February 17, 2012

What was in the news on Feb. 16, 1962?

Holy Father urges priests to recite breviary for Council, and father of ‘H-bomb’ sees U.S. passing Russia in space race

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 Feb. 16, 1962, issue of The Criterion:

  • Recite breviary for Council, Pope John urges all priests
  • ‘God demands it’: Bible-belt evangelist sparks ‘right-wingers’
  • Says Council may define ‘the Church’
    • “HEIDELBERG, Germany—The head of the Holy See’s Secretariat for Promoting Christian Unity said here it is very important that the coming ecumenical council give a basic explanation of the position of non-Catholic Christians within the Mystical Body of Christ. Cardinal Augustin Bea, addressing a gathering of Protestant and Catholic students and university professors here, said that the nature of the one true Church of Christ should be spelled out by the council. The council must make clear the indelible effect of every valid baptism, he said, as all who are baptized are incorporated in Christ and made children of God. Such a declaration would serve to teach that all other Christian brothers and sisters are members of the one great family of Christ, he said.”
  • New Albany Serrans set contests, exhibit
  • ‘Anti-laism’ peril seen by speaker
  • Report from Yugoslavia: Religious freedom is largely an illusion
  • Catholics in Australia boosted by immigration
  • ‘Father of H-bomb’ sees U.S. passing Russia in space race
    • “PHILADELPHIA—Russia today is ahead in the field of space transportation, but the U.S. may surpass the Soviets by 1970, Dr. Edward Teller said here. The ‘father of the H-bomb,’ who is director of the University of California’s Lawrence Radiation Laboratory, speculated before 1,000 students and faculty members of La Salle College here about ‘What We Shall Find in Space.’ ‘I hope that when we do get to the moon,’ Teller said, ‘that the form of life we find there will not be Russian.’ He envisioned for man more complete control over his environment and a super communications system stemming from the conquest of space. He cited a vast, global communication network for radio, television and telephone, totally accurate weather prediction and, eventually, weather control.”
  • Can Catholic join the Birch Society?
  • Variety of social events are on parish calendars
  • School aid issue draws divergent viewpoints
  • New language lab will be opened at Marian College
  • Head of the POAU warns ‘appeasing Protestants’
  • Copenhagen paper backs Lombardi
  • Yale sets series on Catholicism

(Read all of these stories from our Feb. 16, 1962, issue by logging on to our special archives.) †

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