This is from a book I have (when I was a Protestant) called "In Defense of the Faith" by Dave Hunt:

"The most athoritative book written on Catholicism's "Virgin Mary" is by Cardinal and St. Alphonsus de Liguori titled "The Glories of Mary."

He goes on to say, "The chapter headings are staggering: Mary, Our Life, Mary, Our Sweetness, Mary Our SALVATION!"

Later he sites prayers as:

"Sinners recieve pardon by...Mary alone. He falls and is lost who has not recourse with Mary. Mary is called the gate of heaven because no one can enter that blessed kingdom without passing through her...God will not save us without the intersession of Mary."

He goes on to sit the rosary and calles these prayers "blasphemy in the worst kind." While also claiming and citing the Pope with simualer prayers as these while also saying "Hundereds more could be cited."

I know we are to hounor Mary and pray (talk) to her asking for her to pray for us, but could someone explain such prayers as these.

P.S. I have recently heard another anti-Catholic say the our Church doesn't alow us to read books on other religons or even Protestant bibles. Oh come on, that can not be true. After all, we need to understand what other cults or faiths believe, right?

-- Jason (Enchanted fire5@aol.com), May 29, 2004

Answers

Merely seeing the name "Dave Hunt" on the cover of a book is good reason to toss it in the trash without opening it. Mr. Hunt is one of the most venemous anti-Catholic bigots currently in print. On any one page from any one of his books there are so many errors, distortions and outright lies that it might take an hour to explain the truth about all of them.

"The Glories of Mary" is not necessarily "the most authoritative book written on the Virgin Mary". But it is a superb treatment of the subject written by one of the great Doctors of the Church. Virtually everything St. Alphonsus wrote in this work is absolutely orthodox when understood in the context he intended, which is not difficult to do with a bit of ancillary study and commentary. That however is not something people like Dave Hunt are concerned with. They are more interested in finding isolated phrases which when removed from their original context can be built into what appears to the ignorant to be a substantial argument against God's Church.

A prime example of this, and a favorite ploy of such bigoted writers, is to omit any words in a passage which complete the actual meaning. Their writings are full of "...". Even in the short passage you quoted above, two such ommissions occur. Hunt "quotes" St. Alphonsus - "Sinners receive pardon by ... Mary alone". What does that mean? What was in the space now occupied by "..."? Obviously something Hunt didn't want to quote because it didn't serve his sinister purposes. Probably a phrase such as "the humble intercession of". But Hunt would like the reader to assume that the book is claiming that Mary is the source of all forgiveness - something a learned Doctor of the Church would scoff at. Of couse Hunt didn't say that. That would be a lie. He just left out enough words to cause his readers to wrongfully assume what he wanted them to assume. I could take a typical Hunt phrase like "the Catholic Church leads people down the road to damnation, causing them to forfeit their salvation" and "quote" it in this way - "the Catholic Church leads people ... to ... their salvation".

No, we do not need to understand what cults and people of other faiths believe. How would that knowledge benefit us? Nevertheless, the Church does not forbid us to read anything. As for Protestant Bibles, they are virtually identical to the original Christian Bible used by the Catholic Church, except for having 7 Old Testament books missing. So there would be no reason not to read them. Of course if it is a Protestant study Bible with a lot of commentary added, one might very well pick up erroneous ideas by reading it, if one was not already well versed in the true faith.

-- Paul M. (PaulCyp@cox.net), May 29, 2004.

Jason,

if anyone who believes in the statement you wrote, surely Mary is like God to the individual. Therefore, the teaching is false. Mary cannot save us, but only Christ alone.

-- Henri (kxhenri@yahoo.com), May 30, 2004.

Christ alone saves us. But there wouldn't have been a Christ without Mary.

-- Paul M. (PaulCyp@cox.net), May 30, 2004.

I would say there would not have been a Mary without Christ. 8-)

-- Oliver Fischer (spicenut@excite.com), May 30, 2004.

There would not have been Mary - or anyone else - without God. But the term "Christ" refers specifically to God in the flesh - the Incarnation - God taking on physical form through the cooperation of Mary in God's plan of salvation. The entry of Christ into the world was the result of the cooperation of two persons - His Father, God - and His mother, Mary. For this the human race is forever indebted to her.

-- Paul M. (PaulCyp@cox.net), May 30, 2004.