Wednesday, April 14, 2010

Test Your Orthodoxy

Though this "Orthodoxy Quiz" may seem simplistic, it reflects agendas and issues that conservative groups and churchmen are using to critique the loyalty and faithfulness of typical Catholics. Answer each of the following questions with true or false to test your orthodoxy.

1. All religions pray to the same God and they are just different paths to the same truth. T/F

2. Women should be allowed to be ordained priests. T/F

3. Maybe women should not be ordained priests, but there should be open dialogue and discussion on this issue. T/F

4. Since we are ordaining married Protestant ministers priests, it is time for a married priesthood. T/F

5. Birth control is only okay for committed, married couples who already have children. T/F

6. It would be wonderful if Mother Teresa of Calcutta could come back and give a homily at our parish church. T/F

7. If they attend a Catholic Mass, it is okay for Lutherans to receive communion. T/F

8. It is okay for Catholics to receive communion in a Protestant Church, if it is in their spouse's church. T/F

9. There is no penalty for a Catholic to marry a divorced person, as long as they are non-Catholic and had been married to a non-Catholic by a judge. T/F

10. If you ask God for forgiveness of sin, the Sacrament of Confession isn't necessary. T/F

11. If there are more than 100 people per priest at a Penance Service, general absolution is acceptable. T/F

12. The Pope is not infallible. T/F

13. Missing Mass on a Holy Day isn't a mortal sin. T/F

14. When in doubt, it is more important for a Catholic to ask what Jesus would do and follow their conscience, than to follow Church teaching. T/F

Take this quiz. Then check your nswers in first comment below.

2 comments:

  1. How Did You Score?

    If you believe each premise is false, congratulations, you seem to be in full agreement with current official Catholic Church policy… so far….

    However, if you feel any of these statements are or should be true, The Vatican's Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith would at least label you an ignorant "Cafeteria Catholic." Your worthiness to be an Eucharistic Minister or involved in other parish ministries might be questioned. “Catholic lay ministers who disagree with the church's teachings should not be allowed to continue in their ministries or assist in distributing communion”,
    according to a letter sent by Cardinal Francis George to pastors in the Chicago Archdiocese.” (Chicago Tribune, June 10, 2004)

    If you felt most of the statements were or should be true, you are likely a heretic and apostate. Fortunately for you, the Inquisition with torturing and burning at the stake is no longer in vogue. However, censure, silencing and excommunication are still a real possibility. Teachers at Catholic schools and universities can still be summarily fired under the possibility of unorthodox ideas. Religious men and women can be silenced for participating in controversial social action programs.

    Answer Key.
    1. All religions other that Catholicism "are gravely deficient", whether referring to other Christian faiths or world religions such as Judaism, Mohamedism, or Hinduism. In fact, it is a misnomer to talk about other Christian denominations as "Sister Churches." Vatican Document Dominus Iusus, 2000.

    2. The Vatican has declared that final answer is "no." That's the way God wants it. In Ordinatio Sacerdotalis, issued in May 1994, the pope said the church has no authority to confer priestly ordination on women.

    3. It is not even permissible to discuss the issue further. To even think about the possibility is wrong and erroneous. The Vatican issued its ban on discussion in November 1995, declaring Pope John Paul II’s Ordinatio Sacerdotalis, to be infallible teaching requiring “definitive assent.”

    4. True that married Protestant ministers are being ordained, but they must declare that celibacy is the norm, and that like deacons, if their wives die, they will never have another wife, nor their children another mother.

    5. Any birth control other than abstinence, is always and everywhere intrinsically evil. Humanae Vitae.

    6. No non-cleric, and certainly no woman, may ever give a "homily" or "sermon" during Mass. They may give a talk or theological reflection, as long as it doesn't appear that it they are preaching a "homily."

    7. Non-Catholics, whether Christians or not, may never receive communion unless in danger of death and their own minister is not available. Read your missalette. Some priests will stop the Mass to read this text aloud as a disclaimer before communion at Funerals where non-Catholics and bad Catholics may be attending.

    Continues in next comment...

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  2. 8. Receiving Communion in a Protestant Church is never allowed.

    9. The legal marriage between two Non-Catholics, whether in a church, outdoors or in a courthouse is seen as permanent and binding. A divorced Non-Catholic seeking to marry a Catholic must go through the full Catholic Annulment process, whether they want to become Catholic or not.

    10. Regardless of true contrition, the rule is that God won't forgive you unless you go confession later. If you fail to confess at the next opportunity, you're still on the hook, especially for mortal sins.

    11. "The condition for the rite does not exist in Chicago": Francis Cardinal George

    12. He is too! Pious X said so (infallibly) in 1871, and John Paul II/ Benedict XVI put Pius X on the road to Sainthood. Nuff said!?

    13. The rule is that missing Mass on a Sunday or Holy Day is a mortal sin and you would go to hell. Recent polls suggest less than 40% of Catholics go to Mass each Sunday, and less than a third of those go to Mass every Holy Day. Hell will be a crowded place.

    14. One bishop decried WWJD as pop-theology and it cannot be a substitute for Catholic teaching. Even St. Thomas Aquinas is dinged here on his teachings about the primacy of the human conscience.

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