Term 1 Content

Question 1

What is a vocation? (DEFINE and DISCUSS with EXAMPLES)

Answer 1

Vocation is a life-calling that is a much broader reality than just a job. Over a lifetime one’s vocation may involve many jobs or may involve no job at all. To understand where each person’s vocation comes from, it is necessary to recall the two creation stories that open the Book of Genesis. In the stories God teaches that men and women have been created in the ‘image’ of God (Genesis 1:27). God is the creator of the universe and continues to sustain and to develop this creation today. This extends to the earth and the environment, people and what is required to sustain them. All people are called to contribute to this ongoing work of creation and bring it to fulfillment.

Question 2

Where does each person’s vocation come from?

Answer 2

Men and women reflect God’s image and likeness by contributing to their vocation. People’s vocations come from the gifts given by God.

Question 3

What gifts has God given people to help them to follow their vocation?

Answer 3

God has given each person the gifts needed to follow their vocation in whatever role they pursue. Many people have the gifts needed for marriage. Some have the gifts to be good parents as well as being married. Some have the gifts needed to live singly and even to devote their lives entirely to the service of others. God provides the gifts needed by those who are called to follow people-orientated careers such as nursing, teaching, social work, the priesthood and Religious Life or follow environmentally- orientated careers, such as landscaping, environmental science, farming and gardening. God also provides the gifts for other careers, such as those related to commerce, administration, politics, community leadership, law and order, the arts and entertainment or scientific exploration.

Question 4

How can people use these gifts to participate in God’s work of creation?

Answer 4

God’s creative activity today sustains the existence of the universe, developing it and perfecting it. People participate in this activity by sustaining and developing the earth, its resources and its life.

Question 5

How does ‘rest’ contribute to God’s creative activity?

Answer 5

In the first of the Genesis creation stories, God rested on the seventh day. Contributing to God’s creative activity, therefore, also includes a day of rest from unnecessary work


Question 6

How does work contribute to God’s creative activity?

Answer 6

Paid employment or ‘having a job’ means ‘working for an income’. Most people have to seek paid employment. They will need to study and skill themselves so that they will be capable of working and earning a living.

Question 7

Why do some people fail to recognise their vocation?

Answer 7

Many people today fail to recognise their vocation or life-calling. They lack direction. Often, they drift through life or simply react to situations in life as they arise. There are many reasons why this happens.

Question 8

What is spiritual discernment?

Answer 8

Spiritual discernment is a process by which a person in faith and love tries to discover God’s will in a situation. It is a process of continually choosing the values of Jesus and living by his Spirit. Christians are called to spiritually discern God’s will in all life’s important decisions, particularly their vocation.

Question 9

How does spiritual discernment help people to recognise their vocation?

Answer 9

Some people get support from a spiritual director to help them understand what is influencing their decision. The spiritual director will help people ask questions such as: ‘What are my talents?’ ‘What are my personal strengths and weaknesses?’ ‘What kinds of
things do I enjoy doing?’ ‘In my relationships,
when do I feel most fulfilled?’

Question 10

How is salvation achieved?

Answer 10

Salvation is God’s saving action on behalf of the human race. God’s plan for people to be completely united to him could not be realised before the coming
of Christ because of human sin. Only God could change this situation. This required salvation –
God’s saving actions on behalf of the human race. These actions involved:
• destruction of the power of original sin over human beings
• empowerment of people to overcome the effects of original sin
Salvation is achieved once God has to intervene to positively change a situation.

Question 11

What is the kingdom of God?

Answer 11

The Kingdom of God is not a place. It exists where people acknowledge God’s Lordship over them in the person of Jesus and allow themselves to be transformed by the power of God’s love. 


Question 12

How did Jesus demonstrate the saving power of God?

Answer 12

Jesus demonstrated that God’s saving power is offered to everyone in order to live the Christian life. Many miracles, such as healing miracles, demonstrated what the kingdom can do within people. They showed in visible ways the transformation that the power of God is able to achieve. Even dying on the cross, and then being resurrected 3 days later represents the saving power of God

Question 13

What is the Triduum?

