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It has been argued that “Mary is the creature closest to God. Moreover, while Christ is the mediator of all grace between God and creation, Mary is the mediator of all grace between Christ and humanity. Consequently, Mary is a powerful intercessor for all who turn to her” (see Zoltan, 1994, emp. added). The Bible clearly teaches that Mary is not Deity and should not be worshipped as such (see Pinedo, 2009). If she is not Deity, is she the closest human being to Deity? Does she play an active role in heaven, interceding for individual Christians? Does she make...

Rome, Italy, Dec 8, 2011 / 04:28 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- Pope Benedict XVI reflected on the biblical description of a “woman clothed with the sun” in his remarks at Rome's Spanish Steps on the 2011 Feast of the Immaculate Conception. “What is the meaning of this image? It represents the Church and Our Lady at the same time,” the Pope told the crowd assembled before the nearby statue commemorating the 1854 definition of Mary's Immaculate Conception. “Before all, the 'woman' of the apocalypse is Mary herself.” The 12th chapter of the Biblical Apocalypse – also known as the Book of...

One would think it impossible to spill any more ink about the Blessed Virgin Mary, judging from the number of Marian titles on the shelf at a local Catholic bookstore. But when popular Catholic author Mark Shea was considering entering the Church, there were no comprehensive titles where he could address his concerns as an evangelical Protestant about Catholic Marian doctrine and devotion. Twenty years later, that book was still missing from the shelves, so Shea set out to write it. The result is Mary, Mother of the Son, a three-volume apologetics tool published by Catholic Answers. Shea is...

HE INCREASES AND SHE DECREASES By MARK P. SHEA  Some friends are always good for a cheery disagreement--like my pal Bill. Here he is, a guy who modestly describes himself as "The Last Bastion of the Reformation," a guy who sings "A Mighty Fortress is Our God" in the shower, a guy who keeps ribbing me about being Catholic when he knows that I can scarcely resist the challenge to respond. Consider the letter I got the other day, written with Bill's usual joie de vivre, in which he urged me to get a recent book devoted to "critiquing" Marian...

Folks, my better-known colleague, Gerald Augustinus the esteemed blogger at The Cafeteria is Closed, shared with us a report from a German site, Kath.Net, which reported that "Vatican spokesman Fr. Lombardi denied that Pope Benedict was planning to formulate a new Marian dogma referring to Mary as "co-redemptrix". Rumors had been swirling about such a move. In the book "God and the World" the then cardinal did not favor such a dogma." You may read the Gerald's blogpost and subsequent comments here. In my humble, simple, lay, and totally unsolicited opinion: at this moment in time, the only reason why...

Martin Luther’s Theology of Mary By James Swan Tertiumquid@msn.com I. Introduction: Is the Roman Catholic claim that Luther was a devotee of Mary true? II. Young Luther, Saints, and the Virgin: An overview of sixteenth century Mariolatry and its impact on Luther. III. The Mother of God: Did Luther refer to Mary as “Mother of God”? IV. The Immaculate Conception: Did Luther believe in Mary’s immaculate conception? V. Perpetual Virginity: Did Luther believe in Mary’s perpetual virginity? VI. Praying To Mary: Did Luther pray to Mary? VII. Conclusion: A summary of Luther’s Mariology. VIII. Appendix (Revised July, 2003): Did Luther...

Communion of Saints (Intercession of Saints) Stephen D. Quinn The bible is clear that praying to the dead is wrong! Deuteronomy state, "Let there not be found among you anyone who immolates his son or daughter in the fire, nor a fortune-teller, soothsayer, charmer, diviner, or caster of spells, nor one who consults ghosts and spirits or seeks oracles from the dead."(Deuteronomy. 18.11) Other bible passages are equally condemning about condemning this sinful act (see 1 Samuel 28:3-20; 2 Chronicles 10:13, 14; Isaiah 8:19-22). So why do Catholics pray to the dead?The confusion over the exact meaning of the...

So must we. The PictureFolks: please study the following picture (Click on it to enlarge it to its full size): Now, please, consider this: there are three stories behind this picture. The first one is the story that the actors and director who put this remarkable scene together wanted to convey in the highly acclaimed movie picture, The Passion of the Christ. The second is how I "stumbled" upon this scene and captured it, and the last one—and the most important one—is the story of the love that a real Son had for his real Mother. The First StoryThe scene...

Folks, my blogger colleague, Oswald Sobrino of Catholic Analysis, has written a good essay regarding "Mariology," that is, the theological study and liturgical recognition of the place of Mary, the Mother of the Lord, the Theotokos, in the economy of salvation. It is entitled Mariology is Biblical. Here's an extract:One of the great stumbling blocks for our Protestant brethren who are on the verge of crossing the Tiber, i.e., entering into full communion with the Catholic Church, is the great attention paid to the Mother of Jesus by Catholics. This hesitation is understandable: Protestantism is a reaction against Catholicism, and...

Vittorio Messori and "The Mary Hypothesis"Mariology Is Christology, Says Author ROME, NOV. 25, 2005 (Zenit.org).- One of the most popular Catholic writers is back in bookstores with "The Mary Hypothesis," published in Italy by Ares. Vittorio Messori, author of "The Jesus Hypothesis" (1976), is the first journalist in history to publish a book-length interview with a Pope, the best-selling "Crossing the Threshold of Hope" (1994). He also published "The Ratzinger Report" (1987), based on an interview with then prefect of the Vatican Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, now Benedict XVI. In this interview with ZENIT,...

Marian Renaissance among Protestants? The surprising answer is yesThe signs do not point to a complete restoration of the Blessed Mother's rightful place in the Church, but the signs are surely intriguing, and thoroughly biblical which is to say, thoroughly Catholic. The Marian renaissance includes pastors from all mainline Protestant denominations: Lutherans, Methodists, Presbyterians, and Baptists. High -Church Anglicans are mentioned only in passing because they're old hands at this. Here is a favorite quote from the Time Magazine article:In a shift whose ideological breadth is unusual in the fragmented Protestant world, a long-standing wall around Mary appears to...

Mary’s devoted heartBy Dick McClain Growing up, I don’t recall having heard a sermon on Mary, the mother of Jesus. She did get dusted off every December for the Christmas pageant. But apart from her annual appearance reincarnated in the form of a budding young thespian, she hardly existed. Perhaps the folks in my evangelical Protestant circle felt that the Catholics went a little too far.While I’ve never been accused of tilting toward Rome, somewhere along the line I began to suspect that we were being robbed by our silence about Mary. After all, the woman God chose to...