Here, at last, are the answers to the End of Year Quiz for 2014 which appeared in our post of 23 December.
1. Who in January left a voicemail message when the nuns didn’t answer the phone; and what were they doing?
Rorate Caeli reported that on December 31, Pope Francis telephoned the community of the Carmelite nuns of Lucena (Cordoba, Andalusia, Spain), a once powerful and numerous community now reduced to only five nuns, three of whom hail from Argentina. Since no one answered the phone when he called, at 11:45 am, he recorded a message in the answering device:
“What are the nuns doing that they can’t answer [the phone]? I am Pope Francis, I wish to greet you in this end of the year, I will see if I can call you later. May God bless you!” (Listen to it here in Spanish)
He called them back at 7:15 pm and was able to talk to them
According to the Daily Mail, “Sister Adriana, the prioress of the convent near the southern town of Cordoba, told COPE radio station she and the four other nuns were not listening for the phone because they were busy at midday prayers.”
2. What have the following in common: peaceful protesters, noisy children in the street, street preachers, canvassers, carol singers, trick-or-treaters, church bell ringers, clay pigeon shooters and nudists; the choir of Bath Abbey; and Japanese Knotweed?
Potentially, they all fall within the ambit of the Anti-social Behaviour, Crime and Policing Act 2014. the first group of 9 was identified by Lord Dear during the House of Lords debate, [HL 8 Jan 2014 : Col. 1515]. Potential practical applications of the Act include: a consideration by Bath Council to use these powers against buskers whose amplified music was disrupting Evensong at the Abbey; and the Home Office guidance relating to their application to Japanese Knotweed.
3. Is a “nodding ogee”: a) the vicar’s yes man on the PCC; b) a double-curved, pointed arch that also points forward at the top; c) a stall at the Church Christmas Fair?
b) See Pevsner’s Architectural Glossary, a snip at £4.49 (as at 29 September 2021).
4. What is the density of popes within Vatican City?
The small size (i.e. 0.44sq km) means the country has two Popes per square kilometre, (and also two Popes Emeritus per sq km).
5. Which of these bodies has official status within the Houses of Parliament: Parliamentary Inquiry into Foodbanks and Food Poverty (the CofE’s Press Release); Parliamentary Commission on Banking Standards (of which the Archbishop of Canterbury is a member); and Lord Falconer’s Commission on Assisted Dying?
None of them. Sub-editors please take note.
6. Which web site promises “Marriage provides more and better sex: Sex within marriage has an enduring and unifying quality”?
The Church of England’s Your Church Wedding site, here.
7. Place in order of severity, “stooshie”; “rammie” [alt. “ram-sammy”]; and “stramash” , and how was Scottish Composed James MacMillan involved”?
The Scotsman reported “There’s a musical stramash going on within the Roman Catholic Church in Scotland. In popular parlance it has been described as a battle between the “post-Vatican II hippies. . . . those on message with the Scottish church’s National Music Advisory Board, (in particular its chairman and Glasgow Archdiocese director of music, Monsignor Gerry Fitzpatrick, himself a composer/publisher), and the outsiders (among them leading composer James MacMillan, who is director of music at the Dominican-run St Columba’s Church in Glasgow, and heads up Musica Sacra Scotland, an initiative aimed at reviving chant-based worship in the Scottish Catholic Church).”
The OED defines there as: stooshie, “row or fracas”; rammie “A quarrel or brawl”; stramash, “an uproar; a row”
8. Link the following “firsts” of 2014: Jeremy Pemberton and Laurence Cunnington; Celia Kitzinger and Sue Wilkinson; Jan Tipper and Barb Burden; Tony and Barrie Drewitt-Barlow: and Douglas Pretsell and Peter Gloster: and Mary Portas and Melanie Rickey.
They all married or converted their civil partnerships as different provisions of the Marriage (Same sex couples) 2013, and the Marriage and Civil Partnership (Scotland) 2014 came into force.
To these should now be added the first couples to take advantage of the Scottish Act on Hogmanay: Joe Schofield and Malcolm Brown tied the knot at a humanist ceremony at the Trades Hall in Glasgow, while Susan and Gerrie Douglas-Scott married in private in the city.
9. By which other name are these organizations known: I] The Society of Hinge and Bracket; ii] Jezebel’s Trumpet: iii] The Bitter Pill; iv] Fishwrap?
i] The Society of SS Wilfrid and Hilda, here; ii] The Church Times – When he was Principal of Cuddeston, Robert Runcie was alleged to have said “you can read it, but it’s a sin to enjoy it“; iii] The Tablet; and iv] National Catholic Reporter, (a.k.a. National Schismatic Reporter).
