Now you say they are praying to the departed. I responded to that already, saying that those you call "departed" may be alive.
So you have never asked anyone to pray for you?
Sure do it all the time. Not the same thing as you assert it is. The NT example given was addressed to those of the Body living in this realm. Still nothing presented showing those who are departed are prayed to or even a hint of invoking them.
Again this is the only scriptural example of a departed saint invoked:
1 Samuel 28:7-17 NABRE
Then Saul said to his servants, “Find me a medium through whom I can seek counsel.” His servants answered him, “There is a woman in Endor who is a medium.” So he disguised himself, putting on other clothes, and set out with two companions. They came to the woman at night, and Saul said to her, “Divine for me; conjure up the spirit I tell you.”
But the woman answered him, “You know what Saul has done, how he expelled the mediums and diviners from the land. Then why are you trying to entrap me and get me killed?” But Saul swore to her by the L ord , “As the L ord lives, you shall incur no blame for this.” “Whom do you want me to conjure up?” the woman asked him.
“Conjure up Samuel for me,” he replied. When the woman saw Samuel, she shrieked at the top of her voice and said to Saul, “Why have you deceived me? You are Saul!” But the king said to her, “Do not be afraid. What do you see?” “I see a god rising from the earth,” she replied. “What does he look like?” asked Saul. “An old man is coming up wrapped in a robe,” she replied. Saul knew that it was Samuel, and so he bowed his face to the ground in homage.
Samuel then said to Saul, “Why do you disturb me by conjuring me up?” Saul replied: “I am in great distress, for the Philistines are waging war against me and God has turned away from me. Since God no longer answers me through prophets or in dreams, I have called upon you to tell me what I should do.” To this Samuel said: “But why do you ask me, if the L ord has abandoned you for your neighbor? The L ord has done to you what he declared through me: he has torn the kingdom from your hand and has given it to your neighbor David.