Catechism Bowl tests knowledge of our faith
Kristin Lukowski of The Michigan Catholic
Published January 26, 2007
Catholic Schools Supplement
Kristin Lukowski | The Michigan Catholic
Our Lady of Mount Carmel Catechism Bowl coordinator Mary Cerulla, left, stands with last year's team: ninth-graders Amanda Genaw and Ciara Viola, and eighth-graders Kelly Stec, Evan Baum and Mitchell Sadowski. | Wyandotte — There are opportunities for students to compete in many kinds of sports and other extra-curricular activities -- but not too many where students can compete in knowledge of the Catholic faith.
That's the idea behind the Catechism Bowl, held annually at a few schools throughout the Archdiocese of Detroit. Downriver, Our Lady of Mount Carmel, in Wyandotte, hosts an annual Catechism Bowl for seventh- and eighth-grade students; a Catechism Bowl for schools in the Monroe Vicariate will be held this fall.
Mary Cerulla, Our Lady of Mount Carmel High School's development director and a 1982 alumna, explained that the school's Catechism Bowl was started in 1999 by the parish's education commission as a competition for middle-school students.
"This is an opportunity to compete based on knowledge of the catechism," she said. "It's really a good thing, and it's good for our Catholic faith."
Last year's Our Lady of Mount Carmel team practiced for the few weeks leading up to the event for a few times a week after school, studying and watching tapes of previous years' games. Former team member Kelly Stec, now an eighth-grader, said that helped them with what to expect.
"I'd say it was fun," she said.
She also said it was fun working as a team for a common goal.
Evan Baum, also a team member last year and in the eighth grade this year, said that often the problem during competition wasn't not knowing an answer, but overcoming nervousness that comes with the pressure of raising your hand first and knowing the right answer.
Their team had split up possible question categories to study. For example, Baum had taken on the Old Testament, teammate Mitchell Sadowski studied the Mass, and Stec studied the lives of the saints, among other subjects.
The Our Lady of Mount Carmel bowl, which is in its ninth year, is held in the spring and usually draws students from about seven other schools. Last year's competition roster included St. Stanislaus Kostka, also in Wyandotte; Immaculate Conception, Warren; St. Alfred, Taylor; St. Anselm, Dearborn Heights; St. Charles, Newport; St. Genevieve, Livonia; and St. Mary, Monroe.
Last year was the first year Our Lady of Mount Carmel won the traveling trophy and bragging rights that come with a Catechism Bowl victory.
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Quiz Box
How well would you do with some of the questions for a middle school Catechism Bowl?
• "New Testament": This is the number of books in the New Testament.
• "Sacred Vessels": This vessel has a cover and is used for distributing Holy Communion.
• "Who am I?": Jesus healed this person's ear.
• "It Happened Here": David and Goliath.
• "Miracles": The site of many miracles, including the raising of Jairus's daughter.
• "The letter 'L'": The book that contains the collection of readings from the Bible.
Answers:
What is 27?; what is a ciborium?; who is Malchus?; what is First Samuel?; what is Capernaum?; and what is a lectionary? | Catechism Bowl is run like the popular quiz game show "Jeopardy!," with students answering questions in various categories, of various point value, for two rounds. The game ends with a final question, on which the team risks some or all of their accumulated points.
Cerulla writes all the several hundred questions needed for a competition and eventually gives them to be checked by Our Lady of Mount Carmel pastor Fr. Walter Ptak, who is also the current Quiz Master (question-reader). Categories could include Biblical events, liturgical colors, questions about the Mass, four-letter words and more.
Cerulla takes about a month before the competition to research and write out all the questions needed, with questions sometimes coming to her during Mass. She tries to make it interesting and not dry, with some categories relatively easy and some harder.
"I want them to learn," she said. "I want the kids to feel good about what they're doing."
Last year, she had a category where students had to spell out some tricky Church-related words, such as Triduum and Golgotha. "They hated me for that one," she said, laughing.
Competing schools can bring their whole class, to watch, or just their team — usually four students and an alternate. Parents and the parish community are all invited, too.
The winning school's name gets engraved on the trophy, and everyone who participates gets some kind of prize, such as a rosary or a crucifix. Cerulla said the Catechism Bowl is a good learning tool and that she'll keep organizing it as long as other schools want to play.
"The kids really get into it, especially when it's a close game," Cerulla said.
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