I was pretty clear that we do not worship Mary, nor the saints nor angels, and that they play the role of supporting us by their prayers. As well the "praying to them" is in no sense worshipping them, but simply asking them to pray for us. If that were wrong, then scripture itself is wrong, as it obviously encourages us to intercede for one another -- and even, if you have a Catholic Bible, for we on earth, to intercede for those who have died.
There is a pattern, among some non-catholics, to lock-on to one strict sense of a word, pretending that other senses do not exist, in order to score points. The fact is, each of us is called to intercede for each other -- if you want to use lower-case "i" on that use of the word intercede, to distinguish it from the most important, and unique way that Jesus is the Intercessor to the Father, that is fine. That is an important point, yet it would be quite sad if one were to conclude from that, that for any of us to intercede for one another in prayer is somehow displeasing to God, or diminishes in any way, Jesus' role in interceding for us to the Father.
Similarly, there is plenty of non-catholic hand wringing about Peter being the first pope (despite the fact most of them essentially set themselves up as their own pope). Jesus and his followers spoke aramaic, not greek, as their common language, as can be seen by the scriptural account transliterating the aramaic word, kefa (rock) into Cephas. This may not be an important point except that it helps simplify some seeming confusion over whom Jesus was calling the rock upon which he would build his church. <g> Of course Jesus was speaking of and to Peter, as he literally renames him from Simon, to Peter (!) And all the rest of the New Testament shows the name stuck. Yes, he rebukes Peter as often as is necessary, but not before acknowledging that Peter loved him "more than these others" and telling him to feed and lead his sheep. It is an enlightening exercise to see how many more times Peter's name is mentioned in the New Testament, as compared to all the other apostles -- he was being groomed, and yes, corrected as needed, for the important role he was to hold in the early Church.
I was pretty clear that we do not worship Mary, nor the saints nor angels, and that they play the role of supporting us by their prayers. As well the "praying to them" is in no sense worshipping them, but simply asking them to pray for us. If that were wrong, then scripture itself is wrong, as it obviously encourages us to intercede for one another -- and even, if you have a Catholic Bible, for we on earth, to intercede for those who have died.
There is a pattern, among some non-catholics, to lock-on to one strict sense of a word, pretending that other senses do not exist, in order to score points. The fact is, each of us is called to intercede for each other -- if you want to use lower-case "i" on that use of the word intercede, to distinguish it from the most important, and unique way that Jesus is the Intercessor to the Father, that is fine. That is an important point, yet it would be quite sad if one were to conclude from that, that for any of us to intercede for one another in prayer is somehow displeasing to God, or diminishes in any way, Jesus' role in interceding for us to the Father.
Similarly, there is plenty of non-catholic hand wringing about Peter being the first pope (despite the fact most of them essentially set themselves up as their own pope). Jesus and his followers spoke aramaic, not greek, as their common language, as can be seen by the scriptural account transliterating the aramaic word, kefa (rock) into Cephas. This may not be an important point except that it helps simplify some seeming confusion over whom Jesus was calling the rock upon which he would build his church. <g> Of course Jesus was speaking of and to Peter, as he literally renames him from Simon, to Peter (!) And all the rest of the New Testament shows the name stuck. Yes, he rebukes Peter as often as is necessary, but not before acknowledging that Peter loved him "more than these others" and telling him to feed and lead his sheep. It is an enlightening exercise to see how many more times Peter's name is mentioned in the New Testament, as compared to all the other apostles -- he was being groomed, and yes, corrected as needed, for the important role he was to hold in the early Church.