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What's Your Catholic IQ? February 2010

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by Joe Paprocki

This multiple-choice exercise can be a fun review for you, your students, and your students' families. Circle the letter next to the word or phrase that correctly completes each statement. Then check your answers with the answer key at the end of the quiz. Have fun and learn.

This multiple-choice exercise can be a fun review for you, your students, and your students’ families. Circle the letter next to the word or phrase that correctly completes each statement. Then check your answers with the answer key at the end of the quiz. Have fun and learn.

1. The First Reading on Ash Wednesday (“Blow the trumpet in Zion!”) is from the prophet
a) Isaiah   b) Joel   c) Zechariah   d) Hosea

2. During Lent, we omit the following from our liturgies:
a) Alleluia and Creed   b) Gloria and Kyrie   c) Gloria and Alleluia   d) Gloria in Excelsis Deo

3. When Jesus was transfigured atop a high mountain, he took with him
a) Peter, James, and John   b) Peter, Paul, and Mary   c) Matthew, Mark, and Luke   d) Thomas, Mary, and Martha

4. Which of the following is not responsible for causing a heresy?
a) Arias   b) Nestorius   c) Athanasius   d) Pelagius

5. This Spanish Franciscan founded nine missions in California during the eighteenth century.
a) Cesar Chavez   b) Jose Maria Escrivá   c) Turibius of Mongrovejo   d) Junipero Serra

6. Who was canonized a saint by Pope Benedict XVI in October 2009?
a) Kateri Tekakwitha   b) Fr. Damien de Veuster   c) Augustus Tolton   d) Pope John Paul II

7. Which of the following is not used in the Catechism of the Catholic Church as a metaphor for the Church?
a) Bride of Christ   b) Temple of the Holy Spirit   c) the Body of Christ   d) the Sower and the Seed

8. Which Sacraments are considered the Sacraments of Healing?
a) Baptism and Anointing   b) Reconciliation and Anointing   c) Reconciliation and Eucharist   d) Confirmation and Reconciliation

9. Catechism n. 1407 teaches us that “The Eucharist is the __ and the __ of the Church’s life.”
a) heart and summit   b) alpha and omega   c) bread and butter   d) heart and soul

10. Which of the following is not one of the Precepts of the Church?
a) attending Mass on Sundays and holy days   b) confessing sins at least once a year   c) fasting for one hour before receiving Holy Communion   d) receiving the Eucharist during the Easter season

11. The Lord’s Prayer includes how many petitions?
a) seven   b) four   c) three   d) twelve

12. Mary’s prayer, “Let it be done to me according to your word” is known as the
a) Magnificat   b) Fiat   c) Mazda   d) Salve Regina

13. The blessing of throats is associated with the celebration of this saint’s feast.
a) Blaise   b) Ansgar   c) Anthony   d) Jude

14. “At the cross her station keeping, stood the mournful Mother __, close to Jesus to the last.”
a) sweeping   b) peeking   c) weeping   d) leaping

15. Which religious order recently (October 2009) celebrated the canonization of their foundress?
a) Daughters of Charity of St. Vincent DePaul   b) Sisters of Mary Immaculate of Guadalupe   c) Little Sisters of the Poor   d) Golden Girls

16. A person who looks after the sacred vessels and vestments in a church is called a
a) sacristy   b) sarcastic   c) sacristan   d) sacramental

17. Death, judgment, hell, and heaven are known as the
a) unholy four   b) four horsemen   c) grand slam   d) four last things

18. The gathering of cardinals to elect a new pope is called a
a) clavicle   b) conclave   c) concave   d) cantata

19. An apparition of Mary occurred on February 11, 1858, in this town in southern France.
a) Chartres   b) Reims   c) Lourdes   d) Versailles

20. During Jesus’ 40 days in the desert, he ate
a) locusts and wild honey   b) bread and water   c) manna   d) nothing

Joe Paprocki, D.Min., is National Consultant for Faith Formation at Loyola Press in Chicago, Illinois. He is the author of many books including A Well-Built Faith, The Catechist’s Toolbox, The Bible Blueprint, Living the Mass (Loyola Press) and Bringing Catechesis and Liturgy Together (Twenty-Third Publications). Joe writes from Evergreen Park, Illinois, where he lives with his wife and serves as an eighth-grade catechist (which he blogs about at catechistsjourney.com).

