So how well do we know the Catholic faith?

It's been over a week since I posted the first test, Are you smarter than a Catholic 8th grader, and I have to say I am impressed. As of Wednesday at 3:00 PM the test had been taken 115 times and the average score was 91%. That is very impressive. However, I do want to point out that a person could retake the test as many times as they wished and that I did see a number of retakes. The overall average, however, wouldn't be radically altered because of this. I would say the margin of error is +-5 points.

There were three questions which stumped many people. However, these questions were not simple ones and two of the three questions were ones that the 8th graders had a hard time with as well. The three questions were:

8. The truths, beliefs and practices of the Catholic faith are known as:

ANSWER: Traditions

Only 24% got this question correct. Most persons thought the answer was doctrine. Doctrine would be defined as: the body of revealed and defined truths which a Catholic is bound to hold. The word 'practices' makes the answer Traditions because Tradition is the practice of the doctrines of our faith. This was one that was difficult for the 8th graders.

9. The sacrament of confession:

ANSWER: Must be received before receiving Communion by anyone guilty of a mortal sin since their last confession.

Most answered All of the above. Only 20% answered it correctly. Some thought the Church required you to go to confession once a year. They do not, but the Church does require you to receive Communion once a year. Others believed that you must confess all your sins committed for the sacrament to be valid. Actually, you only have to confess those sins you remember and you do not have to confess venial sins although you really should. You DO have to confess all mortal sins that you can remember and if you purposely omit a mortal sin the confession is not valid.

The 8th graders answered this question correctly right away but they had been studying the sacraments before their confirmation. So those that missed it shouldn't feel real bad.

14. A deacon is:

ANSWER: A man who has received the first degree of Holy Orders.

There were 35% who got this correct. Most choose Both B and C. However, B says that a deacon is a layman who may distribute Communion, marry people, baptize babies, and wear vestments. A deacon is an ordained clergy, though, so he cannot be a layman. The answer was C as is listed above. The 8th graders had to think about this one for a minute or so before they answered it correctly. Again, they had been studying the sacraments.

What is comforting to me is that the three most missed questions, while important to our faith, are not so important that I would feel a person is lacking in truly understanding the Catholic faith. I am actually GLAD that people think you need to go to confession once a year. Keep thinking that =)

Overall, I think everyone should be proud of their knowledge of the faith. The quiz on morals, which I will evaluate in my next blog will be important in understanding how people understand and live the precepts of our faith in the world today. If you haven't taken the morals quiz please feel free to do so: http://www.proprofs.com/quiz-school/quizview.php?id=4482 and please take time to answer the survey I mentioned in my Monday blog on Catholic beliefs: http://www.quibblo.com/quiz/1wm8mLa/The-beliefs-of-the-Catholic-faith where you will see a set of statements of our faith. The survey tells to what extent persons agree with these Catholic beliefs. I want to again emphasize that this final survey is completely anonymous and I ask you to answer it honestly. Until next time...God bless.

 

posted by: crossman at 09:03 | link | comments |
blog

How do people understand the Catholic beliefs?

I decided that since the 2 quizzes produced such an enormous response that I would create one more survey. Unlike the quizzes, this is a survey to try to understand the stance and views of people regarding the Catholic faith and its teachings. Since this is a survey and not a quiz, I used another web site that I have used in the past when at Kenrick. This is a survey site called Quibblo. The URL for the survey is: http://www.quibblo.com/quiz/1wm8mLa/The-beliefs-of-the-Catholic-faith and this survey, unlike the quizzes, is completely anonymous. I cannot trace who took the survey or who responded how to the questions. I would ask you to answer it honestly.

I encourage you to take this survey regardless of whether you are Catholic or not. I want to spend the next few blogs looking at the results to these quizzes and the survey so we should have plenty to talk about in the coming blog entries. Until next time...God bless.

posted by: crossman at 14:17 | link | comments (1) |
blog

Are you smarter than a Catholic 8th grader: Morals

I am impressed with the average scores on the original quiz. The average score is 87%. Since I didn't give the 8th graders a written test I cannot give an absolute average. I can give an estimate based on how many students raised their hands when I asked these questions (these were not the only questions I asked but were some of the more advanced). Based on their responses I would give a solid estimate of 85%. That means that the average for the quiz is just above that of a typical Catholic 8th grader. I am not sure if that is good or bad but it does show that our understanding of the Catholic precepts is about what the Church says: an 8th grade level.

