[CynicalBear]

>>Holy Scripture and Holy Tradition do not contradict.<<

That comment by Irenaeus was correct AT THAT TIME. They had not strayed from the teachings written in scripture. I would, however, challenge you to find in the written scriptures the concept of the ascension of Mary that today’s Church leadership claims.

Don’t try to confuse the fact that what Irenaeus wrote about the Church at that time is the same as the Church leadership of today.

Irenaeus, and others, said that if a teaching cannot be proven from written scripture it was not to be trusted.

[Cronos]

1. What we believe in Mary does not contradict scripture.
2. Mary's Immaculate Conception is based on the simple idea that what would hold the Word would have to be filled with grace -- just as the Ark was built to specifications, so too the second Ark
3. Mary as co-operator is only logically -- she gave birth to Christ. She did not save us or herself or anything. All she did was accept i.e. she co-operated by just saying yes, which is all we do ourselves -- we do not save ourselves
4. Christ saved Mary and protected her from sin. Exceptions are possible and she was one
5. Everything does not have to be in scripture, yet all we believe in must agree with scripture. And that holds true for what we believe about the Mother of God.
6. Finally -- the statement about a teaching cannot be proven is not completely correct -- the concept of the Trinity as we know it is not completely explicit from scripture, however, it is highly implied and does not contradict scripture. Ask a unitarian and they would quote you from scripture for their points of view. Ask an arian and they would say the same