What do people believe about the Catholic faith: Part 2?

Continuing to explore the survey asking what people believe about the Catholic faith, I want to look at the final 5 questions and their results. Just for reference, we had 56 persons who have taken the survey. Of the 56 persons who took the survey, 51 (90.7%) were Catholic, 4 (7.4%) were Protestant and 1 (1.8%) said they were of another faith.

 

The question of embryonic stem-cell research was very mixed. 33 people believe that embryonic stem-cell research is wrong no matter what. 12 persons believe that using existing embryonic stem-cell lines for research is acceptable. There were 7 people who believe embryonic stem-cell research is acceptable because it saves lives. Unfortunately, the reality is that it doesn't save lives. No cures or even potential cures have come about through embryonice stem-cell research. Furthermore, killing one life to save another life is immoral.

In asking persons what beliefs of the Church they agree with, the results were not too unexpected. The one that seemed to bother me the most is that only 36 people believed that the Church should have the authority to determine what is moral and what is immoral. That means 35% of respondants believe morality should be determined in another way. I am not going to assume anything but it would seem that the only other options left for who should determine morality is society or each individual. Society tends to follow whatever is popular or supported by the people. Individuals determining what is moral or not is an even scarier issue. Moraly based on the individual boils down to each person choosing whatever suits their wants and desires. Very disturbing.

On the question of women being ordained priests, it is sort of a non-issue. The Church has already stated definitively that women cannot be ordained to the priesthood. However, I posed the question to see what people think, which is why it is worded 'I believe that...' in the question. Surprisingly, 22 persons answered that they believe women SHOULD be ordained to the priesthood. Even if you remove the 7 non-Catholics that leaves 17 Catholics who believe women should be able to be priests. That is nearly 1/3 of Catholic respondants. Like I said, it's a non-issue, but I was blown over by the number of people who supported it.

The question about the bishops response to the priest scandal was, by far, the most surprising to me. Nearly 80% of respondants said that the bishops had responded somewhat or better. There were 12 persons who believe they have responded poorly or very poorly. Most persons (61% or 34 people) believe that they have responded somewhat. I actually fall into category myself but I was surprised so many others felt that way too. I had expected this question to overwhelmingly be poor or very poor.

The last question about the impact of the Catholic Church on society was mostly for my own curiousity. I wanted to see how people felt about the entity I have chosen (actually God chose me) to dedicate my life to serving. The fact that nearly 70% believe the Church has an marginal or positive impact is encouraging to me. It gives me hope that God continues to be a part of the lives of people, especially in a society that tries and tries to reject God.

Overall, the results of the survey were very informative. I learned a lot about how the beliefs of the Church are viewed by others, both Catholics and non-Catholics. Thank you all for taking the survey. I appreciate you doing that.

I will be away at our priest retreat in Atchison, KS from June 2 through June 5 so my next post will not be until after June 5th. Until next time...God bless.

posted by: crossman at 08:02 | link | comments |
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What do people believe about the Catholic faith?

It's been over a week since I posted the survey seeking to find out what people believe about the Catholic faith. There have been 56 persons who have taken the survey. The results were very interesting and I thought I'd share a few of them with you. Hopefully, my math is correct. I am quite good with percentages and numbers but when they become percentages of percentages I am only so-so. If you see a mistake let me know. I will point out that percentages on the survey page scome out as parts of persons when applied to the number of respondants so I rounded to the nearest whole number.

Of the 56 persons who took the survey, 51 (91%) were Catholic, 4 (7%) were Protestant and 1 (2%) said they were of another faith. I would say that the results then would, for the most part, reflect the Catholic beliefs of their own faith. 94% or 53 of the persons who responded stated that they regularly practice their faith. There were 50 persons who stated that they were Catholic when asked how often they attend Mass. However, only 80% or 40 of these people go to Mass weekly or daily (67% go weekly, 13% go daily). I find it very interesting that, although nearly 95% consider themselves practicing their Catholic faith, 15% of those persons don't actually attend Mass regularly. According to a CARA study, only 23% of Catholics say they go to Mass weekly or more so our numbers are significantly greater. However, I would expect this since you are regular readers of a blog written by a Catholic priest.

An interesting correlation was that 80% of Catholic respondants believed that the Eucharist truly is the Body and Blood of Christ. I would confidently say that participation in the faith, specifically participation in the Mass, directly affects your belief in the core of our Catholic faith.

The question of confession was one that really interested me. When asked how often you went to confession, over 50% said they went once a year or less. There were 23% (12 persons) who went once a year and 33% (17 persons) who went less than once a year. It seems that regular use of the sacrament of confession has been an issue for quite awhile now. Regular attendance would be a every three months or more. The survey indicated that 36% or 18 persons who would be considered using the sacrament regularly. The CARA study showed that 14% of Catholics use the sacrament regularly.

The question of the use of contraception may have been confusing. It was pointed out to me that the question did not differentiate between natural family planning methods or artificial contraception. My intent was referring to artificial contraception as I do not consider natural family planning to be contraception. However, since I did not clarify it then the results might be skewed so I am not going to break down the statistics.

The question of abortion was somewhat disturbing. 21% or 12 persons believe that abortion was acceptable in certain circumstances. That is 1/5 of the respondants. Considering that only 5 of the respondants were non-Catholic that leaves at least 7 Catholics who believe that abortion should be allowed in certain circumstances. Most of my readers know that the Catholic Church teaches that abortion is intrinsically evil and NEVER justified. At least 14% of Catholic respondants believing that is should be allowed in certain circumstances is very disturbing to me.

