Why do Catholics worship Mary as though she is a goddess?

Yo Rhino 7, your comment 'also, i think we owe the non-catholic surfers out there a post on our devotion to our dearest mother. before they start thinking catholics pray to mary! ARGH!..haha' on the Tag Board rang the bells in me too!

Besides, i always have my Protestants friends ask me, 'Why do Catholics worship Mary as though she is a goddess?'

So thanks to Rhino 7 and those who are interested in a better understanding of the Catholic Faith, here goes...

Why do Catholics worship Mary as though she is a goddess?

First of all, the presupposition in the question is that Catholics do worship Mary. However, we do not WORSHIP Mary.

Almost every country has is special shrines that honor Mary and draws crowds of the faithful in search of some comfort, miracle or message from the mother of Jesus. Two of the most famous shrines are in Fatima and Lourdes. Today, Marian shrines of another sort can even be visited online.

Our Lady Of Fatima Shrine in Lewiston, New York;
The foreground depicts a giant rosary.

On worship: We only offer our worship to God because in modern English and in a religious context, worship implies an attitude towards a Supreme Being and there is only one Supreme Being: God the Almighty. And of course, there is an infinite distance between Mary and God.

Mary is not God or goddess. Mary is merely a human being, finite and limited. Yet, her perfection and predestination to be a Mother of God comes from Almighty God himself as gifts bestowed on her, not owed to her by nature.

In perspective of the Faith, the correct context is to think of Mother Mary and the Saints, all of whom are ordinary beings - but specially chosen and empowered by the grace of God - the wonder and glory of God is seen in Mary and in them. Mary is a model of holiness, prayerfulness, trust and hope.

The Church and the Scriptures teach us that we can ask Mary and the saints to pray for us by virtue of the mediation of Christ, just like we ask each other to do so, because "the prayers of the righteous are powerful indeed" (James 5:16). That makes all of us "mediators" in the one mediator, Jesus Christ. This is why, for example, Scripture teaches that the saints mediate on our behalf in heaven by responding to the prayers of those on earth (Revelations 6:9-11; 5:8; 8:3-4).

Thus, when we honor Mary, we honor God himself who is the source of her greatness.

Therefore, instead of saying Catholics worship Mary, we prefer to say that we honor Mary as we recognize she is blessed among women - in the Magnificat, it states 'all generations will call me blessed.'

We honor Mary as the supreme creature supremely blessed by God.

Amen.

-rhino 69-