reading comprehension

By Diogenes ( articles ) | Sep 03, 2009

Good morning, class. Today we're going to see how well you understand what you read.

Please read carefully through the blog post in which Cardinal O'Malley justifies his participation in the canonization funeral of Ted Kennedy. Then answer the following questions in the time provided.

1. Who should be denied a Catholic funeral?

 

A) Politicians who deny principal tenets of Catholic moral teaching.

B) The faithful who are scandalized by these politicians.

C) People who don't care that Placido Domingo sang at the funeral.'

D) Both B and C

2. Enabling the deaths of millions of preborn children is:

A) A grave sin

B) A lost opportunity

3. True or False: President Obama was listening intently, and genuine weighing the possibilities, when Cardinal O'Malley urged him not to include an abortion mandate in his health-care reform package.

4. In the text of the cardinal's blog post, circle five non-sequiturs-- comments that have no bearing whatsoever on the question of whether or not Ted Kennedy should have been allowed a Catholic funeral.
(Some acceptable answers: Eunice was a good Catholic; there are thatched roofs in County Mayo; the Irish greet each other in Gaelic, Rose Kennedy had a memorial card inscribed with a message of faith; the Kennedy boys all served in the armed forces; Jack broke the "glass ceiling" for Catholics in America; Placido Domingo has a great voice.)

5. Apply What You Have Learned: In 2002, Bishop Thomas Daily of Brooklyn refused to allow a Catholic funeral for John Gotti, notorious leader of the Gambino crime family. The "Dapper Don" had spent 2 years in prison before his death: ample time to allow for confession and repentance. Still Bishop Daily concluded that a public funeral for a known Mafia figure would cause a public scandal. Compassion required a public funeral for Ted Kennedy-- whose contempt for Church teaching on the dignity of human life was a matter of public record, never recanted-- but did not require a public funeral for John Gotti. Why? (Circle all that apply.)

A) The Don didn't own a single Placido Domingo 8-track, just music by Pavarotti.
B) They don't have thatched roofs on Sicilian cottages.
C) The Don's family wasn't as nice. OK, his mother was nice, but she didn't have such a nice Memorial card.
D) The only "glass ceiling" Gotti ever broke was shattered by a tommy-gun blast.
E) No Italian mother would name a daughter "Eunice."

All right, time's up. As you pass your papers forward, let's all join in a chorus of "Danny Boy."