I have a second quiz I have posted that, although I didn't quiz the 8the grade Confirmation class, I discussed with the 7th and 8th graders in class. This is a quiz on our Catholic morals. The URL is: http://www.proprofs.com/quiz-school/quizview.php?id=4482 and these questions were brought up by the students. I didn't simply give them the answers, however. Instead, we walked through the Church teaching on each of these and the students were able to come up with the correct answers to their own questions. Questions #4, #8 and #16 were not brought up in class but are foundations to the questions I did ask.

The four scenarios that appear at the end of the quiz were actually asked by the students. I cleaned them up a little and made the situation clearer but they were their questions. Again, I am curious to see how the average adult responds to these moral teachings of the Catholic faith. Good luck and until next time...God bless.

posted by: crossman at 08:36 | link | comments (3) |
blog

Are you smarter than a Catholic 8th grader?

This weekend our 8th graders received the sacrament of confirmation. In the week or so prior to their reception of the sacrament I discussed and sort of quizzed them on the basics of their faith. I asked questions that they should have learned in understanding their faith at an 8th grade level. I asked questions about both the precepts of the faith and about the morals of our faith.

After that discussion I was thinking about how they answered and about how well the generations prior to this confirmation class know the faith. Unfortunately, the Church has shown that the education of the average Catholic is at an 8th grade level. This is because of the fact that after confirmation most do not continue to actively pursue further education of the faith. As this came to mind I wondered how Catholics would do if I asked the same questions I asked of the 8th graders. So, I created an online test using a web site I've have used to test students when I was teaching in St. Louis. I created one quiz with 20 questions in the area of faith and a second quiz with 20 questions regarding the morals of our faith. I challenge my readers to take these quizzes. I have the first quiz posted on the site already and the second quiz will be posted later in the week. You do not need to register or anything to take the quiz. It does ask for your name but I suggest you simply enter your first name. After the quiz you can see the correct answers, an explanation of the answers, your score and the average of all the scores. The quiz can be taken at: http://www.proprofs.com/quiz-school/quizview.php?id=4472

This quiz is also open to outside persons who are not readers of my blog so there will likely be a good cross-section of results to use in the statistics. I encourage you to take the test. Good luck and until next time...God bless.

posted by: crossman at 08:51 | link | comments (3) |
blog

John R. Rossman

Today is my brother's birthday. He would have been 33 today. I says he would have been because he was killed in a car accident in 1997. You can read his biography and learn about the John R. Rossman Memorial fund at his web site: www.johnrossmanmemorial.org. John's birthday always falls on the feast of St. Joseph the Worker. I think it is such an appropriate feast day for John. He was always a hard worker no matter the task. He didn't do anything extraordinary but then again neither did St. Joseph. If you think about it, St. Joseph faithfully took care of Jesus and raised him as a loving father would. John faithfully worked for and loved others in in the same, simply way.

John was never that oustanding student...he made average grades. He was never the fantastic sports star...he enjoyed sports, especially hunting sports. He was never that trend setter everyone wanted to be like...he dressed, acted and lived his own way. What he was that was outstanding was that he lived each day to the fullest and loved everyone he met. He had a close-knit group of friends who he loved being around. He enjoyed his co-workers and loved his jobs. His family was so important to him.

Like St. Joseph, John lived his life fulfilling the role God gave him to accomplish here on earth. I do not know what God's mission for John was here but I suspect it had alot to do with being an example of Christ's love to others. Everything he did showed how he was thankful for all God had given him...friends, family, his faith, his work, his life.

I also know that God has a plan for everyone and that we shouldn't despair when a loved one dies. John wouldn't have wanted us to do that. Rather we should rejoice that John, and our loved ones we lose, completed their service to God here on earth and that we were graced to have had that person be a part of our life here on earth.

Happy birthday, John. Until next time...God bless.

posted by: crossman at 09:29 | link | comments |
blog

Does the Church support St. Mary's Catholic Academy in St. Mary, KS and their banning women referees?

This question was an informed question and I can clear it up rather quickly. First, the St. Mary's Academy is not a Catholic school. The Pius X society, which owns and runs the school, is not in communion with the Catholic Church. They do not accept the teachings of the Second Vatican Council and do not recognize the authority of the pope. As such, they have be in schism with the Catholic Church. Secondly, the Catholic Church has no beliefs or teaching whatsoever that would suggest that women shouldn't be involved in the activities of boys in any way.

In answering that question, I have finished responding to the questions asked by our school children and the adult organizations. I did have a chance to talk to another couple of our school classes since I began responding to the first set of questions. In going to these classrooms I realized that our school children are really smart!!!

