When we observe Good Friday, we are emaphasizing the day when Christ died for our sins.What you may not realize is that what you say about our beliefs is taken as a GIVEN by Catholics.Of course, he became a Christian and a follower of Christ in the Catholic tradition.And to say Mary was not needed is to ignore her singular, beautiful role in the salvation story.
In my Catholic experience we were encouraged to give honor to Mary as the Mother of our Lord and NEVER to worship her.
The distinction was always very clear.
The difference between us, I believe, is that if I had read this conversion story about a man who found faith and God’s love in a Lutheran Church , my first thought would have been:” Praise God!”Not,that he is wrong in what he thinks happened to him.
I truly believe that you misunderstand what Catholics believe.
I'm sorry....Mary plays no on-going role in your salvation nor mine. That is a false doctrine grilled into the heads of catholics since they're born.
The catholic church is currently being asked to consider a fifth marian dogma which would officially declare mary to be co-redemtrix, mediatrix of all graces and advocate.
To date 550 cardinals and bishops along with 7 million catholics have written letters to support this dogma in the past 15 years.
http://www.fifthmariandogma.com/online-english/
What probably started off as innocent respect for Mary has now grown into full blown idolatry.
Some more discussion on this issue is presented below. The astute reader will recognize that the Holy Spirit is already our Advocate and Helper. He needs no assistance in His role.
There have been efforts to propose a formal dogmatisation, which has had both popular and ecclesiastical support. It was brought up at Vatican II by Italian, Spanish and Polish bishops but not dealt with on the council floor.[16] Subsequently, Popes, while perhaps sympathetic to requests from the faithful and bishops, pointedly did not include such language in their encyclicals.[17]
The proposal is the first-ever case that an alleged apparition, in Amsterdam, has supposedly proposed, or rather, demanded a dogma from the Church. Up to then, apparitions confirmed existing dogmas rather than demanding new ones. Since 2002, the Amsterdam apparitions have had approval of the diocesan bishop, Monsignor Jos Punt. However, given the fact that a non-approving decision from Rome in the 1970s seems to have had some degree of finality, it brings the subsequent jurisdiction Msgr Punt into question.
In the early 1990s Professor Mark Miravalle of the Franciscan University of Steubenville and author of the book Mary: Coredemptrix, Mediatrix, Advocate launched a popular petition to urge Pope John Paul II to use Papal infallibility to declare Mary as Co-Redemptrix. More than six million signatures were gathered from 148 countries, including those of Mother Teresa of Calcutta, Cardinal John O'Connor of New York, and other cardinals and bishops.
Salvatore Perrella O.S.M. of the Pontifical Theological Faculty of the "Marianum" in Rome, thought that this indicated "...a certain 'under-appreciation' of the Council's teaching, which is perhaps believed to be not completely adequate to illustrate comprehensively Mary's co-operation in Christ's work of Redemption.[17]
Arguments opposed are that such a dogma might limit, in popular understanding, the redemptive role of Jesus Christ.
Faber says,
Our Blessed Lord is the sole Redeemer of the world in the true and proper sense of the word, and in this sense no creature whatsoever shares the honor with Him, neither can it be said of Him without impiety that He is co-redeemer with Mary. ...in a degree to which no others approach, our Blessed Lady co-operated with Him in the redemption of the world.[18]
He also explains that, "Thus, so far as the literal meaning of the word is concerned, it would appear that the term co-redemptress is not theologically true, or at least does not express the truth it certainly contains with theological accuracy."[19] Faber recognized that the term "co-redemptrix" usually requires some explanation in modern English because so often the prefix "co" tends imply complete equality.
This concern is shared by Perrella.
The semantic weight of this expression would require a good many other qualifications and clarifications, especially in the case under examination, where she who is wished to be proclaimed coredeemer is, in the first place, one who is redeemed, albeit in a singular manner, and who participates in Redemption primarily as something she herself receives. Thus we see the inadequacy of the above-mentioned term for expressing a doctrine which requires, even from the lexical standpoint, the proper nuances and distinctions of levels.[17] Another argument, though by no means the only one, is that it would also complicate ecumenical efforts for a better understanding of the role of the Blessed Virgin Mary in the salvation mystery of Jesus Christ.[3]
In August 1996, a Mariological Congress was held in Czestochowa, Poland, where a commission was established in response to a request of the Holy See. The congress sought the opinion of scholars present there regarding the possibility of proposing a fifth Marian dogma on Mary as Co-Redemptrix, Mediatrix and Advocate. The commission unanimously declared that it was not opportune, voting 23-0 against the proposed dogma.[20][21]
By 1998 it was doubtful the Vatican was going to consider new Marian dogmas. The papal spokesman stated "This is not under study by the Holy Father nor by any Vatican congregation or commission".[21] A leading Mariologist stated the petition was "theologically inadequate, historically a mistake, pastorally imprudent and ecumenically unacceptable".[22] Pope John Paul II cautioned against "all false exaggeration",[23] his teaching and devotion to Mary has strictly been "exalting Mary as the first among believers but concentrating all faith on the Triune God and giving primacy to Christ."[22] When asked in an interview in 2000 whether the Church would go along with the desire to solemnly define Mary as Co-redemptrix, (the then) Cardinal Ratzinger responded that,
the formula “Co-redemptrix” departs to too great an extent from the language of Scripture and of the Fathers and therefore gives rise to misunderstandings...Everything comes from Him [Christ], as the Letter to the Ephesians and the Letter to the Colossians, in particular, tell us; Mary, too, is everything she is through Him. The word “Co-redemptrix” would obscure this origin. A correct intention being expressed in the wrong way. [24]
Pope Benedict XVI further explained his notable opposition of a dogmatisation, concluding that the title is sufficiently included in other better expressions of Catholic Marian teaching. For example, the Scriptural account is unsatisfactory, and above all, we are talking most of the time of a merit de congruo which would seem, by the very definition of de congruo, not fit into the exact clearness needed for dogmatic definitions. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Co-Redemptrix
Mary is the sealed fountain and the faithful spouse of the Holy Spirit where only he may enter...She is the sanctuary and resting-place of the Blessed Trinity...the holy City of God, the greatness of the power which she wields over one who is God cannot be conceived...her prayers and requests are so powerful with him that he accepts them as commands...because it is always humble and conformed to his will, the dispenser of all he possesses...What immeasurable greatness...Mary has authority over the angels and the blessed in heaven...God gave her the power and the mission of assigning to saints the thrones made vacant by the apostate angels who fell away through pride....all the angels in heaven unceasingly call out to her
...They greet her countless times each day with the angelic greeting, "Hail, Mary", while prostrating themselves before her, begging her as a favour to honour them with one of her requests...The whole world is filled with her glory,... Moreover, we should repeat after the Holy Spirit, "All the glory of the king's daughter is within".... Whatever desires the patriarchs may have cherished, whatever entreaties the prophets and saints of the Old Law may have had for 4,000 years to obtain that treasure, it was Mary alone who merited it and found grace before God by the power of her prayers and the perfection of her virtues." — St. Louis de Montfort, in Treatise on True Devotion to the Blessed Virgin, miscl. http://www.legionofmarytidewater.com/docs/true.doc