James R. White - Mary--Another Redeemer?

Mary
Another Redeemer?

James R. White

1998 by James White

Published by Bethany House Publishers
11400 Hampshire Avenue South
Bloomington, Minnesota 55438
www.bethanyhouse.com

Bethany House Publishers is a division of
Baker Publishing Group, Grand Rapids, Michigan.
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Ebook edition created 2012

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ISBN 978-1-4412-1399-0

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is on file at the Library of Congress, Washington, DC.

Scripture quotations labeled NASB are from the New American Standard Bible, copyright 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. www.lockman.org

The internet addresses, email addresses, and phone numbers in this book are accurate at the time of publication. They are provided as a resource. Baker Publishing Group does not endorse them or vouch for their content or permanence.

To Dr. Rick Walston

A friend and mentor who has shown great dedication to godly education for the benefit of the body of Christ. Thank you for being patient with the most unusual student you will probably ever have!

Contents

MaryAnother Redeemer?

A small booklet tucked in the fold of a chair in the corner caught my eye. It was sticking out just enough, or I may not have seen it. Intrigued, I pulled it out. The blue-and-white cover bore the title Devotions in Honor of Our Mother of Perpetual Help . I scanned through a few of the prayers. In one of them I spotted the words my eternal salvation, so I backed up and started from the beginning:

O Mother of Perpetual Help, thou art the dispenser of all the goods which God grants to us miserable sinners, and for this reason he has made thee so powerful, so rich, and so bountiful, that thou mayest help us in our misery. Thou art the advocate of the most wretched and abandoned sinners who have recourse to thee. Come then, to my help, dearest Mother, for I recommend myself to thee. In thy hands I place my eternal salvation and to thee do I entrust my soul. Count me among thy most devoted servants; take me under thy protection, and it is enough for me. For, if thou protect me, dear Mother, I fear nothing; not from my sins, because thou wilt obtain for me the pardon of them; nor from the devils, because thou art more powerful than all hell together; nor even from Jesus, my Judge himself, because by one prayer from thee he will be appeased. But one thing I fear, that in the hour of temptation I may neglect to call on thee and thus perish miserably. Obtain for me, then, the pardon of my sins, love for Jesus, final perseverance, and the grace always to have recourse to thee, O Mother of Perpetual Help.

At first I could not believe what I had just read. So I ran back through the last few lines. Was this prayer really saying that the petitioner did not fear his or her sins, the devils, nor Jesus ? Thats what it said. I shook my head in disbelief.

A few years later I found myself in a radio studio in Boston, Massachusetts, doing a radio discussion with a former Protestant turned Roman Catholic named Gerry Matatics. The topic was Mary and the saints. Mr. Matatics and I were scheduled to do two public debates at Boston College over the course of the next week.

But that day we were live on the air taking calls on the subject of prayers to Mary and the saints. As I packed for the trip, I found the little blue-and-white booklet and decided to bring it along. Now I reached into my bag and brought it out. Surely quoting this prayer would bring a strong reaction from Mr. Matatics. Surely hed deny that such a prayer is proper, and that the people who had written it were simply going overboard in their piety. The talk-show host gasped involuntarily as I read the final lines, and as I put down the booklet, I looked across to my opponent, waiting for the expected reaction. The host, likewise, turned to Mr. Matatics. He was quiet for a moment, and then he spoke.

Mr. White, he began, I can only hope that someday you, too, will pray that prayer.

And so it was pressed home to me once again how deeply entrenched is devotion to Mary in Roman Catholic belief and practice. I also realized afresh how utterly unlike my own Christian experience such devotion to anyone other than Christ really is. The prayer offended me , and yes, years later, after reading dozens more books on Marian doctrine and piety, it still offends . But now I know why the prayer exists as it does, as well as the foundation upon which such devotion is placed.

A Little Book in the Mail

My trek as a non-Catholic into the world of Marian devotion and doctrine has often been impacted by little books. One such book arrived in the mail one day from a correspondent in Washington State. It was titled Mary: Coredemptrix, Mediatrix, Advocate by Mark I. Miravalle, S.T.D., and was associated with a group called Vox Populi Mariae Mediatrici , which means Voice of the People for Mary Mediatrix. Tucked inside the front and back covers I discovered small tear-out postcards addressed to His Holiness Pope John Paul II in Rome, Italy. The text on the card caught my attention:

With filial love, we the faithful wish to humbly petition you, the Vicar of Christ, to solemnly define as Christian dogma the Churchs constant teaching on Marys coredemptive role with Christ the Redeemer of humanity. It is our belief that such a definition will bring to light the whole truth about Mary, Daughter of the Father, Mother of the Son, Spouse of the Spirit, and Mother of the Church. Therefore, it is our prayer that the Holy Spirit will guide you, Holy Father, to define and proclaim the Blessed Virgin Mary as Coredemptrix, Mediatrix of all graces and Advocate for the people of God.

Again I found myself taken aback. Spouse of the Spirit? Coredemptrix, Mediatrix of all graces and Advocate for the people of God? The terminology is like speaking a foreign language to a Protestant, and phrases like Spouse of the Spirit are so strange that one hardly knows where to start in responding to them. At the time I was not aware of the depth and breadth of the movement seeking to have the Pope define these doctrines as infallible Christian teaching. However, according to recent claims by the group, as of June 1997, 4.5 million petitions from 155 countries have been signed and turned in to the Pope. The drive has also garnered the endorsement of more than 500 bishops, including 42 Cardinals.

So great has been the movement that major news outlets have begun taking note. Cover articles and feature stories in major news magazines have introduced the movement to the wider public, though often with less-than-accurate information taking center stage. The August 25, 1997 edition of Newsweek carried a story by Kenneth Woodward reporting on Mark Miravalle and the movement based at the Franciscan University of Steubenville. The May 1997 issue of Inside the Vatican wrote,

Though not officially confirmed, evidence is accumulating that Pope John Paul II may exercise the charism of Papal Infallibility to declare the Third Marian Dogma.

Websites began picking up the story, with predictable results. Believing and supportive Roman Catholics were excited, while Fundamentalists began speaking of the elevation of Mary to godhood, resulting in changing the Trinity to the Quadernity. Only one thing is certain about the coverage the controversy has experienced: Very, very few have the foggiest idea what the real issues are, and that includes most Roman Catholics. The controversy is very important, but not for the reasons that most believe. The great amount of misunderstanding on both sides of the fence comes from the fact that what Rome teaches about Mary in general is often misinterpreted by Protestants and miscommunicated by Roman Catholics. Indeed, many believing Roman Catholics harbor misconceptions about the dogmas of Rome, which only adds to the confusion.