MCC Theology & Doctrinal Knowledge 3 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: The four marks of the Church — one, holy, catholic, and apostolic — are professed in which creed recited at Sunday Mass?
- Apostles' Creed
- Athanasian Creed
- Nicene-Constantinopolitan Creed (Correct answer)
- Tridentine Formula of Faith
Correct answer: Nicene-Constantinopolitan Creed
The Nicene-Constantinopolitan Creed, recited at Sunday and solemn feasts, explicitly professes: 'I believe in one, holy, catholic and apostolic Church.'
Question 2: Which of the following describes the dogma of the Assumption of Mary, defined in 1950?
- Mary was conceived without original sin and was preserved from all sin
- Mary was taken body and soul into heavenly glory at the end of her earthly life (Correct answer)
- Mary remained a virgin before, during, and after the birth of Christ
- Mary is the spiritual mother of all the faithful
Correct answer: Mary was taken body and soul into heavenly glory at the end of her earthly life
Pope Pius XII defined in Munificentissimus Deus (1950) that Mary, at the end of her earthly life, was assumed body and soul into heavenly glory.
Question 3: According to the Catechism of the Catholic Church, what are the 'last things' traditionally associated with Christian eschatology?
- Creation, Fall, Redemption, Consummation
- Judgment, Heaven, Hell, and Purgatory (Correct answer)
- Death, Resurrection, Rapture, and Millennium
- Baptism, Confirmation, Eucharist, and Anointing
Correct answer: Judgment, Heaven, Hell, and Purgatory
Classical Catholic eschatology focuses on the four last things: death, judgment (particular and general), heaven, and hell — with purgatory as an intermediate state.
Question 4: Lumen Gentium describes the Church primarily as:
- A perfect society entirely separate from the world
- A hierarchical institution requiring obedience to the pope alone
- The People of God and the Body of Christ, a sacrament of unity (Correct answer)
- An invisible spiritual reality with no necessary institutional form
Correct answer: The People of God and the Body of Christ, a sacrament of unity
Vatican II's Lumen Gentium describes the Church as the People of God and the Body of Christ, calling it a 'sacrament' — a sign and instrument of communion with God and unity among all people.
Question 5: What does the theological term 'theotokos' affirm about Mary?
- Mary was assumed into heaven bodily
- Mary is the spiritual mother of all Christians
- Mary is the God-bearer or Mother of God (Correct answer)
- Mary was preserved from all personal sin
Correct answer: Mary is the God-bearer or Mother of God
Theotokos, meaning 'God-bearer' or 'Mother of God,' was defined at the Council of Ephesus (431) to protect the unity of Christ's divine and human natures.
Question 6: In Catholic moral theology, an intrinsically evil act is one that:
- Is forbidden by civil law in most nations
- Is evil solely because of the circumstances surrounding it
- Is disordered by its very object regardless of intention or circumstances (Correct answer)
- Produces more harm than good in its consequences
Correct answer: Is disordered by its very object regardless of intention or circumstances
An intrinsically evil act is evil by reason of its object — the act itself is disordered regardless of the agent's intention or the circumstances, as taught in Veritatis Splendor.
Question 7: The theological virtue of hope, according to Catholic doctrine, has as its primary object:
- Health, prosperity, and success in this life
- Eternal life and the graces needed to attain it (Correct answer)
- Peace and justice in society
- Confidence in one's own moral goodness
Correct answer: Eternal life and the graces needed to attain it
The theological virtue of hope is the desire for and expectation of eternal life and the graces necessary to attain it, with God himself as the source and object.
MCC Theology & Doctrinal Knowledge 3
The four marks of the Church — one, holy, catholic, and apostolic — are professed in which creed recited at Sunday Mass?