The Assumption of Mary is a nice assumption, but hardly to be considered a major point of faith. . . .
Nobody ever said that it was a major point of faith, recovering. The Assumption is a dogma, to be sure, which means that a faithful Catholic is required to believe it; but in the overall scheme of Catholic theology, the Assumption, like many Marian topics, is relatively small potatoes. However, many Protestants, as they do with many things concerning Mary, tend to place a lot more emphasis on it than it really merits; ironically, Protestants make more out of Mary than Catholics do.
Is this maybe a Catholic invention so that they aren't praying to [intercessing with?] the dead?
I'm not exactly sure what you mean by "intercessing with", since "intercessing" is not a word. However, if you mean "conversing with", that'd be accurate; if you mean "interceeding with", that'd be accurate, too.
When you pray to someone, you are conversing with that person (even if they are just plain old human beings; "pray", after all, means "to ask" or "to bessech or implore". (Shakespeare's "I prithee" {"I pray three"} is applied by men to other men. Look it up in Webster's and see if I'm incorrect.) So if you're praying to Mary or a saint, you are indeed conversing with that person.
If you mean "interceeding with", the Catholic doctrine of the Communion of Saints stipulates that what a saint does is intercede for other members of the Body of Christ---those on Earth. So if you're praying for Aunt Emma to get out of the hospital with, and Mary or a saint is praying for the same thing, then yes, you are indeed "interceeding with" Mary or a saint.
However, the tone of the question you posed leaves little doubt that you consider this to be an improper, suspicious practice at best, so my guess would be that what you actually meant was the practice of
necromancy, forbidden in Deuteronomy 18:10-11. Two points here: Number one, necromancy is the attempt to tell the future by consulting the dead (again, consult Webster and see if I'm wrong). Catholic doctrine states that the only reason you pray to Mary or a saint is to ask them to intercede for you or for another, not to try to tell the future. Necromancy does not apply here. (You are, of course, not required to agree with me.) Number two, Mary, like all other saints, is not dead, but very much alive in heaven. God is not the God of the dead, but of the living (Mark 12:26). If conversing with a departed saint is necromancy, then Jesus was practicng necromancy by speaking with Moses and Elijah on the Mount of Transfiguration. (Mark 9:4.)
Let's examine it with Scripture, and reason, and not take it as a given. . . .
This very likely won't work; "reason" is usually meant to be "that which is an accordance with my particular interpretation"---and that which is contrary is unreasonable. In addition, the Roman Catholic Church has always interpreted its doctrines in the light of the Tradition which predates Holy Scripture. Within about 50 to 60 years of the establishment of the Church, some of this began to be written down, and it
became Holy Scripture; but the doctrines came
first. When the Reformation came along, this method of interpretation was jettisoned, and in its place came the idea of interpreting Scripture all alone by itself. Attempting to do this is rather like trying to translate a foreign language without benefit of a grammer and syntax guide and a dictionary of the language in question, and it can lead to some novel interpretations---around 30,000 interpretations or so, one for each Protestant denomination, as I recall.
In any event, Catholics interpret Scripture and Tradition in light of each other, and Protestants interpret Scripture in light of itself; so by saying "Let's examine it with Scripture" simply will not work from the Catholic viewpoint; it's akin to saying, "Let's walk a mile on one leg". The doctrine of the Assumption pre-dates all Protestant interpretations by 1,000 years. I realize that you will counter this by saying that the Church was hijacked by pagans in (pick one) 90 A.D./100 A.D./312 A.D./325 A.D., and all these "un-Christian" practices introduced. If that's what you believe, that's your prerogative. As I said, you are not required to agree with me, or with the Catholic Church or its doctrines, dogmas, teachings, traditions, or interpretations.
Catholics are expected to agree with the Church; Protestants are not.
Blessings,
----Wols.
