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From: chavez@harvard.UUCP (R. Martin Chavez)
Newsgroups: net.religion
Subject: Re: Catholics not Christian?
Message-ID: <201@harvard.UUCP>
Date: Tue, 3-Apr-84 20:54:59 EST
Article-I.D.: harvard.201
Posted: Tue Apr  3 20:54:59 1984
Date-Received: Thu, 5-Apr-84 01:01:12 EST
References: <668@akgua.UUCP>
Organization: Aiken Computation Lab, Harvard
Lines: 68


	Let's not start throwing around Scripture in a vain effort
to justify one Christian sect at the expense of another.  Read the
documents of Vatican II (even Thomas Aquinas still applies) if you
REALLY want to know what the Catholic Church teaches; two thousand
years of Biblical exegesis can't very well be condensed in a form
suitable for our purposes here.

	For starters, allow me to point out that Catholics do NOT
(or at the very least SHOULD NOT, according to the Church's magisterium)
worship the Virgin Mary.  There's a Greek word -- hyperdulia -- that
aptly describes the praise, honor, and loving trust that are Mary's due.
As Mother of God, she of all humankind bears an absolutely unique
relationship to the Triune God in the person of Jesus, the Christ.
God chose her to be the mother of His only-begotten son.  

	The Roman church, then, teaches the prayerful Christian
to ask Mary for her INTERCESSION before the Son, not for her mediation
between God and man.  The distinction is subtle, to be sure, but
nonetheless quite important.  We merely ask Mary to take our part
as advocate and protectress; as one who is merely human and yet
the Mother of God, she may beseech her son to show us 
forgiveness and compassion as only a mother can.  But she is NOT
a way-station on the route between God and His children, an
indispensible link.  She has no supernatural powers, no semi-divine
nature; she is human and no more.  Yet, God has chosen her for
a special role in the history of salvation, and we recognize
her sanctity by entrusting our prayers to her in the hopes that
she will intercede for us to the God of might and mercy.

	Over the years, European Catholicism has perhaps erred
in over-emphasizing the cult of Mary.  In today's Church, however,
theologians have attempted to clarify Mary's role by returning
to the ancient traditions that recognize Mary's unique relationship
to the Son without according her the powers of mediation.  (Mediation,
it seems to me, implies that the Mediator posesses some authority
that equals or transcends God's own; clearly, then, only Christ --
if we accept Him as the God-Man -- can qualify for such a dignity.)

		Hail, Mary, full of grace;
		the Lord is with thee.
		Blessed art thou amongst women,
		and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus.

		Holy Mary, Mother of God,
		pray for us sinners,
		now and in the hour of our death.

	Note that Mary humbles herself in prayer to the
Father; she does not and cannot grant petitions on her own,
as her son (the only Mediator) surely can.  Legend has it
that Mary appeared to a poor Indian on a hill in Mexico;
she was arrayed in a mantle of stars, the clouds and the
moon at her feet; but the splendor of God shone through her,
and her hands were folded in supplication.

	Forgive me for rambling on and on, but I'm tired
of hearing the old arguments that condemn Roman Catholicism
as apostasy and hypocrisy.  Don't quote Scripture at us;
we all know that the Bible, as the cultural history of
God's Covenant, has been called upon to support every manner
of irrational behavior.  By trying to understand each other
in a spirit of humility and truth, maybe Protestants and
Catholics will realize that they have much reason for
thanks and little time for rhetoric.

				R. Martin Chavez