medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
At 6:27 PM -0700 9/9/06, Marjorie Greene wrote:
>medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
>
>"Needless to say, this also became a sore point with Protestants,
>something I have noticed that 'cradle Catholics' often don't quite
>understand. It's remarkable to me that Catholic commenters can
>seriously propose giving Mary the title "Co-Redemptrix" and then be
>surprised by the screams they hear from the Protestant gallery."
>
>A few questions:
>why do Protestants (or anyone else for that matter) care a hoot what
>Catholics do, think, say within the Church?
>why does anyone think that the proposal to give Mary the
>above-mentioned title was NOT greeted with, if not screams then,
>vigorous protest in Catholic quarters?
>MG
Sorry I didn't "unpack" that a bit more.
Protestants care when Catholics make pronouncements if either of them
have been discussing the possible unification of all Christians in
the same breath :) I haven't heard _this_ comment, but I _have_ heard
other Catholic comments about Mary that display an equal lack of
comprehension of Protestant views, in the context of serious
re-unification discussions.
I tend to view these things with mixed exasperation and affection,
because I was brought up in an adamantly Protestant environment and
became Catholic only much later. And I still find it surprising, even
this many years after Vatican II, when I see Catholics not
understanding _why_ some Protestants have a strong reaction when they
say things that, to them, sound perfectly innocent.
I also get exasperated when Catholic attempts to explain themselves
miss essential points of Protestant concern, and thus probably fail
to satisfy the questions they set out to answer. My prime example is
the often-repeated Catholic explanation that Catholics do not
"worship" saints but merely "honor" them. My Catholic education
understands this explanation and it makes perfect sense in that
context. It doesn't address the problem that Protestant hearers may
be unfamiliar with the distinction and not understand that it _has_
genuine significance, and hence, that to the untutored outsider this
explanation merely sounds like "weasel words."
That attempted explanation also doesn't address the Protestant
tendency to assume that kneeling in front of something equals
worshipping it -- a body-language issue that most Catholics I run
across don't even know exists. Protestants, of course, have forgotten
in this instance that it's only within the last few centuries that
kneeling has ceased to be a relatively non-religious gesture of honor
(children kneeling to parents, et cetera). But it never seems to
occur to Catholic explainers that they need to _explain_ that in
their view kneeling need not have those implications.
As for Catholic protest at the idea of titling Mary "Co-Redemptrix,"
I hadn't heard of any, but I'm relieved to hear that someone is at
least thinking intelligently about the issue and realizing there
might be a problem. I do understand that most advocates of the idea
don't seriously think it amounts to declaring Mary to be a female
equivalent to Christ, but the choice of language is still very
unfortunate.
--
____________________________________________________________
O Chris Laning <[log in to unmask]> - Davis, California
+ http://paternoster-row.org - http://paternosters.blogspot.com
____________________________________________________________
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