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Trivia Game
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See if you know, or can guess, the answers to some Catholic trivia questions. I will post them one at a time and, after enough people have responded, I will post the results, give the correct answer, and go on to the next question. Everybody's on the honor system here: please make only one response and no looking up the answers ahead of time. (You can look up the answers afterward however.) Don't be embarrassed, I don't take your name so I can't tell which response is yours.
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Formal Canonization Process
The Catholic Church has a formal process by which individuals, and sometimes groups, are canonized as saints. In what time period were formal proceedings first used to canonize a saint?
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Results
The responses were fairly evenly spread this time.
Response Number of Times Selected 500 AD or earlier 0 501 - 1000 AD 1 1001 - 1500 AD 2 1501 - 2000 AD 2
According to an EWTN article " The History of Canonization," the first formal process was used in the cause of Nicholas the Pilgrim, also known as Nicholas of Trani. Another article, from Wikipedia this time, indicates the canonization took place in 1098, shortly after the saint's death in 1094. Thus the third response, 1001 - 1500 AD is correct!
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The Devil's Drink
According to a popular story, which may have some elements of truth, many priests thought this drink ought to be banned because of its Muslim origins. They called it "the devil's drink." However, when Pope Clement VIII tried it he said something along the lines of "Why, this Satan's drink is so delicious that it would be a pity to let the infidels have exclusive use of it." What is this drink?
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Results
Five people responded to this one and three of them said that whiskey was said to be "the devil's drink." Two thought it was coffee. Well, in this case the minority wins, it's coffee! I can't say that I've verified the accuracy of everything it says but you might find this article interesting on some of the history of coffee.
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How Many Parts in the Catechism?
The Catechism of the Catholic Church, which was published in 1994 under St. John Paul II is divided into parts. How many parts is it divided into?
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Results
Out of six responses 5 people gave the correct answer of 4. These are the four parts of the Catechism:
Part I: The Profession of Faith which has to do with what we believe as Catholic Christians.
Part II: The Celebration of the Christian Mystery which has to do with the Sacraments.
Part III: Life in Christ which has to do with the moral law and the Ten Commandments.
Part IV: Christian Prayer which has to do (obviously) with our lives of prayer.
A book I read back in the 1990's when the Catechism was just published recommended that, if people want to read the whole thing, it would make sense to start with Part IV and work their way back to Part I. It kind of follows the way people grow in faith: once we get to know God even a little bit through prayer, we want to respond by living our lives rightly. That draws us into wanting to celebrate our life in God through the Sacraments and, finally, deal with the theological questions that arise as our faith develops.
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Who Wrote It?
Which saint wrote a summary of theology in the thirteenth century citing not only Christian but also Muslim, Hebrew and Pagan sources?
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Results
Well, we've got a half-and-half split:
Response Number of Times Selected St. Augustine 3 St. Ignatius of Loyola 0 St. Francis of Assisi 0 St. Thomas Aquinas 3
Folks were right not to select either St. Ignatius or St. Francis, but St. Augustine lived in the fourth and fifth centuries so it wasn't him. St. Thomas Aquinas it was who wrote the Summa Theologica as a simple summary of theology for beginning students. Scholars marvel over it to this day! One aspect that is often mentioned by Bishop Robert Barron is the way St. Thomas cites those with opinions differing from his in the most positive and respectful way. You can see one example here. (Start at 15:20 if you don't have time to watch the whole video.)
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Which Gospel Contains the Parable of the Good Samaritan?
A man goes down the road from Jerusalem to Jericho and is attacked by robbers who leave him half dead. Three men come along but the first two pass by without giving any help. The third man goes out of his way to help the victim, treating him as a neighbor and this man, the one who helped, was one of the hated Samaritans! This very familiar story of the Good Samaritan appears in only one of the four gospels. Which one?
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Results
Out of ten responses here are the results:
Again, the majority selected the correct answer. This well-known parable, like that known as The Prodigal Son, appears only in the Gospel of Luke.Response Number of Times Selected Matthew 2 Mark 1 Luke 7 John 2
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Who gave us the Golden Rule?
The Golden Rule is "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you." Clever don't you think? It encourages empathy and seeing all human beings as united in our humanity. Taking it seriously makes you stop and think before you interact with people -- does mistreating this person mean that I want him or her to mistreat me?
I remember being surprised, and impressed, sometime in my teenage years, to learn that the Golden Rule comes straight out of the Bible! Which person in the Bible gave us the Golden Rule?
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Results
Out of sixteen responses here are the results:
Response Number of Times Selected Moses 1 The Prophet Isaiah 2 Jesus of Nazareth 9 St. Paul 4
The majority selected the correct answer: Jesus of Nazareth. See Matthew 7:12 and Luke 6:31.
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Which Eucharistic Prayer is Associated with St. Basil?
I recently learned that our patron, St. Basil, wrote one of the four principal Eucharistic Prayers used at Mass. They are numbered I, II, III and IV and you can see their full texts here. I use Eucharistic Prayer I for great feasts like Easter and Christmas, prayer II for daily masses and usually select II or III at Sunday Masses. Number IV is very poetic and I like it, but it is long and I hardly ever use it.
Which of the four do you think was composed by St. Basil?
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The Answer
Well, it turns out that none of the answers I gave is completely correct but Eucharistic Prayer IV is a better response than the others. Here is the breakdown:
Response How often Selected Notes Eucharistic Prayer I 30.8% Called the Roman Canon. Was the only Eucharistic Prayer for the Western Church for ~1600 years. Eucharistic Prayer II 7.7% Once thought to be based on a work by Hippolytus of Rome. Recent authors are not so certain. Eucharistic Prayer III 15.4% Composed after the Second Vatican council. Eucharistic Prayer IV 46.2% Not composed by, but based on, an early Eucharistic Prayer by St. Basil the Great. (See below.) I got a lot out of researching this question, including another lesson in "What I thought I was taught isn't necessarily true." Even taking into account that a number of modern writers have their own agendas they are trying to push, I discovered I still have to amend the list of facts I keep in my head. I thought EPII being composed by Hippolytus of Rome was a sure thing, but not after I tried to verify it. Same with EPIV which I thought was written by St. Basil. Still, he did inspire it, so I'm still counting that as the correct answer. You can learn more than you wanted to know about Eucharistic Prayer IV from this article by Fr. Paul Turner.
The new question (see above) will be easier!
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