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This test consists of 15 multiple choice questions and 5 short answer questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. What does Merton tell his brother when he comes to Gethsemani?
(a) The address of a priest in New York he must visit.
(b) The names of women he should visit.
(c) How to stay safe while traveling.
(d) Everything Merton knows about Catholicism.

2. What religious order does Merton first consider joining?
(a) The Templars.
(b) The Franciscans.
(c) The Dominicans.
(d) The Jesuits.

3. Where is Merton's brother during the time Merton is at Friendship House?
(a) He is with the Royal Canadian Air Force.
(b) He is with the United States Navy.
(c) He is in the Army in France.
(d) He is sick and in the hospital.

4. What were growing interests for Merton in Olean?
(a) Sports and writing
(b) Teaching and journalism.
(c) Asceticism and contemplation.
(d) Philosophy and religion.

5. With whom does Merton receive the habit he will wear as a monk?
(a) A Carmelite he met on retreat.
(b) A friend from the university.
(c) Father Edmund.
(d) Bob Lax.

6. How does Merton want to live in the world?
(a) As a religious teacher.
(b) As a good and righteous lay person.
(c) As a chaplain in the military.
(d) As a monk.

7. What is Friendship House?
(a) A place that helps poor residents in Harlem.
(b) A place to make a religious retreat.
(c) A cottage in New York.
(d) A monastery guesthouse.

8. What do Ed Rice and Bob Lax work on in Olean?
(a) They both write novels.
(b) They write church history.
(c) They both write autobiographies.
(d) They work on newspaper articles.

9. What prompted Merton to confess his sins to the abbot?
(a) Merton's trip to Cuba.
(b) A discussion with Dan Walsh.
(c) The abbot's forgiving demeanor.
(d) Merton's medical emergency.

10. What medical emergency does Merton experience while waiting to enter a monastery?
(a) He breaks his arm and must remain in a cast for months.
(b) He gets appendicitis and has surgery.
(c) He has serious stomach trouble and ulcers.
(d) He has an abcessed tooth extracted.

11. How many countries has Merton lived in by the time war breaks out?
(a) Four.
(b) Six.
(c) Five .
(d) Three.

12. When does John Paul die?
(a) June, 1944.
(b) September, 1941.
(c) December, 1940.
(d) April, 1943.

13. Who does Merton blame for the war, besides Hitler?
(a) His professors.
(b) Himself.
(c) The French people.
(d) His father.

14. What did Merton and his friends grow in Olean?
(a) They all grew beards.
(b) They grew wheat.
(c) They grew a vegetable garden.
(d) They grew their hair long.

15. What does Merton desire just before going to Olean?
(a) A meeting with congenial friends.
(b) To teach religion at the university.
(c) To become a parish priest.
(d) A retreat from the world into solitude and contemplation.

Short Answer Questions

1. What action does Merton take to become a monk after lunch at the Columbia Faculty Club?

2. What does Merton remember when saying goodbye to his brother after his baptism?

3. What causes Merton's unhappiness when he is teaching?

4. What sends Merton into a frustrating "holding pattern"?

5. What religious rule do the monks follow at Gethsemani?

(see the answer keys)

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