Voxpopuli.org - Vox Populi Mariae Mediatrici - For information and promotion of the 5th Marian Dogma

MARY TODAY
In the Church and in the World (cont.)

What is controversial is the idea of "defining" them -- which would mean the Pope’s employing his infallible magisterium to declare them an intrinsic part of Catholic dogma.

Critics of the movement allege that such a move would throw a spanner in the work of ecumenism, offending Protestant sensitivities both about Mary herself and about the authority of the Pope to make such a decision. The latter consideration (if not the former) is likely to weigh heavily on the Pope, who has himself put the role of the papacy back on the drawing board, to some extent, for the sake of possible reunion with the Orthodox Church. The Orthodox, while their veneration for the Mother of God at least rivals that of Catholics, have by and large never been very happy with the Marian dogmas defined during the last two centuries, and would undoubtedly raise objections to any such move in the future.

But can those objections be overcome? That was one of the questions that the Vox Populi conference, held in Rome at the end of May and beginning of June, began to address, and it will no doubt be studied in much more detail at next year's conference. This year, the topic was raised by Fr. Michael O’Carroll CSSp, who argued that, in order to address it, Catholics must first listen most carefully to the Orthodox (and Protestant) points of view.

There is a rich tradition of devotion to Mary outside the Catholic Church (even including some Muslims), but the language in which this is expressed may be quite different, giving endless possibilities for misunderstanding. Leading Protestant theologian John Macquarrie (author of Mary for All Christians) sees little problem with the Marian titles under discussion, and a respected Orthodox theologian has been invited to the next conference of Vox Populi. Perhaps with their help, and that of John Saward (author of Redeemer in the Womb and firm supporter of the movement), these problems may yet be solved.

The difficulties seem to be threefold. The first concerns the actual titles: do they truly reflect the Church's understanding of Mary's maternal and mediatory role?

The second concerns the role of the papacy in defining doctrine. The third concerns the reason for defining dogmas in the first place.

What is a dogma but a kind of "sacramental" of the mind? Since the Church is the extension of the Incarnation, every authentic ecclesial act shares in this quality of belonging organically to Christ.

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