Protestants aren’t the only ones who find Catholic devotion to Mary a bit over-the-top sometimes. A lot of Catholics find other Catholics, including great saints like Alphonsus Liguori and Louis de Montfort, to be a little “much” when talking about the Virgin Mary. I get it. Take the Salve Regina, for example: it calls Mary “our life, our sweetness, and our hope.” How is that kind of effusive flattery theologically defensible? After all, our Life and our Hope is Jesus Christ.
My daughter and I were searching for a ball cap for her recently. She didn’t want a rainbow on it because she likes to have her own style, and she was baffled that every piece of children’s clothing seemed to have rainbows on it. The LGBTQ Pride movement has certainly succeeded in seducing major retailers, library and community programming and even many churches into participating in their displays and educational initiatives this month.