Why do people think that Catholics worship Mary?

Question

Catholics do not worship Mary, the Mother of Christ--as though she were a deity. Of all the misconceptions about Catholic belief and practice, this one is the most absurd. Catholics are just as aware as Protestants that Mary was a human creature, and therefore not entitled to the honors which are reserved to God alone. What many non-Catholics mistake for adoration is a very profound love and veneration, nothing more.

Mary herself prophesied: ``For behold from henceforth all generations shall call me blessed. Because he that is mighty, hath done great things to me; and holy is his name.'' (Luke 1:48-49). Catholics know that every bit of the glory they give to Mary redounds to the glory of her divine Son, just as Mary magnified God

So why do you believe Catholics do?

CJ prove it!

Wayne T veneration means To regard someone or something with deep respect or awe;

That is not worship

Answer 1

Catholics do not worship Mary but she is important because without her we would not have Jesus, so she should be thanked for what she gave us

Answer 2

I am Catholic, and have been told that we worship statues as well. I think its people's ignorance on the subject. Though I know saying that Catholics "worship Mary" is meant to be cruel, I don't think it is all that bad. To worship someone:

1.To honor and love as a deity.
2.To regard with ardent or adoring esteem or devotion

We obviously know Mary is not God, but the mother Jesus, and she has my devotion. So to all who say I worship Mary, Yes I do. What's the other option?

Answer 3

Actions still speak louder than words. Catholics may in Many ways attempt to cover their act by using other expressions other than worship, but they will more than likely want to kill someone who attempts to destroy a statue of their Mary. who to them is the "Mother of God""

Answer 4

To the Roman Catholics: Having been an outsider for about 70 years, I believe the Protestants just want to hide their worship of their much edited and bastardized Bible behind loud complaints about the "Mother of God."

Answer 5

Don't worry people who aren't clouded in a shade of ignorance like the first three who answered know that y'all don't worship Mary.

Answer 6

I have no idea why people think us Catholics worship Mary...
I HAVE TO SAY CATHOLICS ARE CHRIST!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Answer 7

why? because, as has been cited by others before me, your pope says so-remember the pope? the one who call himself 'Christ's representative on earth' and 'successor to the apostles?'

Answer 8

just because someone is 'blessed' doesn't mean we owe her praise and/worship or glory like we do to God. but she was blessed as a human i agree. but i'm blessed in many ways as well. i don't want anybody worshipping me though?

Answer 9

From Vatican Collection Volume 1, Vatican Council II, The Conciliar and Post Conciliar documents. General Editor Austin Flannery, O.P. New revised edition 1992; Costello Publishing Company, Northport, New York. 1992 pages 420-421 (par. 65)

65. But while in the most Blessed Virgin the church has already reached that perfection whereby she exists without spot or wrinkle (cf. Eph. 5:27), the faithful still strive to conquer sin and increase in holiness. Devoutly meditating on her and contemplating her in the light of the Word made man, the Church reverently penetrates more deeply into the great mystery of the Incarnation and becomes more and more like her spouse. Having entered deeply into the history of salvation, Mary, in a way, unites in her person and re-echoes the most important doctrines of the Faith: and when she is the subject of preaching and worship she prompts the faithful to come to her son, to his sacrifice and to the love of the Father. Seeking after the glory of Christ, the Church becomes more like her lofty type, and continually progresses in faith, hope and charity, seeking and doing the will of God in all things. The Church, therefore, in her apostolic work too, rightly looks to her who gave birth to Christ, who was thus conceived of the Holy Spirit and born of a virgin, in order that through the church he could be born and increase in the hearts of the faithful. In her life the Virgin has been a model of that motherly love with which all who joined in the church's apostolic mission for the regeneration of mankind should be animated.



IV. THE CULT OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN IN THE CHURCH(1)
66. Mary has by grace been exalted above all angels and men to a place second only to her Son, as the most holy Mother of God who was involved in the mysteries of Christ: she is rightly honored by a special cult in the Church. From the earliest times the Blessed Virgin is honored under the title of Mother of God, whose protection the faithful take refuge together in prayer in all their perils and needs. Accordingly, following the Council of Ephesus, there was a remarkable growth in the cult of the people of God towards Mary, in veneration and love, in invocation and imitation, according to her own prophetic words: "all generations shall call me Blessed, because he that is mighty hath done great things to me" (Luke 1:48).

Comments on this passage

1. Nowhere in Scripture are we told to put our eyes upon anyone other than the Lord himself. We are told to fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfect of our faith (Heb. 12:2).
In addition, it is Jesus who is the model of virtue, not Mary. Though she was greatly blessed, and undoubtedly a godly woman, she still needed a savior. Mary said, "And my spirit has rejoiced in God my Savior" (Luke 1:47). Contrary to the Roman Catholic teaching that Mary was sinless, Mary herself admitted that God was her savior. A sinless person does not need a savior. It is in the person of Jesus said grace and truth (and virtue) our best exemplified and our eyes should be kept on him.
2. "Spouse?" Still researching to discover what is meant.
3. The only proper object of preaching and worship is God. Jesus said, "...You shall worship the Lord your God, and serve Him only" (Matt. 4:10). The incredible danger of getting Mary the subject of both preaching and worship is warned about in Exodus 20:4-5, "You shall not make for yourself an idol, or any likeness of what is in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the water under the earth. "You shall not worship them or serve them; for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children, on the third and the fourth generations of those who hate Me." God clearly warns against creating any idol before which anyone should bow. It goes without saying that the countless images of Mary strewn throughout Catholic churches all over the world are most assuredly shrines of idolatry, since thousands of times a day, Catholics over the world break the commandment of God by bowing before these images in worship.
4. We should look to Christ alone. When you take your eyes off of Jesus and put them on anything else, or anyone else, you will be led astray.
5. Where is this taught in Scripture? Where does it say that Mary was exalted above angels and men second only to her son? This would mean that Mary is just under Jesus, the creator of the universe, in position. I assumed his place is a place of authority, holiness, etc. Vatican II's comments are not biblical. This teaching can not be found in Scripture and should be abandoned.
6. This is a misleading term. Mary is not the Mother of God in the sense that God, the created the universe, had a mom. This would be far too close to Mormon theology. Rather, Mary is the mother of the human nature of Jesus, not the mother of the divine nature.
However, it can be said in some sense that she is the Mother of God if what is meant is that her womb carried the incarnate Word. This incredible privilege does not mean that God, the holy and infinite being, was nursing at her breast after his birth. But, it does mean that the person of Jesus was. It was the human nature that nursed, not the divine.

( 1. "Cult" in this sense means a community of worshippers and not the "non-Christian cult" meaning that is often used of Mormons, Jehovah's Witnesses, etc.)

Answer 10

They dont! ????????????

All my gay friends use to call me Mary,,,sometimes Nellly or Nancy,,,
but I really liked Mary

then when I changed over I made it
Kristina

such a nice ring dont you think