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I don’t know why the non-Catholics even care.

And I don't know why any of us care what they think.

Okay, that’s not quite true, they HATE the mother of God and, as hard as it is to believe, they probably hate her more than they hate the Church.

Well, all I can say to that is respond with a couple of Scripture verses:

Rom 8:17 And if sons, heirs also; heirs indeed of God and joint heirs with Christ: yet so, if we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified with him.
Rom 8:29 For whom he foreknew, he also predestinated to be made conformable to the image of his Son: that he might be the Firstborn amongst many brethren
Heb 2:17 Wherefore, it behoved him in all things to be made like unto his brethren, that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest before God, that he might be a propitiation for the sins of the people.

If the above verses apply to you, then Mary must be your mother. If's she's not your mother, well then....

But I don't think that they really care one way or the other.

For me, part of the thrill of being Catholic is the challenge and opportunity to believe God and to believe IN God, with all HIs amazingly rich promises of shaken down, pressed together, running over grace, and as psalm 16 (15) says .. adimplebis me laetitia cum vultu tuo: delectationes in dextera tua usque in finem.

Certainly to be in His presence (cum vultu [suo]) is fullness of joy, but, then beyond that fullness =, at His right hand (in dextera [sua]) are delights forever!

The Love and friendship of our Blessed Mother, and the company of the saints, these are among the delectationes, the pleasures and delights, that God so incredibly, so extravagantly provides. Not JUST that He saves us from sin and redeems us from the grave and every peril, but then He brings us a hot fudge sundae!

So, I guess in the face of the haters, it is up to us to focus on the joy, and to let the Love transform and edify us, while the haters will do what they can to distract us.

Satan, when he tempted our Lord, kept on challenging His being. IF you are the Son of God, then -- do this or that. So the haters start by challenging the Love of God in our lives, telling us we are deluded, deceived, and deceitful.

Maybe the opportunity here is to try to use this as an occasion, a further occasion to cast ourselves on God's mercy.

I am resolved. I've already been to Mass today, but tomorrow I'm going to talk to my pastor about consecrating myself to Mary. It's the only reasonable response to this lunacy and spite.