Catholic Myth#1: Catholics Worship Mary
Catholic, Misconceptions July 26th, 2004
I had to start with the biggie, a common charge: Catholics worship the Blessed Virgin Mary. And of course, we all know that worship is due to God alone! Catholics know that too and we emphatically do not worship Mary. The catechism says:
“This very special devotion [to Mary]…differs essentially from the adoration given to the Incarnate Word and equally to the Father and the Holy Spirit, and greatly fosters this adoration” (Catechism of the Catholic Church #971, emphasis mine).
So, we greatly honor the Blessed Virgin Mary but do not worship her. Adoration is due to God alone, but Mary may be honored. And, as the Mother of the Word Incarnate, she is accorded the highest honor due a creature. Yet, she is still a creature and cannot be worshipped as the Holy Trinity is worshipped. It seems like a fine line to many people, but it’s still a line the Church draws. I see many Protestant men and women who are totally devoted to their husbands or wives. Does this detract from their worship of God? It shouldn’t! In fact, many married people find that the deeper the devotion and unconditional love they give to their spouse, the deeper the love and adoration they develop for the Church’s Spouse. As the Church document Behold Your Mother states: “the more we know and love Mary, the more surely will we know and love Jesus and understand His mission in the world.”
Note: The photo is of an old church in Lifou, Loyalty islands, New Caledonia
April 2nd, 2005 at 8:56 am
Thank you for posting your comments about worshiping The Blessed Mother Mary. I am a Baptist that married a Catholic and to this day my family still believes Catholics worship Mary because the prayers start with Blessed Mary. In my rationalizing of things, I feel we all believe in God, Jesus, Mary, and all the disciples so what is the big difference. I worshipped in a Catholic Church when I started dating my husband and for a year after he left so I had many, many years of teachings and worshipping in the Catholic Church. I would still go back on occasion due to feeling the pull of the Catholic Church. I never converted and I went back to the Baptist Church I was raised in. But I took my daughter to many a Catholic Services because I wanted her to choose for herself. If she had chosen to go to the Catholic Church I would have been right there with her. I can praise God at either Church and both are wonderful religions. And when it gets down to it we basically all believe the same. The way I see it is that in the end that if God chooses us to be worthy we will be with him regardless Catholic or Protestant. It’s all in how you live your life and the good that you do.
Again, thank you for your post!
October 14th, 2005 at 6:32 pm
Why do we celebrate mother’s day? Because we like to honor our mothers for the contribution they have had in bringing us up, the carrying of us for nine months, the constant attention they showed us when we needed them the most.
Imagine knowing that you were to give birth to a child and know that you had to give it up for a greater purpose. The pain that Mary felt when contemplating the fate of her son, knowing that her son was hated and rejected!
We honor Mary because she was blessed by God to bring forth the greatest gift mankind has had; when we speak to her we are not rejecting scripture, besides Jesus spoke to Moses and Elijah on the mountain of transfiguration. This event is recorded for us to learn that Jesus communicated with the saints. I believe that there were many other times this happened, it’s not written because the writers were focused on the events of Jesus life, His crucifixion, resurrection, commission to the disciples, and the ascension. If Saint Paul states that, ‘we prophesy in part and we know in part, but when perfection comes we will know’, so then, is it that hard to believe in progressive revelation, cant God reveal His truth to us, by means of other sources? I leave that to you to contemplate. So, we love Mary and communicate with her, if you love the son, you will also love the mother! If you don’t love the mother, then, you cannot love the son! Think about it for a moment: Do you show contempt for Mary, then you must examine your true motives, you might be surprise at what you will find!
May 20th, 2006 at 1:35 pm
Thanks for posting that message. Although some people will require you to post verses in the bible to support our claim. I say they are fanatics. They only regard the bible as the only authority while the Church and early Christians lived a very Christian life without the bible.
I am a Marian and have a special devotion to our blessed mother. People from Born Again and Protestants accuse me of worshipping her. They are not contented with me stating that what i do is to simply honor and venerate her. Very narrowminded indeed.