10. Is the phrase “Do you know the bishop of Norwich?” i] A reference to the Rt Rev Henry Bathurst, (+Norvic 1805 to 1837) to encourage one’s fellow diners to pass the port; or ii] an Anglican priest’s query as to whether one is on the (non-existent) “blacklist” of the Rt Rev Graham James for marrying their same-sex partner?
i] Rt Rev Henry Bathurst, (+Norvic 1805 to 1837) or although some authorities suggest the Rt Rev John Sheepshanks, (+Norvic 1893 to 1910); we addressed the issue of “Clergy blacklists, blue files and the Archbishops’ List” here.
11. Which diocese ceased its 700 year episcopal oversight over the Channel Islands following a dispute over Deanery funds?
Coutances, in 1569.
12. When did the Pollen count reach 343, and how were the King of Norway and the Church Commissioners involved?
In August 2014. Savile Row and Cork Street – part of the Pollen Estate – were bought from the Church Commissioners for £343M, and are now part-owned by Norway’s sovereign wealth fund, here.
13. Link the following: a Bishop’s Farewell; Stinking Bishop; Smoking Bishop; and how is the latter translated to a Smoking Archbishop?
Bishop’s Farewell is “a strong premium beer of structured quality, dominated by elaborate fruity hop notes, with a grainy background and dry finish, 4.6% A.B.V. by Oakham ales; Stinking Bishop is “Full fat pasteurised cows’ milk soft cheese made with vegetarian rennet. The rind is washed in perry which gives it its characteristic flavour, brown/pink rind and pungent smell”; Smoking Bishop is “a type of mulled wine, punch or wassail. It was especially popular in Victorian England at Christmas time and appears in Dickens’ A Christmas Carol; a Smoking Archbishop is the variant which is made with claret.
14. Who said “Vatican II did destroy music and turned everything happy-clappy. It’s a frustration – you go to a Catholic church and nobody really sings the hymn, they mumble because they’ve got some lousy little electronic organ and somebody who can’t play it …”?
Harry Christophers, founder and conductor of The Sixteen: Abigail Frymann, The Tabet Blog, “Byrd or Bernadette Farrell?” 9 January 2013. [Page not now available].
15. Who was upbraided by his staff for “walking on the water”?
The Daily Mail reported “Visiting the Foreign Office while William Hague was in charge, the Archbishop of Canterbury, the Most Rev Justin Welby, said he’d walked over from Lambeth Palace. ‘So you walked across the river?’ mused Hague. Welby: ‘I usually do, but my staff say it’s showing off.’
16. What did Pope Francis say to the Curia in his end-of-Advent address: I]“Hai tutto fatto molto bene”; ii] c’è anche la malattia dell’”alzheimer spirituale“; or iii] “curare i vostri rapporti con gli altri“?
ii] “C’è anche la malattia dell’”alzheimer spirituale”, [“There is also the disease of ‘spiritual alzheimer'”]. One of the 15 “ailments” of the Vatican Curia listed by Pope Francis during his annual Christmas greetings. Paraphrased by Fr Z as “Merry Christmas, you vain, hypocritical, funeral faces!”
17. Who admitted that he was not “omniscient and omnipotent” but was praised for his compendious knowledge?
The Second Church Estates Commissioner, Sir Tony Baldry, HC Hansard 30 Oct 2014, Vol 587 (53) Column 395, made the admission, and was praised by the Speaker of the House of Commons, the Rt Hon John Bercow.
18. Whose actions were described as being “really, really stupid”, and by whom?
Those of the Priest in Charge and PCC of Emmanuel Church, Leckhampton; a comment by Diocesan Chancellor, June Rodgers in the judgement Re Emmanuel Church, Leckhampton [2014] Gloucester Cons Ct
19. What links the former bishop of Oxford; Wallace and Grommit; and the “Two Fat Ladies”?
As part of the events to mark his retirement riding, the Bishop of Oxford was photographed in a motorcycle sidecar as part of “A Grand Day Out”: Photo here.
20. What animal links Jorge Mario Bergoglio and Thomas William Hicks?
A bull. Pope Francis shares his birthday with Tommy Steel (Thomas William Hicks), both born 17 December 1936. Whereas Tommy Steele was know inter alia for the song “Little White Bull”, the UK No. 6 (Decca 1959), whereas Pope Francis . . . .