Answer 13

The four days of Easter services – Holy Thursday, good Friday, Holy Saturday and Easter Sunday

Question 14

How does the Triduum celebrate the saving power of God’s Kingdom?

Answer 14

The greatest demonstration of the power of the kingdom was the Resurrection of Jesus. The Resurrection showed that, since it is greater than death, there is no human failing or weakness that can resist God’s saving power.

Question 15

How does Jesus support his followers through ordained priesthood?

Answer 15

During his life-time, Jesus supported his followers personally. He:
took them away to rest 

continued to explain what they did not 
understand
promised the Holy Spirit to strengthen them 

encouraged them, even after correcting them

Question 16

What is the Sacrament of Holy Orders?

Answer 16

Holy Orders is the sacrament through which the mission entrusted by Christ
 to his apostles continues to be exercised in the Church until the end of time: it is the sacrament of apostolic ministry. It includes three degrees or grades: bishop, priest, and deacon.

Question 17

What are the roles and responsibilities of each of the types of Holy Orders?

Answer 17

The spiritual gifts and responsibilities bishops receive, through which Jesus personally leads the Church, have been passed down the generations over the past two thousand years. This is called the apostolic succession.

Question 18

In what ways does a priest serve?

Answer 18

These leaders, who became known as priests, served their communities in three main ways, by:
Being with others in a personal, loving way that gave witness to Jesus’ presence 

Leading the believing community 

Celebrating Christ’s presence in the sacraments 

Celebrating the Eucharistic sacrifice of the Mass 

Preaching the word of God. 


Question 19

What does it mean to live a life of celibate love?

Answer 19

Jesus did not marry, but lived a single life that enabled him to respond to the needs of all people at any time they needed his love. This inclusive love of a single person is called ‘celibate love’.

Question 20

What is religious life?

Answer 20

The origins of religious life can be traced back to the earliest centuries of the Church. During these centuries, some were called to live the Gospel of Jesus in radical ways.

Question 21

How does Religious life imitate Jesus?

Answer 21

People called to religious life seek to imitate Jesus by taking vows of poverty, chastity and obedience

Question 22

What is an apostolate?

Answer 22

Besides monastic communities which are usually found in more rural areas there are communities of apostolic life. The members pray daily, both in community and in private. These communities were usually founded to meet specific needs found in more populated areas. They are sometimes called ‘active-contemplative communities’.

Question 23

What apostolates exist in Western Australia, and what work do they do?

Answer 23

In Western Australia, there are apostolic consecrated religious Orders and Congregations in many areas of the Church’s work. For example:

Various works among Aboriginal people (e.g. Pallottine Fathers, Christian Brothers, Presentation Sisters, St John of God Sisters) 


Schools (e.g. Sisters of Mercy, Marist Brothers, Oblate Fathers, Norbertine Canons, Christian Brothers) 


Medical care (e.g. St John of God Sisters, Little Sisters of the Poor, Daughters of Charity) 


Services to migrants (e.g. Sisters of 
St Joseph of the Sacred Heart, Salvatorian Fathers, Sisters of Our Lady of the Missions) 


Question 24

What is the basic purpose of every person’s life?

Answer 24

The basic purpose of every person’s life is to experience a loving relationship with God

Question 25

What happens after people die? What is Heaven? What is Hell? What is purgatory?

Answer 25

Purgatory:
Immediately after death, people encounter the Risen Christ. At this moment, Jesus sees whether or not the person has accepted God’s invitation to eternal relationship. Those who have done so have followed their basic human vocation.

Heaven: Heaven is the happiness experienced by all who accept God’s call to personal relationship with the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. This is the destiny God wishes, but does not force upon, every human being.

Hell: When people knowingly do wrong and sin gravely against God, against others or against themselves they are choosing to be separated from God. If people die in mortal sin without repentance they will remain separated from God forever. This state of separation from God and all those who choose him is called “hell”.