***This Romish Mary-worshipping dogma...***
Where did you get that idea? We Catholics WORSHIP no one but Got. We ask the Virgin Mary, earthly mother of God, to intercede for us. This is why every Hail Mary ends with, “Holy Mary, Mother of God, PRAY for us, now and at the end of our life.”
What makes you think that thought was involved. When one is incapable of understanding or differentiating between veneration and worship even after having it patiently explained to them many, many, many times I am not willing to acknowledge the ability to rationally think.
“Romish Mary-worshipping dogma-following mackeral snapping, etc.”
I didn’t realize what a firestorm I was setting off. I was sarcastically describing MYSELF, using some of the names hurled at me by non-Catholics over my sixty-plus years of existence. I also characterized my current fundamentalist critics (in the workplace no less) as backwoods snake-handling goobers, which ol’ Z.C. finds highly offensive. Guess what, my coworker not only handles snakes, he keeps them at home! He refuses to give his kids gifts at Christmas time, calling the practice `pagan’ and `of the devil’. And I’m sick of his pastoral emails.
Anyway, I digress. I worship my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, the Founder of the universal Catholic Church. I venerate and honor Blessed Virgin Mary; I wear her Miraculous Medal and ask for her intercession and that of the saints. And I pray that when my time comes to leave this earth, that a priest will be there to administer Extreme Unction and hear my last Confession.
But yes, it’s true that anti-Catholicsm is the last respectable prejudice remaining in our society.