As a catholic, I can say that I do NOT worship Mary.  I respect her position 
as the person who had to say yes to carrying the Son of God.  And I don't 
pray to the saints.  I love reading about their lives, and I appreciate 
their prayers and cheering me on, as well as all their writings during their 
lives.  But I do NOT pray to them.  I think we need to be careful when we 
talk in generalizations about what certain groups do or don't do.

Peggy
http://kernsac.livejournal.com/
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "John Schwery" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Wednesday, November 22, 2006 7:37 PM
Subject: Re: Do Catholics worship Mary?


>I have allowed these kinds of things to go by, before, without comment. 
>But, if we are concerned about ttruth, on this list, I cannot keep silence. 
>I was raised Catholic and must disagree with this article.  The Scriptures 
>never call Mary the Mother of God and she is not our mother.  Though 
>Catholics deny that they worship Mary and the saints, they, in fact, do. 
>The fact that they even pray to them, denies this.  Prayer is to be made 
>only to God and not men or angels.
>
> earlier, Sheila Killian, wrote:
>
>>I found this, one of the best explanations I've ever read.
>>
>>Read on, then, and enjoy.
>>
>>******
>>
>>TEENAGED PROTESTANTS STUDY MARY
>>
>>Q: Why do Catholics Worship/Pray to Mary?
>>
>>A: Here's a nice wonderful article about 4 protestant girls studying about
>>Mary from a Catholic and a Baptist teacher.
>>
>>Enjoy and understand!
>>
>>I'm one of two teachers for a non-denominational, weekly Bible study at an
>>all-girls high school. I'm a Catholic, and the other teacher is a Baptist.
>>Our first six-week session had three students, one Catholic and two
>>Protestant, and it went well. We decided to run the program again, this 
>>time
>>with a new set of students. Four girls signed up, all Protestant.
>>
>>For the first class of the new session, the Baptist teacher and I asked 
>>the
>>girls, "What do you want to know?" They asked about Adam and Eve, what
>>difference Jesus made in the world, how many religions there were, and who
>>wrote the Bible. All pretty reasonable stuff; the questions lent 
>>themselves
>>to team-teaching. We wrote down the questions so we could base the next 
>>five
>>classes on them. But then one of the students asked, "Why did God choose
>>Mary to be Jesus' mother? I mean, did he just go 'eenie, meenie, minie, 
>>moe'
>>or something?"
>>
>>I looked at the Baptist teacher, and she looked at me. Blessedly, we both
>>laughed. "Well," I said, "you've just run into one of the areas where
>>Catholics and Protestants sort of disagree. We'll write down your question
>>and talk about it in two weeks." After class was over, the other teacher 
>>and
>>I talked about Mary, and, of course, we disagreed about some important
>>points. We decided to give our presentations one after the other, instead 
>>of
>>team-teaching as we usually do. She would go first, and I would follow.
>>
>>When the time came, I listened to her lesson with great interest. She read
>>from her King James Version's reference section about Mary, then read Luke
>>1:26-56 (the Annunciation and the Visitation) aloud, focusing on the faith
>>Mary showed in the angel and his message. She concluded by saying that God
>>had chosen Mary because she was "A good woman and would be a good mother 
>>for
>>Jesus."
>>
>>Then it was my turn. "Holy Spirit, I can't do this without you," I 
>>breathed
>>silently, then began.
>>
>>We looked again at Luke 1, this time focusing on verse 28, the angel's
>>greeting. I used a translation that gives the sense of the Greek as "Hail,
>>one who has been favored." We then looked at why Mary might have been
>>favored, and for that we went to Proverbs. The word "favor" is used in
>>Proverbs 11:27, "He who seeks the good commands favor." Since Mary has
>>favor, we decided, she must be one who seeks the good.
>>Proverbs 13:15 led us further: "Good sense brings favor." So Mary had good
>>sense and would make a good mother for Jesus. So far, we had only gone as
>>far as the Baptist teacher, but with solid scriptural evidence.
>>
>>Then I took the students further. We all agreed that God was not limited 
>>by
>>time and was in fact the master of time. I pointed out to them, "God had 
>>all
>>of history to pick from in order to find the woman who would be the mother
>>of his Son. He didn't want his Son polluted by sin. As Catholics, we 
>>believe
>>that God chose the best possible woman from all history to be his mother.
>>Since she was the best woman in all of history, it's not really a stretch 
>>to
>>understand why Catholics believe that Mary never chose to sin but was
>>completely free from sin."
>>
>>Immediately I got the question, "But what about original sin?" (We had
>>studied that topic the prior week.) I explained our beliefs about the
>>Immaculate Conception. Mary, who never chose to sin, was picked by God the
>>Father to be Jesus mother. God knew outside of time that he would choose
>>her. So, years earlier, he gave Mary a special grace; she was conceived
>>within her mother's womb without the stain of Adam's sin, so that Jesus
>>could be honored by his mother's purity.
