Hundreds cheer on Know Your Faith competitors

High school students from across North Dakota gathered in the high school gymnasium of Shanely High School in Fargo on Jan. 28 to cheer on their school teams in the Know Your Faith competition, a main event of Catholic Schools Week where students compete to display their knowledge of their Catholic faith.

Hundreds of teens filled the bleachers of the darkened gym, under ultraviolet light. Some students dressed in reflective gear or fluorescent clothes. Others had applied fluorescent ink and face paint that glowed in the dark. 

There was pounding music, fog machines and flashing light displays. Students cheered school cheers, waved school flags, danced and stomped on the bleachers as beach balls surfed the crowd.

The students roared as the teams were introduced from Bishop Ryan High School of Minot, Holy Family High School of Mandan, Shanley High School of Fargo, St. Mary’s Central High School of Bismarck, and Trinity High School of Dickinson. 

The roaring crowd fell silent for an opening prayer from Bishop John Folda of Fargo. He prayed “that our competitors might be filled with wisdom and insight, and that they might represent their schools well, and that we might all be lifted up by this occasion.”
The competition was emceed by Fr. Dominic Bouck, chaplain of the University of Mary. It consisted of three rounds of five questions each, worth a varying amount of points, followed by a final question.

First round questions concerned topics like the Israelite tribe of Jesus Christ (Judah), the saint who created a website to document Eucharistic miracles (St. Carlo Acutis) and four female Doctors of the Church (Sts. Catherine of Siena, Hildegard of Bingen, Teresa of Avila and Therese of Lisieux).

Holy Family finished round one with a perfect score, followed by St. Mary’s in second place. In third place there was a three-way tie between Bishop Ryan, Shanley and Trinity.
Between the rounds, other students showed their moves in a dance competition. A later intermission contest placed students in human-sized inflatable bumper balls as the boys and girls separately competed to knock each other over.

The second round of Know Your Faith featured questions about the common good in Catholic social teaching; the principles of the ethical concept of double effect; and the elements of a good confession. The teams began to stumble and some questions drew no correct answers.
At the end of two rounds, Holy Family still led, but Shanley rose to second place. St. Mary’s was in third place, while Bishop Ryan and Trinity tied for fourth.

The third round presented questions such as when the Gloria is omitted from the liturgy (Advent and Lent); the names of the four major prophets (Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Daniel and Isaiah); and the newest Doctor of the Church (St. John Henry Newman).

Here, Shanley took the lead, followed by St. Mary’s and Holy Family tied for second, with Bishop Ryan and Trinity tied for third. This led into the final round, when teams could bet some or all of their points.

Bishop Folda presented the final question: name the Pope who closed the Second Vatican Council (Pope St. Paul VI) and name four of the 16 documents by Latin title or subject.
At the end, victory went to Bishop Shanley’s team of seniors, composed of Henry Liebel, Drew Schneider and Sarah Sim.

“It means a lot for the school,” Shneider told New Earth. “I know we've had some struggles in the last couple of years and to be able to bring it home this year meant a lot for our whole school.”

Liebl said it felt “very surreal” to win. 

“We've seen our past classes go to this competition. Being able to represent our school and then win it for our school has been amazing,” he told New Earth.

Bishop Folda joined the Shanely team for pictures with the Know Your Faith trophy.
Speaking to New Earth, the bishop praised the event. 

“I love the enthusiasm for the faith that these kids have. I love the fact that they really do know their faith very well,” he said. “I'm impressed with the knowledge that they have, and it's just amazing to see these young people as excited as they are about this event.”