Yes, Ma'am, I have. I have gone to a Rosary for the grandmother of a good friend, I have attended numerous Masses, I have even personally gone through the ordination ceremony for priesthood (research for an organization I belonged to long ago).
Catholics do worship Mary. The Catholic church has venerated her above all others, pray to her and ask her to intervene on their behalf for forgiveness of sin. This is reserved SPECIFICALLY for Jesus (1 Timothy 2:5), there is only ONE mediator and it ain't Mary. Pope John Paul II believed Mary to be co-redemptrix alongside Christ, this is heresy (Acts 4:12).
Who is this that the priests are carrying? Does not look like Christ:
I maintain that most Protestants do not understand the concept of worship and thats sad. Carrying a statue of Our Lady is not worship. Analyze the prayer Hail Mary. The first sentence is from Luke. Hail Mary, full of Grace, the Lord is with you. Gabriel did not say, You will be Holy and full of grace once the Holy Spirit shows up. Gabriel describes her as he finds her. Full of Grace and with the Lord. God created Eve without sin. He was certainly capable of doing it again.
The next sentence is also from Luke. Blessed are you among women and blessed is the fruit of thy womb.
The last is asking Mary to pray for us during the two most important moments of our life - now and at the hour of our death. Were not praying to her but asking her to pray for us.
I assume that you ask people to pray for you. You probably pray for people.
I do too. I also ask Jesuss mother to prayer for me.