Catholics do not worship Mary. Catholics are not required to pray to her nor to bow before her statues. She is highly honored as the mother of Christ, an example of one who said “yes” to doing God’s will instead of her own, but she is not God, and we Catholics are well aware of that.
Catholics and other Orthodox Christians (in fact, about 3/4 of all Christians on earth) follow the ancient practice of praying to saints for intercession. The practice is completely optional and is not unlike an Evangelical Christian asking a friend, family member, church prayer group or pastor to pray for them. If one believes in the power of prayer, then the more prayers the better. Catholics also pray for each other and pray directly to the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
I converted to Catholicism from a Protestant denomination many years ago. As my deeply faith-filled mother said, “It’s the same Jesus.”
After I converted to Catholicism I ran into a bunch of the older, very faithful, women from my old church at a Catholic fund raiser. They asked why I was working there and I told them that I had becomce Catholic. I really expected them to give me some kind of lecture but they just said that they were glad that I had found my faith home. I really appreciated their graciousness because I had gotten a lot of flack from others.