Really Peter you are tiresome sometimes. Worship of Mary is worship.

See below.

Diana

A mother figure is a central object of worship in several religions (for example, images of the Virgin and Child call to mind Egyptian representations of Isis nursing her son Horus). The history of the Virgin Mary, mother of Jesus Christ, depends on the texts of the Gospels. Embellishments to her legend seem to have taken form in the fifth century in Syria. The life of the mother of Christ was exceptional: she was born free of original sin (21.168), through the Immaculate Conception; she was taken to heaven after her death (17.190.132); and, just as Saint Thomas doubted Christ's Resurrection, so he doubted Mary's Assumption. Theologians established a parallel between Christ's Passion and the Virgin's compassion: while he suffered physically on the cross, she was crucified in spirit. The Council of Ephesus in 431 sanctioned the cult of the Virgin as Mother of God; the dissemination of images of the Virgin and Child, which came to embody church doctrine, soon followed.

http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/virg/hd_virg.htm

Since the first century, devotion to the Virgin Mary has been a major element of the spiritual life of a vast number of Christians, primarily in Catholicism. From the Council of Ephesus in 431 to Vatican II and Pope John Paul II's encyclical Redemptoris Mater, the Virgin Mary has come to be seen not only as the Mother of God but also as the Mother of the Church, a Mediatrix who intercedes to Jesus Christ and even a proposed Co-Redemptrix.

The key role of the Virgin Mary in the beliefs of many Christians, her veneration, and the growth of Mariology have not only come about by the Marian writings of the saints or official statements but have often been driven from the ground up, from the masses of believers, and at times via reported Marian apparitions, miracles and healings.

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blessed_Virgin_Mary?wasRedirected=true

Sent from my iPod

On Mar 9, 2010, at 3:53 AM, Peter Montgomery <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

The Catholic Church does not worship Mary, nor does it consider her as

having anything of a divine nature. One of the very early councils of the

Church, I think the one in Nicea, defined Jesus Christ as both God and

man in an inseparable union, and to affirm that, indicated that Mary gave

birth to the entire person of Jesus, both divine and human, so the calling

of her to be the Mopther of God is a singular assertion of Christ's nature.

Mary is honoured or venerated in a very special way, but to say she is

worshipped would be to assert a heresy.

As I understand it, the Anglicans do subscribe to the same doctrines

of that early council.

Your highschool religious education is singularly lacking, it would seem,

Diana.

Peter

----- Original Message -----

From: [log in to unmask] href="mailto:[log in to unmask]">Diana Manister

To: [log in to unmask] href="mailto:[log in to unmask]">[log in to unmask]

Sent: Monday, March 08, 2010 6:16 AM

Subject: Re: Christian Belief in Eliot's Pre-conversion Poetry

Dear David,

Worship of the Virgin Mary as nearly the fourth person of the Blessed Trinity is absent from Anglicanism. There are many other differences, such as confession made to a priest, but the Mother of God is a biggie. The Catholic church decided to incorporate Mary when efforts to ban Mary-worship failed.

Diana

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On Mar 8, 2010, at 2:45 AM, David Boyd <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

CR

At risk of being pedantic, don't think TSE ever converted to 'catholicism'

He converted to the established Church of England, to the 'High Church / Anglo-Catholic' faction within it, but still to Protestant Anglicanism, as opposed to Roman Catholicism.

Theology isn't my interest, but believe there are fundamental cultural and theological differences here, not least Papal authority / infallibility.

Not to mention female priests !

In reality, it's all the spectrum of the very 'broad' Anglican Church - at one end, the Pope has sought to entice the Anglo-Catholics back to the Vatican fold, but at the other 'Low Church' end, this notion would be unthinkable.

And culturally, this does still matter a lot - just look at Northern Ireland and its troubles, for example.

On 7 March 2010 17:18, Nancy Gish <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

He grew up in a religious Christian home. That is known. No one has said otherwise. That is not the issue. It is a fact that at Harvard he attended Buddhist meetings and studied Eastern philosophy, but he did not become a Buddhist. What is there to demonstrate about his early Christian milieu that anyone denies?

Nancy

>>> Chokh Raj 03/07/10 11:32 AM >>>

Dear Listers,

In the posts that follow, I intend taking up Eliot's preoccupation with Christian thought and imagery in the poetry he chose to publish before his formal conversion to Catholicism. What fascinates is the fervence, ardor and earnestness that he brings to bear upon his treatment of them. To me it is here, more than anywhere else, that one can trace the poet's essential rootedness in Christian belief.

Regards,

CR