Yes. We ‘Worship’ Mary. Get over it Protestants.
Introduction
As I was reminded during the well-done Homily on August 15 by our Pastor, nothing causes more consternation among our heretical Protestant brethren than devotion to Our Blessed Mother. For decades, every time we find ourselves on the receiving end of some Protestant finger-pointing about our Blessed Mother, we find ourselves apologizing and offering explanations. Well, no more. Here’s a full-proof guide on how to deal with this issue. We Catholics have nothing to apologize about. Now, let’s start with that ever-familiar accusation:
YOU CATHOLICS WORSHIP MARY!
Here’s the response:
You’re Damn Right we do. And so should you.
Cue the pearl clutching and gasps—even from my Catholic friends who have spent decades apologizing and reassuring our heretical Protestant brethren as if we have some shame we carry.
Again, we have NOTHING TO APOLOGIZE FOR.
Now, let’s define our terms.
What Actually is worship?
The word worship comes from the Old English weorþscipe (from weorþ = “worthy” + -scipe = “state, quality, condition”). Effectively, it means to ascribe to someone or something their “worth-ship,” that is, the honor or dignity due to them. We actually do this in everyday life: we may refer to an elder as “sir,” a judge as “Your Honor,” or the pope as “Your Holiness.”
In Catholic theology, worship (cultus) is carefully distinguished by its object. Not all “worship” is the same, and the Church has always guarded against idolatry by making very precise distinctions. Traditionally, Catholic theology—especially from the scholastics and the Council of Trent—speaks of three primary types of worship: latria, dulia, and hyperdulia. They are defined thus:
1. Latria – Adoration to God Alone
Definition: Absolute worship due only to God, recognizing His supreme dominion.
Source in Scripture:
“The Lord thy God shalt thou adore, and him only shalt thou serve.” (Matthew 4:10, Douay-Rheims).
Magisterial Source:
Council of Trent (Session XXII, ch. 5): “There is, in the Catholic Church, a true, proper, and propitiatory sacrifice… offered to God alone.”
Theological Source:
St. Thomas Aquinas: “Latria is due to God alone, because it belongs to Him to govern and to guide all things to their end” (Summa Theologiae, II-II, q.103, a.3).
Papal Source:
Pope Pius XII, Mediator Dei (1947), § 161: “The worship owed to the God-Man and to His Father and the Holy Spirit is one and the same as the latria which must be given to God alone.”
2. Dulia – Veneration of the Saints
Definition: Honor given to saints for their holiness and intercession, not worship of their essence.
Scriptural Foundation:
Hebrews 12:1: “We also having so great a cloud of witnesses over our head…” (saints as models and intercessors).
Magisterial Source:
Second Council of Nicaea (787), Acta: “The honor which is paid to the image passes on to that which the image represents, so that he who reveres the image reveres in it the subject represented.”
Council of Trent (Session XXV): “The saints, reigning together with Christ, offer up their prayers to God for men… it is good and useful to invoke them.”
Theological Source:
St. Augustine: “We do not erect temples, institute priesthood, or offer sacrifices to the martyrs… but to the one God of martyrs” (City of God, VIII, 27).
3. Hyperdulia – Unique Veneration of Mary
Definition: The highest veneration, reserved for the Blessed Virgin Mary alone, due to her divine maternity and unique role in salvation.
Scriptural Foundation:
Luke 1:48: “For behold from henceforth all generations shall call me blessed.”
Magisterial Source:
Council of Ephesus (431): declared Mary Theotokos (“God-bearer”), the foundation for her unique honor.
Council of Trent (Session XXV): “The holy Synod commands all bishops… diligently to instruct the faithful… that the Blessed Virgin is to be invoked as Advocate.”
Papal Source:
Pope Pius XII, Ad Caeli Reginam (1954), § 31: “From the earliest ages of the Catholic Church a Christian people… has addressed prayers of petition and hymns of praise and veneration to the Queen of Heaven.”
4. Cultus Relativus – Honor to Images and Relics
Definition: Veneration of sacred objects (images, relics, crucifixes) insofar as they represent or are connected with holy persons.
Scriptural Foundation:
Exodus 25:18–19: God commanded the making of cherubim on the Ark of the Covenant.
Acts 19:11–12: Even handkerchiefs touched to St. Paul healed the sick.
Magisterial Source:
Second Council of Nicaea (787): “The honor paid to an image passes to its prototype.”
Council of Trent (Session XXV): “The images of Christ, of the Virgin Mother of God, and of the other saints are to be had and retained… and that due honor and veneration is to be given them.”
5. Civil Honor vs. Sacred Worship
Definition: Respect due to parents, rulers, and authorities (not worship, but honor).
Scriptural Foundation:
Exodus 20:12: “Honor thy father and thy mother.”
Romans 13:7: “Render… honor to whom honor.”
Theological Clarification:
Aquinas distinguishes civil honor from divine worship (ST II-II, q. 101, a.1).
So the next time some Protestant points a finger and says “You Catholics Worship Mary” respond with: “You’re Damn Right we do and we’re proud to do it.”
It is not only acceptable, it is glorious. We give her hyperdulia, the highest veneration due to any creature, precisely because God Himself has exalted her above angels and men as the Mother of His Son. To honor her is not to steal from God’s glory but to magnify it, for all her privileges flow from His grace. Our Protestant critics, who collapse every form of honor into idolatry, simply reveal their ignorance of both Scripture and Tradition. We must stop apologizing for the faith of the Church and instead embrace it boldly. If every generation shall call her blessed (Luke 1:48), then we should rejoice to be counted among them—proud to worship Mary rightly, proud to honor her worth-ship, and proud to confess that in doing so we are only echoing what God Himself has already done.