I discussed the 10 Commandments with the 3rd grade class and their understanding of the depth of the commandments was outstanding. For each of the 10 Commandments, they were able to give me some concrete examples of things that might break that commandment that are not explicit to the commandment. For example, they gave many examples of breaking the commandment, "Thou shall not kill" that did not include physically killing a person. I want to share a few of these examples from some of the commandments with you.

1) Thou shall have no other gods besides Me

The children came up with so many examples of other 'gods' we put before our God. Money, toys and other stuff were the two most common ones brought up. But one child said that TV was something that could become a 'god.' Another child said that school could become a 'god' and I thought that was funny so I asked how school could become a god. His reply surprised me. He said that he had a sister in college that studied so much that she didn't even go to Mass on Sundays. I imagine that at 9 years old he didn't know that, in all likelihood, his sister's 'studying' at college probably occurred at the bars or campus parties. But, he had the understanding that putting other things before Sunday Mass was a sin against the 1st commandment. I did point out, however, that school was important for them as long as they didn't skip Sunday Mass to do their homework.

5) Thou shall not kill

Although 3rd graders know what killing is they do not yet understand killing in the adult sense. Their answers to how they might sin against this commandment were well though out, however. They said that hating others 'killed' another person feeling. Being mean to someone else because they were mean to you was another one. Hitting others was a sin against this commandment. Playing violent video games could be a sin against this commandment, they said, because it promotes violence against others. This last one really surprised and impressed me that they'd realize that many video games promote hurting others.

6) Thou shall not commit adultery

Their responses to this commandment surprised me. They said that adultery was when someone broke their promise to someone they should love: a good definition for a 3rd grader. Then I asked them how we might break this commandment. One girl said that once when her best friend was sick and wanted her to bring her homework home to her that she didn't because she wanted to play at the park instead. She said that playing was more important than being a true friend. If only we could have such an understanding as these children do.

These are just a few examples of how the 3rd graders really do understand the 10 Commandments and how they can sin against them even if they aren't breaking that commandment literally. Their teacher did a wonderful job in helping them learn them and learning that it is important to think about what we do and how it hurts God when we do bad things. Good advice and teaching for us adults too. Until next time...God bless.

posted by: crossman at 09:30 | link | comments (5) |
blog

What is the Church planning to do about the priest shortage: Part 2

I want to return to our discussions regarding questions I have been asked in some of my visits to classes and organizations at our parish. I want to continue with the second part of the question I was asked about solving the priest shortage. Some of the persons indicated that ordaining women priests would go far to eliminate the priest shortage and would finaly give equality to women in the Church. There are a number of reasons brought forth whay women should be ordained so I am going to respond to each that was pointed out to me that night.

1) The reason Jesus didn't ordain women is because women were subordinate in society at that time.

First, Jesus didn't conform to society throughout his teaching so why would he change that when establishing the role of priest in the Church. Related to that is the fact that nearly all the pagan religions had priestesses so it would not be extraordinary to choose women as priests if he chose to do so. Lastly, if we believe that Jesus simply went with the times then we are admitting that Jesus, the Son of God, did not foresee the change in equality of women in the future and we deny God's omnipotence.

2)There is no scriptural basis for excluding women

This objection turned out to be more about the theology of the Church rather than scripture but it finds its source from scripture. Basically, the objection was that there was no evidence claiming that Christ saw the Church as only ordaining men. The truth is that Jesus gave some of the most concrete evidence of this and he did this numerous times. Jesus referred to the Church as the bride. He also referred to himself as the bridegroom. Jesus as the bridegroom is found in each of the four Gospels. The Church has also been recognized as being the bride of Christ because of the teaching of Christ himself. The ordained priest acts in the Person of Christ. The very theological teaching of Christ and his relationship to the Church is evidence of the male priesthood.

3) Not allowing women's ordination denies the equality of women

So many people believe equality means identical. Equality does not mean identical. The first and most fundamental example of this is our biological differences. As a male I cannot have a child. Does that make me less equal to a woman because I cannot bring new life into the world? Different does not mean unequal. A male priesthood does not make women subordinate in the Church. Even scriptures stresses that. St. Paul says:

"Now the body is not a single part, but many. If a foot should say, 'Because I am not a hand I do not belong to the body,' it does not for this reason belong any less to the body." (1 Corinthians 12:14-15)

He goes on to say:

