[RJT]

Jokingly I say:

You do not accept the concept of sin, yet you contend that Mary must have had sin.

You ask why does anyone care, yet you post a questions about it.

Seriously, I say:

Let’s take your point to mean what you obviously meant - that if there is such a thing as sin then Mary must have had it. Secondly, why is Mary so important to Catholics and not so important to other denominations.

Where do I start?


Before I give you my non answer to your post (for now) let me say this: What took you so long to ask? You will probably find that this is going to be one of your strongest arguments against Catholicism. Not because you are correct (or not); but I am confident that you are going to find it one of the most ridiculous things we believe.

I am not going to attempt to answer this at this time - mostly because it is not so easy for me to - but also because Bluff and bigdaddyvo, I am sure, will do a better job at it than I. I will collect my thoughts and get back to you.

Until you hear from them or me, let me state 3 things for the record so we all know some basics about the Catholic Church and Mary.

1) There were two times in the history of the Catholic Church that the pope has spoken infallibly. Both times had to do with Mary. Bidgaddydvo has a post here on 09/17/05 about the first “ex cathedra” (Latin for “from the chair”, refers metaphorically to the chair of St. Peter,the first Pope and the guy of which Jesus said “On this rock, I will build my Church” - Peter means rock) statement in 1854 regarding the Immaculate Conception. The other time the Pope spoke infallibly (in 1950, I believe) had to do with Mary’s Assumption into Heaven - body and soul.

2) Althought these 2 dogmas are infallible teachings, they aren't as important to Christianity, per se, as Jesus, Himself is.

3)We do not worship Mary, we honor her.