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Let’s Play Twenty-One

We start volume five of This Rock the right way–with a test of your knowledge of things Catholic. For each question find the most correct answer.

Question 1. Baptism may be administered by
a. A priest or bishop only.
b. A priest, bishop, or deacon only.
c. Any baptized Catholic only.
d. Unbaptized persons.

Question 2. The Old Testament
a. Has more books in the Protestant version of the Bible because Protestants emphasize the Old Testament over the New Testament.
b. Has more books in the Catholic version of the Bible because the Protestant Reformers threw out seven books at the Council of Trent.
c. Was used by the early Christians in its Greek translation, known as the Septuagint.
d. No longer has authority over Christians, but it still has authority over Jews.

Question 3. When may girls act as altar servers at Mass?
a. At Sunday Masses, but not at weekday Masses.
b. Whenever the pastor formally installs them.
c. Whenever the bishop formally installs them.
d. Church regulations say never.

Question 4. Vatican City
a. Is a separate country located entirely inside the city of Rome.
b. Is part of Italy, but has federal administrative status according to the 1929 concordat between the Vatican and the Italian government.
c. May be willed by a pope to his heirs, even though no pope has ever used that prerogative.
d. Is the third-smallest country in the world.

Question 5. Communion may be received
a. On the tongue only if the church has an altar rail.
b. Either on the tongue or in the hand; it’s up to the individual communicant.
c. Whichever way the majority of the parishioners may vote.
d. Only as the pastor determines, after consulting with the parish council.

Question 6. The rosary
a. Was invented by St. Dominic.
b. Is making a comeback among both Catholics and Protestants.
c. Is necessary for salvation; you cannot be considered a good Catholic without at least occasionally praying the rosary.
d. Was prayed weekly by Pope John XXIII.

Question 7. The new Catechism of the Catholic Church
a. Is intended to be used exclusively by bishops.
b. Is intended to be used by bishops, priests, and religious educators only.
c. Will not take effect in the U.S. until the National Conference of Catholic Bishops approves it.
d. Is intended to be used by lay Catholics.

Question 8. The Catholic Church is
a. One of several churches established by Christ.
b. Part of the original Christian Church, the other parts being Eastern Orthodox churches and Protestant churches.
c. The only ecclesial body in which the Church founded by Christ subsists.
d. Closest sacramentally to the Anglican, then to the Eastern Orthodox, and lastly to the Protestant churches.

Question 9. A priest’s power to confect the Eucharist
a. Comes through the people present at Mass, so a congregation is needed for a Mass to be valid.
b. Is less than a bishop’s power, but greater than a deacon’s power to confect the Eucharist.
c. Is given to him through the laying on of hands by his ordaining bishop.
d. Was not taught by Vatican II, which recognized that the Eucharist is not confected, but is made present spiritually.

Question 10. Apologetics
a. Is part of evangelization.
b. Is a word we no longer use in polite company.
c. Means apologizing for the sins Catholics committed against our separated brethren over the centuries.
d. Involves using any means necessary to get non-Catholics to admit that they’re wrong.

Question 11. The Ark of the Covenant
a. Was built by Noah.
b. Housed the tablets of the Law.
c. Was burned piece by piece by Caiaphas.
d. Probably never existed; the story about it was made up to instruct the Israelites about Yahweh’s mercy.

Question 12. Women someday will be ordained as priests
a. Because in the ancient Church there were women priests.
b. Because in the ancient Church there were women deacons.
c. Most likely after the next ecumenical council.
d. In fact, they won’t be ordained.

Question 13. A Mass is invalid
a. If “Kumbaya” is sung.
b. If the priest wears an alb and stole, but not a chasuble.
c. If there is no altar boy.
d. If rye bread is used for hosts.

Question 14. Priests
a. Were first ordained by Jesus when he told the apostles, “Do this in remembrance of me.”
b. Were first ordained by Paul on his visit to Corinth.
c. First appeared late in the first century, perhaps in Asia Minor.
d. First appeared in the 1200s.

Question 15. Angels
a. Are whiskerless youths.
b. Are fat babies with wings.
c. Don’t have to be believed in.
d. Are referred to, but not explicitly, in the Nicene Creed.

Question 16. Creation means
a. God made everything out of nothing.
b. God made everything out of unformed plasmatic matter.
c. God made everything out of empty space.
d. God set the universe in motion and then withdrew.

