A temporary replacement for La Crosse’s Catholic bishop, 50 years ago

In May of 1968, the Catholic Diocese of La Crosse named Monsignor John Paul its temporary administrator, while Bishop Frederick Freking was recovering from an illness.  Paul was rector of St. Joseph the Workman Cathedral at the time.  He was an Aquinas graduate, and a former principal at Eau Claire Regis High School.  The church said Freking had a “physical breakdown,” and would spend at least a month resting in Texas.  Paul would be appointed Bishop of La Crosse himself nine years later.
 
Wheels came cheaper in ’68.  A Mercury Cougar, advertised as a luxury sports car, could be bought for just over $2000.  If you wanted something smaller, but still with an engine, some new Honda motorcycles were priced at less than $300.
 
TV spy shows were still pretty popular in 1968.  Even though “The Man from UNCLE” had been replaced by “Laugh-In” that year, “Get Smart” won the Emmy award for best comedy series, and “Mission: Impossible” was the best drama.  Also nominated that year were “Hogan’s Heroes,” “I Spy,” and “The Avengers”…the British spy show with Patrick Macnee and Diana Rigg, not the Marvel superhero group.  Don Adams as Maxwell Smart and Barbara Bain as Cinnamon from “Mission: Impossible” won their own Emmys in, would you believe, 1968?  Yesterday in La Crosse.