"That the primacy of Peter is recognizable in all the major strands of the New Testament is incontestable."
----- incontestable by whom? certainly not in my strand of the New Testament.
One compelling biblical fact that points clearly to Simon Peter’s primacy among the 12 Apostles and his importance and centrality to the drama of Christ’s earthly ministry, is that he is mentioned by name (e.g. Simon, Peter, Cephas, Kephas, etc.) 195 times in the course of the New Testament. The next most often-mentioned Apostle is St. John, who is mentioned a mere 29 times. After John, in descending order, the frequency of the other Apostles being mentioned by name trails off rapidly.
When the names of all the Apostles are listed, Peter is always first. Judas Iscariot, the Lord’s traitor, is always listed last (cf. Matt. 10:2-5; Mark 3:16-19; Luke 6:14-17; and Acts 1:13). Sometimes Scripture speaks simply of “Simon Peter and the rest of the Apostles” or “Peter and his companions” (cf. Luke 9:32; Mark 16:7; Acts 2:37), showing that he had a special role that represented the entire apostolic college. Often, Scripture shows Simon Peter as spokesman for the entire apostolic college, as if he were the voice of the Church (cf. Mat. 18:21; Mark 8:29; Luke 8:45; Luke 12:41; John 6:68-69).
The Primacy of Peter - from Where's That In The Bible, by Patrick Madrid.
**certainly not in my strand of the New Testament.**
Your New Testament was changed by Luther and does not have all the books. That really is too bad for you guys and gals.
for a whole new take on this subject, catholicfundamentalism.com puts forth the theory that God can program in three dimensions. He programmed the world in a week, just like Genesis says. Free book to download if you think you can contradict any of it.
When Christ asked (in just a couple of sentences in the New Testament) WHO Peter said the HE was? Peter answered Christ that He was Jesus the Christ, the Son of the Living God. Jesus told Peter that he was the Rock (and no longer a little stone because he recognized just who JESUS was) and upon this Rock (people who recognize Him as the Christ, the Son of the Living God) He would build His church, and the gates of Hell shall not prevail against it. - In another place, Christ referred to Peter as Satan, as in "get thee behind me Satan" because Peter wanted Christ to shrink from what He was sent to do.
I'm sorry, but to build a whole hierarchy on the physical bones of a flesh and blood man (other than Jesus the Christ, the Son of the Living God) is rightfully not the cup of tea for everyone - and is not the rightful domain of anyone to keep beating everyone else over the head with the constant reminder that "you aren't in the REAL Church".
The Word of God has been kept from a lot of people over the centuries with the explanation that priests and the religious organization will tell you all you need to know with little or no Bible study and certainly no questioning of man's traditions. Christ places "living stones" in His church, which is His body, daily as He sees fit. All the posturing in the world and all of mans' rolls of names aren't going to dictate His Book of Life.
As to Mary, I personally call Mary blessed as she stated people would do - but Scripture states that Jesus Christ is the ONLY mediator between God and us, and that we can go directly through the vail (His flesh) and petition the Father in Heaven our own selves for our needs and forgiveness (boldly before the throne of grace).