Question 17. Ecumenical councils
a. Are always held at the Vatican.
b. Have their acts ratified by the pope–that’s what makes them ecumenical.
c. Are invalid unless attended by an absolute majority of the world’s bishops.
d. Have been 16 in number, the latest being Vatican II.

Question 18. The Bible is inspired, which means
a. The sacred writers had visions and wrote down what they saw.
b. The sacred writers were given extraordinary literary skills by God, and this is why the Bible is so beautifully written.
c. God moved the sacred writers so they wrote only and whatever he wanted them to write.
d. The Bible is the most inspiring book in the world.

Question 19. Homosexuals
a. Will go to hell unless they become heterosexuals first.
b. Are not responsible for their condition, so homosexual acts are not sinful for them.
c. Cannot be baptized.
d. Are under the same obligation of chastity as are unmarried heterosexuals.

Question 20. Statues
a. Really shouldn’t be used by Catholics, according to Exodus 20:4-5, which warns against “graven images.”
b. Have scriptural support in Exodus 25:18.
c. Are prayed to by Catholics because this is a pious practice sanctioned by the Church.
d. Are no longer recommended for use inside churches, according to Vatican II.

Question 21. Apparitions of Mary
a. Are only pious illusions, but the Church does not forbid them.
b. If authentic, must be believed in, since any authentic revelation must be believed in.
c. If authentic, binds only the recipient of the apparitions.
d. Are infallibly determined to have occurred if they are approved by the Church.

Answers

Question 1.
a. This must be wrong, since even you can baptize people.
b. Still wrong, since you’re probably not a deacon.
c. Closer, but not right.
d. Yes, anyone, even a non-Christian, can baptize, provided he intends to do what the Church does–even if he doesn’t fully understand what the Church does in baptism.

Question 2.
a. No. It’s the Catholic Old Testament that has seven additional books, not the Protestant.
b. Hmmm. Better, but the Council of Trent was a Catholic council, not a Protestant council.
c. This is it!
d. Nonsense! Both Testaments are authoritative for Christians.

Question 3.
a. No.
b. Priests don’t have the authority to install altar girls.
c. Neither do bishops.
d. Under present rubrics, altar girls are not allowed. See Inaestimabile Donum, sec. 18.

Question 4.
a. Correct.
b. Although surrounded by Italy, Vatican City State is a separate state.
c. If you marked this answer, go to your room.
d. The third smallest is Andorra, the second is San Marino, and the first is Vatican City.

Question 5.
a. Apparently you haven’t been in rail-less parishes lately.
b. Yes. On the tongue is the normative or standard way; in the hand is the optional way.
c. Wrong. Even if everyone else votes for in the hand, you may receive on the tongue.
d. Still wrong. The choice is yours.

Question 6.
a. Many people think so, but it predated St. Dominic. (See Catholic Answers’ tract on the rosary for more information.)
b. True. The comeback is obvious among Catholics, but now even many Protestants are turning to the rosary. (Mr. Ripley, call your office.)
c. Incorrect. Although praying the rosary is a good thing, you needn’t suffer pangs of conscience if it happens not to be your favorite devotion.
d. Before he was elected pope, Angelo Roncalli prayed five decades of the rosary daily, but after his election as John XXIII he went to the full fifteen, saying to an inquirer, “Now that I’m pope, I need more help.”

Question 7.
a. That’s not what John Paul II has said
b. And he didn’t say that either.
c. The Catechism doesn’t need the approval of national bishops’ conferences.
d. Bingo.

Question 8.
a. He only established one Church. See Matthew 16:18.
b. The original Church didn’t split into co-equal parts. The Eastern Orthodox are in schism, and the Protestants split off and developed new doctrines of their own.
c. Yes. Vatican II says that Jesus’ Church “subsists” in the Catholic Church. This means the Catholic Church is the only place it’s found in its fullness, even though elements of the true Church are found in other ecclesial communions.
d. We’re closer to the Eastern Orthodox, who have valid orders, than to the Anglicans, who don’t.

Question 9.
a. How can this be, since a private Mass by a priest is not only valid but encouraged?
b. Bishops and priests have exactly the same consecrating power. A deacon has none.
c. Correct.
d. Vatican II said no such thing. If it had, it would have contradicted infallible teaching–an impossibility.