"Now you are Christ's body, and individually parts of it. Some people God has designated in the church to be, first, apostles; second, prophets; third, teachers; then, mighty deeds; then, gifts of healing, assistance, administration, and varieties of tongues. Are all apostles? Are all prophets? Are all teachers? Do all work mighty deeds?" (1 Corinthians 12:27-29)

Scripture itself makes it clear that equality does not mean identical as well as clearly stating that God designated various persons to serve the Church in different ways. The role of women in the Church is just as important as that of men. We need religious sisters to pray for the People of God, to teach the faith to our children and to be that ideal example of Christ's command to do unto others as you would have them do unto you through their care of the sick, the poor and the needy. Wasn't that one of the most important elements of Christ's ministry on earth? Women religious do act in the Person of Christ in fulfilling his ministry to the teaching and care of others just as men act in the Person of Christ by ministering the sacraments of Christ.

These were the three objections to the Church not ordaining women that were brought up in my talks. On the surface, each objections seems to have merit. However, when you examine each objection, and compare it to the teaching of Christ and his Church it becomes obvious that these objections are not reasons the Church won't ordain women rather why Christ chose to ordain only men to the priesthood. Until next time...God bless.

posted by: crossman at 10:26 | link | comments |
blog

Visit of Pope Benedict XVI

I will return in my next blog to answering the questions we've been discussing. Today however, I wanted to touch upon the visit of Pope Benedict to the U.S. and highlight some of the things that will impact our country and especially Catholics.

Overall, his trip was an overwhelming success. He endeared himself to the American people by simply being himself. He was friendly, caring, very interactive with the people, non-judgmental and presented the perfect picture of a shepherd to the flock of nearly 70 million Catholics. However, he didn't back down from the tough issues facing the Church and society today, either. That combination of likeability, endearment and leadership of the People of God made his visit one of great accomplishment and progress for the Church in America. I want to point out a few issues he touched upon:

The priest scandal: While he was still on the plane during the trip to the U.S. he responded to a question by one of the on-board reporters who asked about what his thoughts were on the scandal. His response was, "I am deeply ashamed, and we will do what is possible so this cannot happen again." This was not his only comments or actions about the scandal while here in the U.S. Benedict also met privately to pray with a group of victims abused by priests. He also spoke on the scandal at most of his visits and repeatedly stated that we need to continue to develop our policies and increase our response to acts of abuse. Yet, spokespersons for Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP) still bashed the pope and basically dismissed him. One spokesman, speaking about the pope's response to the scandal during his visit, said, "He could have done more, actions speak louder than words." Another person commented that the popes "pedophile-shame is a large serving of puerile-papist-pabulum (to the best of my ability it would be synonymous to 'childish moronic Catholic babbling') Such an unbiased and impartial comment will certainly help to respond to and eliminate sex abuse by priests (heavy, heavy sarcasm intended here!!!)

I agree that the Church must continue to eliminate sex abuse by priests. However, I feel I must also point out that many in SNAP have one ultimate goal: massively damage or destroy the Catholic Church in the U.S. For example, a person who posted a comment on a blog site stated that any priest even accused of abuse should "rot in prison until they can prove they are innocent." And that, "All priests are guilty. They don't deserve any mercy." A grotesque and delusional comment as well as unproductive toward legitimate solutions to the continuing crisis.

Justice and human rights: In his U.N. speech, the pope spoke on justice and guaranteeing human rights for all times and all peoples. There are so many places in the world where human rights are severely violated. He made the comment that we must protect the human dignity of "all times and all peoples" which was a reference to a wide range of issues in the world: violence, war, hatred, abortion, embryonic stem-cell research, euthanasia, genocide and other crimes against humanity.

Ecumenism for the good of the world: He often focused on how the world must strive to promote the universal morality that is inherent to our world. He pointed out that moral and ethical actions are rooted in the definition of a human being. It is not limited to the Catholic or Protestant church. It is not restricted to Buddhists, agnostics or atheists. It is part of humanity.

The impact he had on the American people during his visit was phenomenal. I only hope that is isn't a short-lived and fleeting impact that is quickly buried by society and its negative, unchristian mindset. Until next time...God bless.

posted by: crossman at 08:08 | link | comments |
blog

What is the Church planning to do about the priest shortage?

This question was made in very general terms but you can see right away that there are a number of facets to the question. Coupled with the first question was, "Will they change the criteria for being a priest?" The first question seems to focus more on how are the dioceses going to respond to the spiritual needs of the faithful with fewer priests. The second part of the question, however, seems to infer that maybe the Church needs to change who can be priests and the way priests live because this is significantly contributing the the priest shortage. It's going to take me three blog entries to answer these questions, so let's explore the latter question first.

