Dear friendly quiz masters, it seems that the dust from the Magi’s camels is still visible on the horizon when along comes Lent. Why so early? That’s a future quiz question.

1. Ash Wednesday Question

Where do many Hawaii parishes get their ashes for Ash Wednesday?

a) They purchase them from Jerusalem olive tree growers.

b) They burn palms from Palm Sunday the year before.

c) Old parish bulletins are burnt.

d) They burn cedar logs.

2. Religious Orders

The Sisters of Life are a religious order with a primary mission of what?

a) teaching CPR, First Aid and other life-saving practices

b) providing food to the hungry

c) working for the protection and improvement of the sacredness of human life

d) leading the national youth program Living in Faith Experience

3. Current Events

Why did Pope Benedict XVI recently cancel his speaking engagement at Sapienza University in Rome on Jan. 17? (Hint: see page 22)

a) A recent talk at the university by a Catholic official had not been well-received.

b) The pope had fallen ill that week and was unable to travel.

c) Sapienza students went on strike and all classes and public lectures were canceled.

d) Professors at the university had protested in a letter that the pope was “hostile to science” and students had planned demonstrations against the visit.

4. Liturgy

The cantor should not lead the Gospel acclamation (Alleluia) from the ambo but from another place in the church. True or false? (Hint: see page 4)

a) True

b) False

c) True, except if the cantor is a deacon

d) False, except for Masses presided by a bishop

5. Church Trivia

CCD stands for what?

a) Christian Classes a Day

b) Charism of Catholic Divinity

c) Catholic Course of Devotion

d) Confraternity of Christian Doctrine

6. Hawaii’s Beatified

Blessed Damien’s body was unearthed from Kalaupapa in 1936 and sent back to Belgium at the request of whom?

a) Pope Pius XI

b) the Congregation of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary

c) King Leopold of Belgium

d) Father Damien’s great grand-nephew Peter de Veuster of Tremelo

7. Devotions

The blessing of throats with two crossed unlit candles takes place on Feb. 3, the feast day of this fourth century Armenian martyr bishop who, tradition has it, miraculously saved the life of a boy who had half swallowed a fish bone. Who is that saint?

a) St. Tonsilius

b) St. Eustachian

c) St. Blase

d) St. Adenoidus

8. Sacraments

To describe the sacraments, the Eastern Orthodox Church uses this word, which comes from the Greek word “musterion.”

a) mystery

b) muster

c) manifestation

d) manifold

9. Sin & Virtue

What is an “occasion of sin”?

a) old fashioned term (originally French) for adultery

b) circumstances (persons, places, things, etc.) which easily lead to sin.

c) a confessional box in a Catholic Church

d) a sinful thought

10. Picture

The Cathedral of Christ the Light (pictured above) is under construction in what U.S. city? It replaces the St. Francis de Sales Cathedral, which was damaged in an earthquake in 1989.

a) Oakland, Calif.

b) Phoenix, Ariz.

c) Kansas City, Mo.

d) Dallas, Texas

11. Church in Hawaii

The walls of the Cathedral of Our Lady of Peace are made out of what material?

a) lava rocks

b) coral blocks

c) red bricks

d) Tahitian limestone