Why Protestants think we worship Mary

In working with OCIA classes at our parish, I often have to explain that we Catholics honor Mary, but we do not worship her.  Yes, we pray to her as an intercessor, but worship is reserved for God alone.  It always seemed like a simple distinction to me, but our Protestant friends never seemed to understand.  

A few weeks ago, I came across an explanation that I had not previously considered.  I would love to give credit to the source, but I don’t remember where I saw it.  Protestants believe we worship Mary because we treat her the same way they treat God.  In their services, they preach, sing praise, and give glory to God, much the same way we honor Mary with our prayers, sing songs to her, and ask for her help.  Protestants call that worship.  In Catholic eyes, true worship requires sacrifice, the Sacrifice of the Mass.  

In other words, we “worship” Mary the same way Protestants “worship” God, but that isn’t worship.  The differing understanding of the term makes evangelization challenging.  It is easy to see why Protestants view our veneration of Mary as worship.  And it is difficult to convince them of what true worship really is when they do not have the real presence of Jesus to worship.  They cannot relate.  In their eyes, we are worshipping Mary no matter what we say.  They do not see the distinction.

Recognizing the Real Presence of Jesus on the altar is essential to understanding how Catholics actually worship God in the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass.  True adoration is done in God’s actual presence.  The ability to worship God in His incarnate presence is unique to Catholics.  No other Christian community has that opportunity.  They have no reason to genuflect when they enter their spaces.  

We honor Mary as our Blessed Mother who bore Jesus in her womb, but not in a way that defines divine worship.  She is our intercessor, not to be confused with the one mediator, Jesus Christ.  We ask for her help because Jesus listens to her.  When confirmed apparitions occur, it is usually Mary who appears.  

So often, our attempts to evangelize Protestants stall when words are understood in differing ways.  When Catholics say we pray to Mary, Protestants see that prayer as worship.  By strict definition, the word pray means to request.  Catholics are asking Mary and the saints to intercede on our behalf.  In that sense, we are not worshipping, we are asking for help.