I am going to review the final 5 questions in my next blog entry. These last 5 are very much mixed with the teaching of the Church. Until next time...God bless.

posted by: crossman at 11:41 | link | comments |
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Time flies when you're having fun

Yesterday I celebrated the 1st anniversary of my ordination to the priesthood! I can't believe it's been a year already. It has been such an awesome year as a priest. I have had so many blessings and opportunities that I never would have had if I hadn't answered God's call. In fact, I was thinking of all the experiences I have had since my ordination.

Sacramentally, I have celebrated or participated in all seven sacraments. I have baptized 78 children since my ordination. Yesterday morning I celebrated my 435 Mass. I can't even count how many thousands of confessions I have heard. I have myself confirmed 12 adults at the Easter Vigil and assisted Archbishop Jim in confirming 240 of our 8th graders. I have participated in the ordination of 1 priest and 5 deacons. I have celebrated 7 weddings. Lastly, I have celebrated 7 funerals.

I have had the opportunity to celebrate Mass in so many places as well. In addition to Prince of Peace, I have celebrated Mass in Kansas at my home parish of Sacred Heart in Ottawa, St. Therese in Richmond which is the parish in which I was baptized, St. John in Greeley, St. Francis of Assisi in Lapeer, St. Patrick in Osage City, Holy Trinity in Lenexa and Prairie Star Ranch. In Missouri, I have celebrated Mass at Queen of All Saints in Oakville and the Basilica Cathedral of St. Louis. I have also celebrated Mass as St. Francis in Buffalo, MN and on a cruise ship in the middle of the Caribbean ocean. These are just the place I have celebrated Mass. I haven't even listed the places in which I concelebrated Mass.

I was given the blessing of being made Associate Pastor of Prince of Peace in Olathe. I have been able be a shepherd to the over 13,000 parishioners we have. I have supervised our youth program and witnessed our youth participation increase from only a dozen teens to nearly 50 teens thanks almost entirely to the leadership of Phyllis Mills who is our Youth Director. I have had the opportunity to be involved in the education of 625 students of Prince of Peace School. I have helped to bring 30 adults into the Catholic Church.

I could go on and on and on. What is obvious to me, however, is that I have been given countless blessings since my ordination and have had the privilege of being the part of the lives of tens of thousands of God's People - something I never, ever would have done had I not answered God's call. This first year has been such an awesome experience. Thank you to everyone who has helped me and been a part of this great blessing of priesthood. Until next time...God bless.

posted by: crossman at 09:02 | link | comments (4) |
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How well do we know the moral teachings of the faith?

The results of this quiz were outstanding! As of this morning 92 had taken this quiz and 90% was the average score. There is a margin of +-5% on this test but even so the results are above average. There were only a couple of questions that caught people off guard and only one question in which more than 50% of the people answered incorrectly. I will examine that question first.

18. MORAL SCENARIO: There are three presidential candidates on the ballot. The first is pro-abortion with few limits. The second candidate supports abortion but only in the first trimester. The third candidate personally opposes abortion but sometimes votes for it if it is the will of the people he represents. The third candidate opposes abortion except in cases of incest or rape. Is it acceptable to vote for the third candidate even though he is not completely pro-life?

ANSWER: Yes

This answer may seem to go against the teachings of the Church. However, I will give you a quote from John Paul II which justifies this action and then explain it a little more in detail. John Paul II stated:

"…when it is not possible to overturn or completely abrogate a pro-abortion law, an elected official, whose absolute personal opposition to procured abortion was well known, could licitly support proposals aimed at limiting the harm done by such a law and at lessening its negative consequences at the level of general opinion and morality. This does not in fact represent an illicit cooperation with an unjust law, but rather a legitimate and proper attempt to limit its evil aspects."

Basically, the Holy Father was saying that in a situation in which there is no choice that completely adheres to the teachings of the faith, a person MAY vote for the least of the evils. The understanding is that voting for the candidate whose teaching are closest to the the faith seeks to prevent a candidate who is completely counter to the Church teachings. A person is NOT obligated to vote for that candidate although their only other option is to abstain from voting. Only 35% of persons answered this correct, although that is still an impressive number of person who understood the Church's teachings on voting.

The other three moral scenarios were answered correctly by over 2/3 of those who took the test. This give me great hope for the future of the Catholic Church, especially in how our faithful will respond to the real life issues facing us today.

14. It is not a sin to desire to do good in order to gain the respect or esteem of others.

ANSWER: False

This was the only other question in which less than 50% of the people got correct. The desire to do good simply for the esteem of others is a sin against pride. It also questions whether the person is really doing good. Another example would be a person in a store who is given back too much change and only returns it because he knows the person behind him saw the cashier give him the incorrect amount. Returning the change may be doing a good but one questions whether the person is doing good or simply giving it back because he would otherwise be caught.

Again, the results of this quiz are outstanding and very positive for the future of our Church.

I had posted a survey last week on Quibblo to see how people viewed the Catholic faith. After examining the survey, I realized that a number of the questions were somewhat confusing and that there was not an option for non-Catholics to check on questions about the sacraments. So, I have re-created the survey and ask that you take it again. The new URL for the survey is:

http://www.quibblo.com/quiz/1DwVNuc/What-do-you-believe-about-the-Catholic-Church

Again, this survey is COMPLETELY anonymous so I would ask you to be straightforward and honest with your answers. I am going to give it about 10 days for persons to take the survey so I won't discuss it in a blog entry until the end of the month. Please feel free to pass the URL on to your friends to take. Anyone can take the survey including non-Catholics. I will be sending it to everyone in my address book (about 400 people) so hopefully we will get a good response. Until next time...God bless.

posted by: crossman at 08:51 | link | comments (6) |
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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 |
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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) |
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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) |
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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) |
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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 |
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