“Yet when asked, in a 2000 interview by Peter Seewald contained in the book God and the World, whether the Church would go along with the desire to solemnly define Mary as Co-redemptrix, Ratzinger’s response doesn’t look good. He says that the title Co-redemptrix “departs to too great an extent from the language of Scripture and of the Fathers and therefore gives rise to misunderstandings” (53). He also says that “for matters of faith, continuity of terminology with the language of Scripture and that of the Fathers is itself an essential element; it is improper simply to manipulate language” (54). “””
Dear netmilsmom,
It's going to be a matter of how the Church expresses this because it is the teaching of the Church
We can begin to see how in Pope Benedict's prayer to Our Lady of Sheshan on May 24th of this year.
“Virgin Most Holy, Mother of the Incarnate Word and our Mother, venerated in the Shrine of Sheshan under the title “Help of Christians,” the entire Church in China looks to you with devout affection. We come before you today to implore your protection. Look upon the People of God and, with a mother’s care, guide them along the paths of truth and love, so that they may always be a leaven of harmonious coexistence among all citizens.
When you obediently said “yes” in the house of Nazareth, you allowed God’s eternal Son to take flesh in your virginal womb and thus to begin in history the work of our redemption. You willingly and generously co-operated in that work, allowing the sword of pain to pierce your soul, until the supreme hour of the Cross, when you kept watch on Calvary, standing beside your Son, Who died that we might live.
From that moment, you became, in a new way, the Mother of all those who receive your Son Jesus in faith and choose to follow in His footsteps by taking up His Cross. Mother of hope, in the darkness of Holy Saturday you journeyed with unfailing trust towards the dawn of Easter. Grant that your children may discern at all times, even those that are darkest, the signs of God’s loving presence.
Our Lady of Sheshan, sustain all those in China, who, amid their daily trails, continue to believe, to hope, to love. May they never be afraid to speak of Jesus to the world, and of the world to Jesus. In the statue overlooking the Shrine you lift your Son on high, offering him to the world with open arms in a gesture of love. Help Catholics always to be credible witnesses to this love, ever clinging to the rock of Peter on which the Church is built. Mother of China and all Asia, pray for us, now and for ever. Amen!”-Pope Benedict XVI
Vatican Document http://212.77.1.245/news_services/bulletin/news/22144.php?index=22144&lang=it#TESTO%20IN%20LINGUA%20INGLESE
Also,if you follow Cardinal Ratzinger before he became Pope you will see that he is in agreement with Pope JP11 on this along with others like Fr William Most.
Whether or not it becomes Dogma or not is up to the Church guided by the Holy Spirit.
Dogma's reinforce and make concrete the historical consistent teaching of Church through the ages.
In many cases throughout history the Church declares a dogma to shut out the heretics from spreading their teachings to members of the church
An example would be when the Church declared that Jesus was God as dogma at the council of Nicea in 325 AD when the arian heresey was around. This was nearly 300 years after Christ's death. It does not mean that the Church did not already believe this. Of course it did! Jesus was worshiped during the liturgy. People prayed to Him during their daily prayers and through their actions. The Church already knew that Jesus was God - the Church defines that He was God infallibly based on the guidance of the Spirit already at work in the Church. The Church defines dogma to authoritative say what we believe, just like it did with the contents of Scripture.
Of course we always have the Catechism to make perfect sense of these things..
970 “Mary's function as mother of men in no way obscures or diminishes this unique mediation of Christ, but rather shows its power. But the Blessed Virgin's salutary influence on men . . . flows forth from the superabundance of the merits of Christ, rests on his mediation, depends entirely on it, and draws all its power from it.”511 “No creature could ever be counted along with the Incarnate Word and Redeemer; but just as the priesthood of Christ is shared in various ways both by his ministers and the faithful, and as the one goodness of God is radiated in different ways among his creatures, so also the unique mediation of the Redeemer does not exclude but rather gives rise to a manifold cooperation which is but a sharing in this one source
Like I said, until it happens, I’m not going to worry about “May-bes” or “Could-bes”
I have to go buy a pool anyway.....