our November 20, 1964, issue by logging on to our special archives.) †

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