So you also have a statue of your mother and kneel before it to pray? Do you also have a statue of her on your lawn? Pretend like the “affection” for Mary isn’t inordinate if you want but no non Catholic buys it.
Continued ignorance defies excuse.
Do you even know what an idol is?
Actually, I do pay my Mother such respect. She is alive now, so there is no statue. But when she passes, I shall make a tombstone for my mother. And when I can (it’ll probably be in another state), I shall visit that site.
Some Christians talk to their departed loved ones. As Catholics, we’re actually warned against that, since we do not know for certainty the final state of a loved one’s souls. I imagine many take the presumption, anyway. Since I know Mary is in Heaven, I pray with her that she pray with me to Christ, our Lord. (Some may say, “pray TO her.” That’s an otherwise archaic use of the word, which simply means to request, not to worship. A lot of Catholics shy away from that usage, since it confuses Protestants, but it is in significant Catholic literature.) Since my mother might merely be in purgatory, I would pray FOR her.
But if you think Catholics love for Mary is ordinate, you haven’t seen the love the Irish, or the Italians, or the Spanish, show for their Moms.
“So you also have a statue of your mother and kneel before it to pray? ...etc.”
It is presumptuous to make assumptions.
Anyway, people with deceased mothers often use pictures, go to their graves, etc. to remind themselves of their mothers. They may even kneel at a gravestone. They are talking with, thinking about and feeling love for this person. This is not inordinate affection - this is normal affection.
Catholics are reacting the same way - we use statues to remind us of Mary, we do not pray TO Mary - we talk to her, love her, ask her for her intercession and generally have a relationship with her because she is alive in Christ. Worship occurs in the eucharist where we worship Christ. Because we have the eucharist, we are free to love the saints, because the worship of Christ in the eucharist is exclusive.