August 24, 2012

What was in the news on Aug. 24, 1962?

Prayers asked for the success of the Council and a call made for liturgical renewal

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 August 24, 1962, issue of The Criterion:

  • Pray for success of the council, U.S. Bishops ask all Christians
    • “WASHINGTON—The U.S. Catholic Bishops have appealed to the nation’s Christians—Catholics and others—alike to pray for them and for other participants in the Second Vatican Council. They asked the 42 million U.S. Catholics to join in a novena of prayer and penance which they requested in all parishes, schools and religious houses. The intention of the nine-day period of prayer, they said, will be that ‘God may pour forth His abounding grace on our Holy Father, on all the Fathers of the council, and particularly on the Bishops of this country that none may fail in the council’s great work of full evangelical renewal within the Church.’ … ‘We invite all our non-Catholic brethren who glory in the name of Christian to join us in asking that the Holy Spirit enlighten and guide the ecumenical council so that it may become an instrument for the promotion of Christian unity according to the mind of Christ,’ the Bishops said.
  • Laity given challenge to social action
  • Renewal of the liturgy urged to aid the laity
    • SEATTLE, Wash.—The president of the national Liturgical Conference has urged the Second Vatican Council to ‘undertake a liturgical renewal which will make the Church and her life more intelligible and attractive.’ Father Frederick R. McManus also asked the council fathers to ‘confirm and stimulate the liturgical apostolate … [and] continue and accelerate the great liturgical restoration initiated by the Roman pontiffs.’ ”
  • Trappists get union cards
  • A new approach to First Communion
  • Tells why many spurn religious life
  • 300 pastorals issued: Character of ecumenical council foreseen in bishops’ statements
  • New missionary spirit seen Church’s need today
  • ‘Do-it-yourself’ approach to spirituality deplored
  • Diocesan program to rehabilitate young delinquents
  • At national parley: K of C head stresses layman’s changed role
  • Catholic Negro group pledges racial fight
  • Attacks of rationalists seen spur to Bible study
  • Selfishness is rated as top problem

(Read all of these stories from our August 24, 1962, issue by logging on to our special archives.) †

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