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If youre a Catholic and youve spent time on the internet discussing religion, chances are youve heard people rail against the Catholic Churchs devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary. Chances are also good that some people have not had very nice things to say about this subject and some may have gone on to lay down further accusations against the Catholic Church because of this issue. To see people attack the Catholic Church because of the devotion to Mary is not an uncommon sight. Sometimes it can get downright ugly though.
Take the following comments for example:
Mary worship? Yep, you better believe it, this is the charge that is leveled against the Catholic Church. However, let us look at at least one mistruth in that statement.
It has been worked into the RCC liturgy
If you are a church-going Catholic, you know this to be untrue. Going over the Catholic missal for the Latin Rite, one can see that Mary is mentioned only twice.
The Mass is broken into two parts, the first being the Liturgy of the Word and then the Liturgy of the Eucharist. The mentioning of Mary is contained to the Liturgy of the Word, first when the congregation recites the penitential rite (...and I ask Blessed Mary, Ever Virgin, and all the angels and saints, and to you my brothers and sisters to pray for me to the Lord our God...) and then the Nicene Creed (... born of the Virgin Mary...) At no other point is Mary mentioned in what is the pinnacle of Catholic worship.
But, it gets better .
And
And
Is this true? Do Catholics put Mary on equal footing with the Father, Son and Holy Spirit? Some who attack the Catholic Church go so far as to say that the Catholic Church replaces Jesus or the Holy Spirit with Mary to make a new Trinity.
Well, if this is true, it should be easy enough to find evidence of this right? Wrong. Let us look at a real life situation to see how the Catholic Church responded to such an instance.
In 1975, in Quebec, a Catholic apostolate that went by the name of The Army of Mary was given official Church approval as a Pious Association, after being founded in 1971 by Marie-Paule Giguere. The Army has stated that it has been receiving Marian apparitions for over 40 years.
Unfortunately, the Army of Mary began reporting on private revelations which were rather troubling. They reported that the Immaculate (Mary) is co-eternal with the Triune God, and that although she was once the historical mother of Jesus, she is now reincarnated and dwells in the very person of the recipient of these presumed private revelations (i.e.: Marie-Paule Giguere herself).
These claims present two problems, the first one that should be self-evident is that for the Catholic faithful, reincarnation is an impossibility, it does not happen. This is blatantly not Catholic teaching and should be immediately disregarded. However, the more subtle error (depending on how theologically savvy you are) is the claim of co-eternal-ness.
In the Creed of St. Athanasius, a doctor of the Church, co-eternal-ness is relegated to the Trinity and the Trinity alone.
What we see here is that the Army of Mary has raised Mary to equal footing with the Trinity.
This is exactly the claim that those who attack the Catholic Church level against the Church.
So, if these claims are true, that the Catholic Church is looking for a way to raise Mary to the level of God, one would assume that the Vatican would jump at the chance of using these private revelations to establish new doctrine, no?
Well, guess again. On May 4 of 1987, after numerous attempts to get the Army of Mary to drop these allegations of re-incarnation and co-eternal-ness, the Bishops of Canada, with approval of the Vatican, revoked the Pious Association standing of the Army of Mary and warned the Catholic faithful that this organization did not represent Catholic teaching and could not be trusted. In a follow-up letter 14 years later, the Catholic Bishops of Canada had this to say once again
The full re-statement can be found at the following link: http://www.cccb.ca/docs/armyofmary.htm
Interestingly enough, the Catholic Church has acted in just the opposite way of which those who attack the Catholic Church would have others believe. Instead of embracing the revelations put forth by the Army of Mary, and using it as a chance to place Mary on equal footing with Jesus, the Catholic Church condemned it, and continues to condemn it.
Now, those who attack the Catholic Church can offer rebuttals and conspiracy theories as to why the Catholic Church did not accept these revelations, at this place and time, but this does nothing to address the fact that the Catholic Church expressly denies any of the claims that these very people are making, right here, right now.