The question of changing priest criteria comes down to two things: married priests and women priests. It is important to understand the Church teaching of each of these. The teaching that priests are to be celibate and unmarried is a discipline of the Church. This means that the Church has made the decision that unmarried, celibate priests benefit the faithful and best advance the Kingdom of God. A discipline is something that can be changed by the Church if it chooses. For example, the Church does allow ministers of other faiths who are married and convert to Catholicism to become Catholic priests. The Eastern Catholic Church has many married priests. I am not going to go into the misbelief that married priests would eliminate the problem of pedophile priests (the majority of pedophile cases in our country are committed by a family members and not by priests or strangers). I do want to discuss in this blog how married priests would change the landscape of our faith.

A married priest would be unfair to both the family and the faithful. Let's say that I am a married priest. I have a responsibility to my family to be a devoted husband and father. However, I also have a responsibility to be a devoted pastor to my parishioners. Married couples will immediately recognize where I am going here. As a spouse and parent, you give yourself 100% to your partner and kids. EVERYTHING is centered on their well-being and your love is totally dedicated to them. As a priest, I am called to give myself 100% to the well-being and care of my parishioners. As a married priest, I cannot give 100% of myself to my family and I cannot give 100% of myself to my parishioners. It is unfair to both my family and my parishioners. I know a number of married priests who were ministers of another faith, converted to Catholicism and were ordained. To a person, they all say that while they love their wife and children more than anything in the world, they're not nearly as effective of a spiritual shepherd to their people than if they were an unmarried priest solely dedicated to their care. They also say that their family does suffer because of the conflict that exists.

In my next blog, I will discuss the notion of women priests. We'll look at this both from the Church view and the historic view. One last note: I have begun updating my Catholic Quote of the Week section on the left side of this page. I will endeavor to change the quote at least weekly so take a moment to read the wisdom the Church has given us. Until next time...God bless.

posted by: crossman at 08:03 | link | comments (2) |
blog

Why did the Vatican come out with 7 new mortal sins?

This question was asked and the way the question was worded inferred that not only was their questions about these new sins but also questioning the authority of the Church to just add new sins out of the blue. I say this because part of the question was, "It was God who gave us the original 7 mortal sins in the bible. Why did the Vatican think they should be able to create more?"

I will cover each of these individually because there are misunderstandings on each of these questions. First, the Vatican did not publish these 7 sins. Bishop Gianfranco Girotti, the regent of the Apostolic Penitentiary at the Vatican (the person in charge with reconciliation in the Church) brought up these sins in an interview. The media made it sound like these 'new' sins were proclaimed from the mouth of the pope. The reality is that they were taken out of aqninterview the bishop gave to the Vatican newspaper, L'Osservatore Romano, by an Italian reporter who saw a way to make a 'headline story' from the comments.

The second issue is that the 7 mortal sins were not definitively spelled out in the bible. While they are certainly all sins and do appear in the bible, they are not listed as the '7 deadly sins' nor are they even listed all at one time in the same book of scripture. The 7 deadly sins as we know them actually were not listed as such until in the 6th century by Pope Gregory the Great and were popularized in the Middle Ages by Dante in "The Inferno."

If one examines these 7 'new' sins they will see that they are not 7 new deadly sins rather examples of the existing 7 deadly sins. The 7 deadly sins are: lust, gluttony, avarice, sloth, anger, envy and pride. Now, look at the sins listed by the bishop: Bioethical violations such as birth control, morally dubious experiments such as stem cell research, drug abuse, polluting the environment, contributing to widening divide between rich and poor, excessive wealth & creating poverty. It is immediately recognizable that while the 7 deadly sins are a list of sins the list the bishop gives are examples of sins. The 7 deadly sins are very broad. The sins stated by the bishop are very specific. For example, the sin of gluttony could be excess food, alcohol, television, sex or a number of other things. Drug abuse, however, is very specific and defines a particular means of committing a sin.

Lastly, if you look at these 7 social sins, which is what the Vatican is titling them, they are examples of the 7 deadly sins. For example, excess wealth is a sin agains both gluttony, avarice and pride. Polluting the environment is a sin against sloth.

Being concerned over the Vatican's authority to be able to come out with a list of modern sins seems to go beyond these sins. It seems to be a sign of questioning the Vatican's authority to interfere in our modern world and our lives. That, however, sounds like a topic for a later blog entry. Until next time...God bless.

posted by: crossman at 08:05 | link | comments |
blog