[marsh_of_mists]

Well, according to Catholic doctrine there are three levels of honor we may give to the holy ones in Heaven.

1) Dulia: which we give the saints.
2) Hyperdulia: which we give the Blessed Virgin.
3) Latria: this is worship given to God alone.

That's very important. The Church specifically distinguishes between these things. St. Augustine himself defined the difference between dulia, given to men, and latria given to God alone. As for the kissing and rubbing of statues and relics and so forth, this is meant to be a pious devotion paying honor to the actual beings in Heaven that the relics/statues/medals represent. We don't pray to a statue of Mary; however, we may pray to Mary before her statue. But remember when we say "pray to Mary" this is not a mode of worship, but a mode of communicating with someone we believe to be in Heaven. How else can you communicate with someone in Heaven if not through prayer?

[CarrotAndStick]

There’s a big difference between praying before a statue of Mary(or Jesus, or Buddha or Krishna or...) and thronging to kiss a vial of dried blood/ preserved bodies, pieces of wood, nails, etc.

I can’t understand how you claim one thing as idolatrous, and the other as not, yet doing both, claim you do neither!

The practises others and I mentioned, fits the definition of idolatry to the T.

[ichabod1]

1) Dulia: which we give the saints.
2) Hyperdulia: which we give the Blessed Virgin.
3) Latria: this is worship given to God alone.

These terms are pre-christian. They were used in re Roman cultic worship.