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>>>> HOWEVER, if you can provide evidence that other churches besides Catholics pray to Mary, by all means do so. <<<

The Roman Catholic Church, Byzantine Catholic Church, Syro-Malabar Church, Greek Orthodox Church, Russian Orthodox Church, Oriental Orthodox Chuch, Coptic Orthodox Chuch, high church Anglican, etc. are all examples of seperate church bodies that use prayers and devotions to the Virgin Mary, as well as refer to her as “Mother of God”, and “God Bearer”, etc. Feel free to ask of them and they'll confirm that for you.

Not that it proves their right, but I'm pretty sure the raw numbers would show that means a clear majority of Christians worldwide believe in virgin mary prayers, and it's not “just” a “Roman Catholic” thing. Indeed, this is another doctrine that was proclaimed for ALL of Christomdom, and not just the “Roman” branch, centuries ago, and was accepted by all the various types of Christian factions at the time.

Most of the early protestant reformers like Martin Luther also had devotions to Mary, though their modern day successors choose to ignore this. In fact, it wasn't until a few centuries ago that most protestants decided this was improper for Christians to do this.

Praying to the Virgin Mary is another element of Christianity that dates back to the early days of Christianity. Here's an example of a Virgin Mary prayer that originated around 250 A.D., before it even had become “official” Christian doctrine:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sub_tuum_praesidium

Under thy protection
our refuge, our refuge,
Holy Mother of God
Holy Mother of God;
despise not our petitions
in our need,
but from all dangers
deliver us always,
Virgin Glorious and Blessed
under your protection
our refuge, our refuge
Holy Mother of God
Holy Mother of God

And here is an modern Orthodox Church website with marian prayers:

http://www.ocf.org/OrthodoxPage/prayers/panagia.html

>> I wouldn’t be surprised to find that there were Catholics who never cracked a Bible. It certainly wasn’t opened in our home even though we went to church weekly and for the holy days. <<

I'm sure there are a few. And I'm equally certainly there are some protestants out there who have never cracked open a bible. Some of those “mainline” protestant churches are so liberal they're not even sure if the holy spirit exists.