Venerate - Latin veneratus, past participle of venerari, from vener-, venus love, charm
Synonyms - adore, deify, glorify, revere, reverence, worship [http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/venerate]
Interesting that worship is one of the synonyms isn't it? By observing the words and actions of Catholics regarding their statues of Mary and their so called saints simple respect would not be the first word that comes to mind.
Doesn’t matter. We speak English. The word venerate is not the same as the word worship. It has a different meaning.
So, until someone says “Sorry...but we really mean ‘worship’”, then I’ll have a VENERABLE attitude toward Mary, Daniel, Isaiah, John the Baptist, etc.
I think we get more mileage holding people to the meanings of the words they use.
Christians recognize Mary for what she did and who she was.
The Bible notes she will count her blessed for all generations. In the Greek, this is in the future tense.
All generations do count her blessed.
However, Christians do not "venerate" Mary like catholicism does. Catholicism, though probably well intended, has crossed the line between the Biblical injunction of counting Mary as blessed to full fledged worship.