As Jesus Himself said, Thus you will know them by their fruits. (Matthew 7:20 RSV), and we can see that the fruits born by the Catholic Church are to deny, refute and correct any claims that Mary is equal with God.
Take the following comments for example:
Mary worship? Yep, you better believe it, this is the charge that is leveled against the Catholic Church. However, let us look at at least one mistruth in that statement.
It has been worked into the RCC liturgy
If you are a church-going Catholic, you know this to be untrue. Going over the Catholic missal for the Latin Rite, one can see that Mary is mentioned only twice.
The Mass is broken into two parts, the first being the Liturgy of the Word and then the Liturgy of the Eucharist. The mentioning of Mary is contained to the Liturgy of the Word, first when the congregation recites the penitential rite (...and I ask Blessed Mary, Ever Virgin, and all the angels and saints, and to you my brothers and sisters to pray for me to the Lord our God...) and then the Nicene Creed (... born of the Virgin Mary...) At no other point is Mary mentioned in what is the pinnacle of Catholic worship.
But, it gets better .
And
And
Is this true? Do Catholics put Mary on equal footing with the Father, Son and Holy Spirit? Some who attack the Catholic Church go so far as to say that the Catholic Church replaces Jesus or the Holy Spirit with Mary to make a new Trinity.
Well, if this is true, it should be easy enough to find evidence of this right? Wrong. Let us look at a real life situation to see how the Catholic Church responded to such an instance.
In 1975, in Quebec, a Catholic apostolate that went by the name of The Army of Mary was given official Church approval as a Pious Association, after being founded in 1971 by Marie-Paule Giguere. The Army has stated that it has been receiving Marian apparitions for over 40 years.
Unfortunately, the Army of Mary began reporting on private revelations which were rather troubling. They reported that the Immaculate (Mary) is co-eternal with the Triune God, and that although she was once the historical mother of Jesus, she is now reincarnated and dwells in the very person of the recipient of these presumed private revelations (i.e.: Marie-Paule Giguere herself).
These claims present two problems, the first one that should be self-evident is that for the Catholic faithful, reincarnation is an impossibility, it does not happen. This is blatantly not Catholic teaching and should be immediately disregarded. However, the more subtle error (depending on how theologically savvy you are) is the claim of co-eternal-ness.
In the Creed of St. Athanasius, a doctor of the Church, co-eternal-ness is relegated to the Trinity and the Trinity alone.
What we see here is that the Army of Mary has raised Mary to equal footing with the Trinity.
This is exactly the claim that those who attack the Catholic Church level against the Church.
So, if these claims are true, that the Catholic Church is looking for a way to raise Mary to the level of God, one would assume that the Vatican would jump at the chance of using these private revelations to establish new doctrine, no?
Well, guess again. On May 4 of 1987, after numerous attempts to get the Army of Mary to drop these allegations of re-incarnation and co-eternal-ness, the Bishops of Canada, with approval of the Vatican, revoked the Pious Association standing of the Army of Mary and warned the Catholic faithful that this organization did not represent Catholic teaching and could not be trusted. In a follow-up letter 14 years later, the Catholic Bishops of Canada had this to say once again
The full re-statement can be found at the following link: http://www.cccb.ca/docs/armyofmary.htm
Interestingly enough, the Catholic Church has acted in just the opposite way of which those who attack the Catholic Church would have others believe. Instead of embracing the revelations put forth by the Army of Mary, and using it as a chance to place Mary on equal footing with Jesus, the Catholic Church condemned it, and continues to condemn it.
Now, those who attack the Catholic Church can offer rebuttals and conspiracy theories as to why the Catholic Church did not accept these revelations, at this place and time, but this does nothing to address the fact that the Catholic Church expressly denies any of the claims that these very people are making, right here, right now.
As Jesus Himself said, Thus you will know them by their fruits. (Matthew 7:20 RSV), and we can see that the fruits born by the Catholic Church are to deny, refute and correct any claims that Mary is equal with God.
Well done, nyj!
