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"..One other question, how do you explain the apparent worship of Saints.."

The concept of sainthood in the Catholic Church is as follows: saints are men who lived Christ-like lives, who embodied the teachings of Christ, who were in God and God was in them. We believe that they are in heaven with God now and have a special intimate knowledge of the divine.

We do not worship saints, we revere them (a special type of love, devotion and respect), for they have lived the lives that we wish to live. We also believe that they may intercede with God on our behalf. That is to day, they have the ability to pray with us to God with respect to our petitions to Him, adding to the love that is inspired by those prayers if they are for the right things.

We revere St. Mary above all the other saints, for she lived the most Christ-like life of any human being: she was chosen by the Holy Spirit to be the Mother of God and is without sin, either original or by commission. Because she has such a special relationship with Christ and loves us and the Church as only a mother can, many have a special devotion (reverent love) for her. Pope John Paul II was most devoted to her, for example.

Thank you for you answers.

My wife too has been asking the same type stuff. Our small southern Methodist Church is fairly conservative and traditional, but I don't like what I am seeing in the main body of the organization.