Here is a short explanation what Co-Redemptrix means. Just as Christians are called explicitly in Scripture "co-workers" with God (1 Cor 3:9-15 also 2 Cor 5:18-6:2 -- "for we are God's fellow workers" NIV, the context of both passages is salvation, reconciliation, redemption, etc), so Mary being the first believing Christian and Mother of God the Son, is preeminantly the "co-worker" with God in salvation, since she cooperated with God in bringing the divine Son of God into the world. As McCarthy himself notices in the Catechism of the Catholic Church: "By pronouncing her 'fiat" at the Annunciation and giving her consent to the Incarnation, Mary was already collaborating with the whole work her Son was to accomplish" (Catechism 973).
That is a simple fact of the Gospel message. Mary brought Jesus into the world, and Jesus brought salvation and redemption to the world, both at the Incarnation (Luke 1:26ff; John 1:1,14,29; 1 John 4:9ff; 3:5; etc) and by his death on the cross (Rom 5: 8ff; Col 2:13ff; 1 Peter 2:24; 1 John 2:2; etc). As the writer to the Hebrews tells us, the BODY of Jesus Christ was the instrument of the Redemption (Hebrews 10:10). In this most important sense of giving flesh to the Savior in the Incarnation, Mary cooperated with God in the redemption of the world and is therefore "Co-Redemptrix" of the human race. No Mary, No Jesus just as Know Mary, Know Jesus. Without Mary there is no Incarnation and therefore no salvation, and knowing and loving the Blessed Mother brings us ever closer to her Son. One of the primary lay spokesman for the "Vox Populi" Co-Redemptrix movement in the Catholic Church further explains:
"When the Church calls Mary the 'Co-Redemptrix,' she means that Mary uniquely participated in the Redemption of humanity with her Son Jesus Christ, although in a completely subordinate and dependent manner to that of her Son. Mary participated in Jesus' reconciliation of the human family with God like no other created person...How did the Mother of Jesus do this? First of all, Mary participated in Redemption by accepting the invitation of the angel to become the Mother of God and by giving flesh to the Savior. Early Church Fathers saw the Incarnation and Redemption as one, unified, saving act....and Mary brought the world its Redeemer at the Incarnation...Since the very instrument for the Redemption, the body of Jesus, was given to Him by Mary, the Mother of Jesus clearly played an intimate part in the redeeming of the human race with her Son, far beyond that of any other creature." (Dr. Mark Miravalle, An Introduction to Mary: The Heart of Marian Doctrine and Devotion, page 68-69)
That is the primary meaning of Co-Redemptrix and if you were to attempt to "refute" that teaching, you would be denying the Incarnation of Christ, the most essential doctrine of the historic Christian Faith and thus denying your own "gospel" is in any sense Christian. In fact, many anti-Catholics do just that when denying the title Theotokos (Mother of God) to Mary, or at least many of them have a very confused Christology.
Matthew 7:16-18
By their fruit you will know them.
Do people pick grapes from thornbushes, or figs from thistles?
Likewise every good tree bears good fruit,
but a bad tree bears bad fruit.
A good tree cannot bear bad fruit,
and a bad tree cannot bear good fruit.
1 Corinthians 12:3
No one can say, "Jesus is Lord," except by the Holy Spirit.
(And NYer, thank you for your patient and excellent explanations. Anyone truly devoted tot he truth would pay heed to them.)
I rest my case.
Mary uniquely participated in the Redemption of humanity with her Son Jesus Christ, although in a completely subordinate and dependent manner to that of her Son.
Works for me.
As I like to say, Mary said, "Yes," to God. So God planted His Love deep within her beneath her heart. And His Love grew in her, and she brought His Love into the world. Isn't this what we all want for ourselves? Don't we want the grace to give God our whole-hearted Yes? Don't we want Love to be planted and to grow in us? Don't we want to share God's Love with the world? I do.
To describe giving birth as "dispensing", well, it's not the first word that leaps to my mind. But Jesus is the embodied sum of the Grace of God. All God's Grace is in Jesus. And Jesus was in Mary. And she bore Him to us.
Q.E.D.
Then to, you'll pardon the expression, flesh it out, if the touch of the hem of our Lord's garment could heal the women with the issue of blood, then what can we hope for from the touch of His lips at her breast, His hand on her face, His stroking her hair, as babies do.
We parents come about as close as I can imagine to blessedness when we see our child smiling and running to us full of greeting and love because we came home. What blessings must Mary have received when she returned to the crib where she laid her child?
It seems to me that even were we to deny her perpetual virginity, her immaculate conception, and her assumption, we would still hold her the most blessed not only of women but of all humanity, save one.
How intimate is the relationship between parent and infant! How joyously grave the responsibility of that brief period when the parent is the joy of the child, and his comfort and the embodiment of all that is good for the child! With what happy bereavement do we give up that time of unspeakable closeness for the distance which growth and freedom require!
Our hearts quicken at our children's anxieties. Their small pains cut more deeply than our gnawing sorrows. Their triumphs and joys lift us higher than any other thing can do.
And all this heart-touching-heart compassion our Lady shared with our Lord. How can she be less than more glorious than the mighty cherubim, higher than the burning seraphim, the brightest created light in all the heavens?
I love her.
No, she is not in the slightest. Mary is not involved in anyone's salvation other than her own. Period. That error extends the necessary requirement for Christ's human birth into blasphemous hyperbole.
Mary cooperated with God in the redemption of the world and is therefore "Co-Redemptrix" of the human race.
Could Mary have said "no" to God? I very much doubt it. Mary co-redeems no one. To believe so is anti-Scriptural.
No Mary, No Jesus
No Mary, then someone else equally pure of heart to be the mother of the baby Jesus. To even imagine Mary's "cooperation" was required for Christ to be born is ludicrous. God is not beholden to His creation, as much as the RCC would like Him to be.