"You're reacting emotionally."
Rather, I am rationally reason-ably reacting out of esteem for the Truth of Scripture against those who are prone to wantonly exalt a holy virtuous Spirit-filled instrument of God far, far, far "above that which is written."
"You decided to misconstrue one paragraph out of 20. Read it again... no where is the author inferring the Blessed Virgin was an Apostle ...only that she and John did not bail on Jesus. The following paragraphs support that.."
No YOU read it again, as well my responses above to the same knee-jerk reaction as yours. The author "- whether intentional or not -" said said, listed Mary with the apostles without any distinction, which class fits with "His closest friends and followers" - which in Scripture were both men and women - in the beginning of the next paragraph before focusing on just the men. "All of the Apostles fled from Jesus upon his arrest and crucifixion, except for Judas, who betrayed Him and St. John, who stayed with Him and Our Blessed Mother. These Apostles, who just hours prior sat with Him at the Last Supper where He instituted the Holy Eucharist and Holy Orders, abandoned Him. "
Thus we have "All of the Apostles," Judas and John and Our Blessed being excepted listed as "These Apostles." Thus while as I later said, while I think the author did not intentionally infer this yet as said, this is consistent with the hyper-exaltation of Mary - "Queen of the apostles" (Saint Vincent Pallotti) - far above what is written.
And from a Catholic source (https://catholicnetwork.us/2018/09/03/who-attended-the-last-supper/) we do read this: According to Mark’s gospel, at least fifteen people attended the Last Supper: Jesus, two disciples and “the Twelve”. Since Jesus had male and female disciples, and since meal preparation was a traditionally female role, the two disciples attending the Last Supper easily could have been women.... Since Matthew’s gospel specifies disciples, it also offers the possibility for female attendees. On 1998 Polish artist Bohdan Piasecki painted a LAST SUPPER which included 6 women and 2 children, as well as Jesus and his 12 apostles. It seems highly improbable that Jesus would have excluded his mother, Mary of Magdala and the other women who had followed him up to Jerusalem from this important occasion.
"The Church, nor the Catechism, do NOT teach that the Virgin Mary was ever considered as one of the 12, or that she was even apostolic."
Which charge I did not make, but said "it certainly is consistent with the Catholic practice of exalting "mortals far above what is written" (1 Co. 4:6) and especially Mary to list her as an apostle - whether intentional or not -. And thus I provided a link to examples of this. And if not listing her as one of the 12 apostles, many Catholics do assert that Mary was an apostle. A Catholic blogger reports,
"I researched a third book written in Latin by Albertus Magnus [German Catholic Dominican friar, philosopher, scientist, and bishop. Later canonised as a Catholic saint], Marialae super missus est. In it he argues that the Blessed Virgin Mary is higher in the ecclesiastical hierarchy than any priest, bishop or pope; and that she, therefore, would merit Holy Orders if she had need of them. He further argues that the Blessed Virgin Mary was an apostle, prophet, evangelist and pastor. He admits that women were cursed by the original sin of Eve, but so too were men." - http://lifeofanunorsister.blogspot.com/2018/01/mary-as-high-priest.html
St. John Berchmans @sjbchicago tweeted, The Church celebrates the Feast of St. Mary Magdalene today. Mary was an Apostle of Jesus, and was one of those who stood by the cross of Jesus with his mother
" The following paragraphs support that, and are consistent in the author's thinking."
Meaning after carelessly unconsciously placing Mary as one of the apostles consistent with the hyper veneration of this "Queen of the apostles" before focusing on the apostles proper. This inference is what I reproved, not that it was official RC teaching, though such hyper-exaltation is typically implicitly sanctioned.