Answer Key

1. b) Joel 2:12-18. In the fifth century B.C., the prophet Joel called the people of Judah to repent with fasting and weeping, seeking deliverance from a terrible invasion of locusts that threatened their very existence.
2. c) The omission of the Gloria and the Alleluia during Lent draw our focus to the penitential nature of the season and deepen our desire and longing for the celebration of Easter.
3. a) Peter, James, and John are mentioned together in the “same breath” four other times in the Gospels: the healing of Peter’s mother-in-law, the raising of Jairus’ daughter, a discussion with Jesus on the Mount of Olives, and in the Garden of Gethsemane.
4. c) Saint Athanasius, Bishop of Alexandria and Doctor of the Church, is credited with arguing effectively against the Arian heresy at the First Council of Nicaea in 325. His feast day is May 2.
5. d) Junipero Serra was beatified by Pope John Paul II in 1988.
6. b) Saint Damien of Molokai, who was a priest of the Congregation of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary, is best known for his compassionate ministry to people suffering from leprosy (Hansen’s disease) on the island of Molokai in the nineteenth century.
7. d) Numbers 787-798 in the Catechism provide images that help us better understand the Church. Jesus uses the image of the Sower and the Seed to describe the Word of God (Matthew 13:3-23).
8. b) The Sacraments of Penance/Reconciliation and Anointing of the Sick are referred to as Sacraments of Healing in the Catechism (n. 1421).
9. a) In referring to the Eucharist as the “heart and summit of the Church’s life,” the Catechism is reminding us that the Eucharist is the most perfect way that we encounter Christ himself.
10. c) Fasting for one hour before receiving the Eucharist is a discipline that Catholics follow (Code of Canon Law, n. 919). It is not one of the Precepts of the Church.
11. a) The seven petitions in the Lord’s Prayer are: hallowed be thy name; thy kingdom come; thy will be done; give us this day our daily bread; forgive us our trespasses; lead us not into temptation; and deliver us from evil.
12. b) Fiat is the Latin word meaning “let it be done”—words uttered by Mary (Luke 1:38) in response to the angel’s announcement that she will give birth to Jesus.
13. a) On the Feast of St. Blaise (February 3), the Church offers a blessing of throats, calling upon the intercession of St. Blaise, bishop and martyr, who, according to legend, cured a young boy who was choking on a fish bone.
14. c) These words are from the Stabat Mater, a traditional chant sung during the praying of the Stations of the Cross, as the faithful move from one station to the next.
15. c) The foundress of the Little Sisters of the Poor, St. Jeanne Jugan, is the patroness of the elderly. She founded the Little Sisters in 1839 after inviting an elderly and infirm woman to move in with her. We celebrate her feast day on August 30.
16. c) Catholic parishes rely on the service of sacristans to care for, organize, and arrange the sacred vessels and vestments that are used for the celebration of the Eucharistic liturgy.
17. d) The four last things are treated in nos. 1021-1050 of the Catechism.
18. b) The last conclave to take place resulted in the election of Pope Benedict XVI on April 19, 2005.
19. c) Our Lady of Lourdes, whose feast is celebrated on February 11, appeared to Bernadette Soubirous, who was canonized a saint in 1933.
20. d) Matthew 4:2 and Luke 4:2 tell us that Jesus fasted (ate nothing) during his 40 days in the desert. In the Bible, the number 40 signifies a significant amount of time during which one’s faith is tested.

Source: CATECHIST Magazine, February 2010

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