Tim judges of the "Catholic Herald's" Lent Competitions-designed to foster study of the Gospels and the Acts of the Apostles-have chosen the following winners:
SENIORS
FIRS! PRIZE, £5 5s.: Sister Mary .•1 Ihert, 0.P., St. Dominic's Priory, Caesbrooke, Isle of Wight.
SECOND PRIZE, £2 2s.: Miss Maureen Kielty, North Kensington, London.
TDIRD PRIZE, II Is.: Mrs. L. Draycott, 22 Broadway, Blackpool.
Consolation Prizes: Mr. Joseph Ashworth, Thornton, Blackpool. Mr. J. Burgess. Chaddesden, Derby. Sister Mary Laurence, OP.. St. Dominic's Priory. Carishrooke, Miss D. Jefferson. Gravesend. Mr. F. T. O'Duffy, Belfast, Miss D. M. Winham, Guildford, Surrey, Miss Gladys Davidge, East Grinstead, Sussex, Miss Joan Day. Holy Ghost Convent, Caverswall. Stoke-on-Trent, Mr. Bernard James, Birmingham, Miss M. Nelson, Swanage, Dorset.
The judges comment:
Though there were no all-correct solutions. more than 50 of the 300 or so contestants who finished the course achieved 80 per cent. The difference between the top mark and the lowliest of the consolation prizewinners was less than 4 per cent.
A good working knowledge of the Gospels and the Acts WEIS shown (or acquired in the course of the competition!) by the large majority. and most entrants resolutely refused to he caught by the "catch" questions.
The following notes on the questions may be of interest to competitors: The Parables I. The shortest parable recorded in the Gospels is the Leaven (Lk. 13, 20). The "blind leading the blind" (Lk. 6, 39) is not a parable in the strict New Testament sense (in spite of the use of the very word in Mgr. Knox's translation) but a proverb.
2. Our Lord never explained His Parables to the Jews, but only to His disciples (cf. Mark 4, 34). The Good Shepherd (In. 10) rs not a parable. Our Lord is not like the good shepherd, He Ls the good shepherd. And in any case, the Jews could not understand Him (v. 6). Others offered Matt. 21, 33ff. as the answer to this question. But the reference to the corner-stone (v. 42) is not a clear explanation.
The Miracles
I. Perhaps the only miracle clearly recounted in the Gospels not worked by Our Lord is Zachary's dumbness (Lk. ch. 1). The 72 disciples work ed miracles, but none of them is described; similarly there is no description of the exorcisms of the unknown man (Mk. 9, 37).
2. The miracle which Christ refused to allow His Apostles to work is recorded in Lk. 9, 54. The Apostles' failure to cast out the devil in Lk. 9, 38 was not due to a direct refusal on Our Lord's part.
The Apostles 1. Jude (or Thaddeus) is named and speaks in In. 14, 22.
2. Mathias was chosen as a full member of the Apostolic College (Acts 1, 2(s). Only Paul and Barnahas receive the special call of the Holy Spirit (Acts 13. 2). and receive the specific name of "Apostle" in the Acts (cf. 14, 4 and context).
The Passion 1. Apologies to those readers who found the second question ambiguous. The only explicit re ference to Our Lady's presence on Calvary is in In. 19. 25ff, and she is not referred to by name there. but only as "His mother.
2. There is scriptural evidence in St. John for the 13th station as well as the 2nd--cf. In. 20, 25. 1 he majority of the leading competitors failed at this hurdle.
3. The reference in the Passion narratives (not elsewhere!) to the Paschal Lamb is in In. 19, 36 (cf. Exodus 12, 46 and Num. bus 9, 12).
The Resurrection
1. Some competitors were surprised to find that there is no scriptural record of a special apparition to Our Lady. But we were rather shaken by one op. pended note: -This is not fact, hut tradition."
2. We were taken to task for ambiguity in question 5: "Who was the last witness of the Resurrection?" May we direct our critics' attention to I Cor. 15, 8?
The Acts 1. The first convert was Simon Magus (8, 13)-before Cornelius. The first Gentile convert
was the Ethiopian 27)--he was a Jewish proselyte (as was Cornelius): he was not, therefore, the first pagan convertwho was Sergius Paulus (13, 2). The first convert in Europe (not the first European convert) was Lydia at Philippi (16, 4). This was probably the most scripturally difficult question in the whole quiz. Congratulations to the very few who solved it.
2. Most competitors took the "Street of the Shoemakers" question in their stride-seemingly well-prepared for examiners' quirks. The answer was Joppe and Simon the Tanner.
The results and judge's report In the Junior Section will be published next week.