One can fool some of the people most of the time . . . and maybe most of the people some of the time . . .
But that dog just won’t hunt.
The observable behaviors are wholesale otherwise on the part of a sizable chunk of RC’s the world over and particularly in some countries.
And, actually, to my view, for a chunk of folks hereon, IF observables have any congruence with reality at all.
Actually, it did occur to me that, from what I know of Protestant services, they consist of some preaching, some hymns, some prayers. Not too different from one of our novenas (some of which may be to Mary), which are pretty, well, peripheral. No Catholic has to attend novenas, many (perhaps most) never have.
The center of our worship is the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, in which God is offered to God -- the reenactment of the Sacrifice of Calvary, as the apostles were commanded by Christ. If you saw The Passion of the Christ, you'll remember John's powerful flashback at the Crucifixion to "This is My Body, Whish shall be given up for you" as he understood the words fully -- a dramatic representation, but it makes the point.
So, as I said, it's not that Catholics honor Mary too highly -- it seems to be that some Protestants don't honor Christ enough.