Question 10.
a. Apologetics softens ’em up, and evangelization closes in for the conversion.
b. Maybe according to some people, but not in the opinion of the enlightened.
c. “Apologetics” is not a synonym for “apologizing”–at least not in the “I’m sorry” sense.
d. Some people may think so, but if you take that attitude, you’ll fail as an apologist.

Question 11.
a. The Ark of the Covenant wasn’t a boat.
b. Yes. It was more like a safe deposit box.
c. It was lost centuries before Caiaphas was born.
d. If even one of the most liberal biblical scholars has suggested this, we’ve missed the news, and if he has suggested it, he’s wrong.

Question 12.
a. There were no women priests in the ancient Church–or at any other time in the Church’s history.
b. Yes, there were “deaconesses” in the early Church, but they were not ordained and were not female equivalents of male deacons. They were something like today’s nuns.
c. Wishful thinking and poor theology.
d. True, women will never be ordained. The issue is really closed, no matter how much some people insist on talking about it.

Question 13.
a. For a while in the sixties we nearly thought so.
b. He’s supposed to wear a chasuble, but his disobedience regarding attire doesn’t result in invalidity.
c. An altar boy is not necessary for a Mass to be valid.
d. Rye bread is invalid matter. Only wheaten flour mixed with plain water may be used to make the hosts.

Question 14.
a. Yes. See Luke 22:19.
b. Not possible, since the first answer is correct.
c. Even less possible. Think about it: If they didn’t appear until late in the first century, why do they appear in the earlier-written books of the New Testament, such as Paul’s epistles?
d. Please think of enrolling in a basic Church history course.

Question 15.
a. Only in paintings.
b. Ditto.
c. Of course you have to believe in angels.
d. The Nicene Creed recited on Sundays refers to believing in things “seen and unseen” (in Latin, “visibilium et invisibilium“). The unseen or invisible part of creation includes the good angels and the fallen angels (demons).

Question 16.
a. Creation refers to God’s using no pre-existing thing of any sort. Things are literally made out of “no thing” = “nothing.”
b. Even plasmatic (unformed, chaotic) matter is a thing, a kind of matter.
c. Even empty space is a thing–an empty thing, but still a thing.
d. This has nothing to do with creation one way or the other. The idea that God got things going and then took off is known as Deism.

Question 17.
a. Only two have been held at the Vatican.
b. Precisely. The pope does not need to be in attendance, but usually his legates are.
c. There is no numerical requirement. A council is ecumenical if the pope says so.
d. There have been 21 so far.

Question 18.
a. Some of the sacred writers had visions, but most did not. Of the New Testament books, for instance, only one, Revelation, seems to have been the product of visions.
b. Some of the Bible is not at all beautifully written. (Try reading the two books of Chronicles.) Inspiration has nothing to do with literary skills.
c. This is what Vatican II said.
d. This is a different use of the term “inspiring.” In this sense it means “moving,” and the ability to move the reader is independent of divine inspiration. The Yellow Pages are not inspired, but some people, no doubt, are lifted to emotional heights by reading them.

Question 19.
a. Untrue, because the mere state of being a homosexual is not itself sinful. Besides, many homosexuals who want to become heterosexuals can’t make the transition. Would it make any sense for them to be condemned for something beyond their power to effect?
b. Whether or not homosexuals are responsible for their condition, their acts are freely chosen. (Some people may not be responsible for their proclivity to theft; does that mean thievery isn’t sinful for them?)
c. Any unbaptized person who is repentant can be baptized.
d. The obligation homosexuals live under is no greater than that unmarried heterosexuals live under: no sexual relations outside of marriage.

Question 20.
a. The standard Fundamentalist complaint–and false.
b. Yes, this is where the Lord instructs the Israelites toadorn the Ark of the Covenant with statues of angels.
c. We don’t pray to statues, but we pray to the saints represented by them and ask those saints to pray to God on our behalf.
d. Vatican II said no such thing.

Question 21.
a. Some are illusions, but some are real.
b. You must believe in general revelation, but are free to reject any private revelation, even an approved one.
c. Only the recipient of a private revelation is bound in conscience to follow it, if he thinks it is real.
d. Even approved apparitions are not guaranteed by the Church to have occurred.

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