February 19, 2016

What was in the news on Feb. 18, 1966?

Pope Paul VI changes Lenten fasting regulations, the birth control commission to be amended and a shortage of priests worldwide is noted

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. 18, 1966, issue of The Criterion:
 

  • Lenten fast, abstinence are dropped by Pope Paul; abstinence on Friday retained
    • “WASHINGTON—Pope Paul VI has issued new regulations on fast and abstinence by making them only apply on Ash Wednesday and Good Friday. But the traditional law requiring abstinence from meat remains in effect for all Fridays of the year. The Pope, however, freed children under 14 from the obligation to abstain. Heretofore, the abstinence law has been in effect from the age of seven on. The age bracket for the law of fasting remains the same—beginning at 21 and ending with the beginning of the 60th year.”
  • Pope to reorganize birth control body
    • “VATICAN CITY—Pope Paul VI has fixed five principles to guide Catholics in their attitudes on marriage and procreation. In a brief departure from the prepared text of his speech on marriage, being given to participants in the 13th national congress of the Italian Women’s Center, he also announced he would soon reorganize the pontifical commission on birth control problems to accelerate its works and give its decisions ‘greater authority.’ … The Pope did not given any indication of how the composition of the organization of the commission, which will be two years old in June, will be changed. The Pope also departed from his text to say he receives many letters from various countries asking him for a decision on the problem of birth control. He said he would not avoid the problem despite its difficulties.”
  • Propagation of the Faith drive opens
  • Nuns to aid in operatin of Fatima
  • Belgian theologian given Vatican post
  • Technology school set at hospital
  • Dr. Blake elected as head of WCC
  • Holy See approves four new Prefaces for United States
  • Deacon incardinated from Pittsburgh diocese
  • Text of Church in Modern World schema
  • Keep Latin Chant Mass, intellectuals ask Pope
  • Bishop’s suit alleges diversion of funds
  • Priest convicted in rights case
  • Notre Dame tops campaign goal
  • Ask equal economic status for farmers
  • Spalding College offers theology
  • Novelist slated to discuss book at Marian College
  • ‘Where are the priests?’: Report points up alarming growth in clergy shortage
    • “LONDON—A new book on vocations to the priesthood contains bleak evidence that there were not nearly enough priests in the world in 1965, and, despite more ordinations than ever before, the situation is rapidly deteriorating. The urgent need for priests, especially in Asia, Africa and Latin America, is graphically described by Father James Forrestall… His report warns that the Church must be prepared to take ‘bold end even unusual steps to solve the problem.’ … While there are more priests today than there were five years ago, the world’s Catholic population is growing twice as fast as the increase in vocations.”
  • Lauds ‘delinquent’ retreats
  • Layman named school board head

(Read all of these stories from our Feb. 18, 1966, issue by logging on to our special archives.) †

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