>>
>>Surprisingly, all of the kids nodded. The Baptist teacher wasn't too sure
>>about all of this and said, "And that's something Catholics and 
>>Protestants
>>disagree on." I acknowledged as much, but I still had more to say. Christ, 
>>I
>>pointed out, is our brother. Galatians 4:4-5 and Romans 8:15, 23 deal with
>>our adoption by God through baptism. If we're children of God, and if 
>>Jesus
>>is the Son of God, then Jesus must be our brother. "In fact," I pointed 
>>out,
>>"Hebrews 2:11, 17 refer to Jesus as our 'brother.'" That convinced them, 
>>as
>>I could hear by the chorus of "Oooh!"
>>
>>"So if Jesus is our brother," I asked everyone in general, "then who's the
>>rest of our family?" All four of the girls responded immediately, "God is
>>our Father," and then a perplexed silence fell upon the room.
>>One of the girls looked up at me and said, "And Mary is our mother."
>>All of the girls nodded their heads. So did the Baptist teacher.
>>"Yes!" I thought to God and to myself, as I mentally prepared for the 
>>final
>>part of the lesson.
>>
>>"If Mary is our mother, with Jesus as our brother, that might not seem to
>>mean too much to you, until you consider the fifth commandment:
>>'Honor your father and your mother' (Ex. 20:12)." Again, the sound of
>>"Oooh!" filled the room. "Now, the Catholic Church draws a sharp line
>>between 'honoring' somebody and 'worshiping' him. In fact, we have 
>>specific
>>words for the differences." I pulled out a piece of paper with the words
>>"dulia," "hyperdulia," and "latria" written in bold magic marker. I asked
>>the students if they had ever heard of St. Nicholas; they all nodded yes.
>>St. Patrick? St. Valentine? Yes, yes.
>>
>>"These people are called 'saints' because the Catholic Church believes 
>>these
>>people are in heaven. We believe that they lived holy lives and that we
>>should imitate them in some way, because obviously they did something 
>>right.
>>Not only should we imitate them, but we should be careful to respect them,
>>just as you might respect your pastor or your minister. This respect, or
>>honor, we call " 'dulia.'" I got nods and eye contact, so I went on "The
>>saints did God's will, and we believe Mary is a saint. We believe Mary,
>>since she never chose to sin, did God's will better than any other saint."
>>
>>Suddenly, I changed the subject. "What's the difference between being 
>>active
>>and hyperactive?" I asked. One of the girls volunteered that they kind of
>>meant the same thing, but being hyperactive was more intense than just 
>>being
>>active. "Right," I responded, "so what we give Mary is hyperdulia. It's 
>>just
>>what we give the saints-honor and respect-but more intense.
>>
>>The last word, latria, is completely different. It means 'worship.'
>>Catholics use this word to describe how we act toward God, and we don't 
>>use
>>it for anything else. If anyone ever tells you that Catholics worship 
>>Mary,
>>that's not true. We give her hyperdulia, or 'great respect and honor,' but
>>we give latria only to God. If you ever run into a Catholic who says we
>>worship Mary, that Catholic doesn't understand his faith. That person is 
>>not
>>living within Catholic teaching but is outside the mind of the Church. We
>>worship God, and we honor the saints."
>>
>>After a few seconds of stillness, the Baptist teacher, talking slowly, 
>>said,
>>"I never knew that. I always thought Catholics worshiped God and Mary, but
>>now I see the difference." More silence. "So you worship only God?"
>>
>>"Absolutely," I answered. "Prayers to saints are just asking them to pray 
>>to
>>God for us, like you might ask your friend or your pastor to pray for 
>>you."
>>
>>I took two deep breaths. "Any questions?"
>>
>>One student wanted to make sure she had it all down right, so I let her
>>summarize for us. "God chose Mary to be Jesus' mother because she never
>>sinned, and, since Jesus is our Brother, Mary is our mother. We honor and
>>respect her because she's our mother, but we save worship for God."
>>
>>I smiled and thanked the Holy Spirit. Then I turned to the Baptist 
>>teacher.
>>"Is that about right?" I asked. She was silent for several moments. "Yeah, 
>>I
>>think so. I guess that's right. I never thought of it that way, but . . .
>>that's got to be right."
>>
>>"I think so too," I concluded. "She got it just right."
>>
>>----------------------------------------------------------
>>Erik K. Pavlat, a convert from Unitarianism-Universalism, teaches English 
>>in
>>Baltimore. (catholic.com)
>>
>>Sheila and Vignette
>>
>>
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>>11/22/2006 9:01 AM
>
> John
>
>
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