Worship Redefined

 

Evangelical Worship Service

"Catholic worship Mary," is a very common Protestant misunderstanding.

Once I understood the difference between worship and veneration, devotion to Mary wasn't as much of an issue for me.  However, when I tried to explain this to my evangelical family members I hit a brick wall.  I could not get them to budge on the issues and couldn't understand why until I overheard a conversation.

An evangelical, ex-Catholic, anti-Catholic family member used the word "worship" where honor or veneration was intended.  A light bulb came on for me.  I realized that to many evangelicals the words are direct synonyms.  It dawned on me that Catholics (and Christendom of antiquity) define worship differently.  

The Catholic definition is, according to Catholic Culture:

WORSHIP

Acknowledgment of another's worth, dignity, or superior position. In religion, worship is given either to God, and then it is adoration, or to the angels and saints, and it is called veneration. Divine worship actually includes three principal acts, namely adoration (or the recognition of God's infinite perfection), prayer or the asking for divine help, and sacrifice or the offering of something precious to God. Worship as veneration also has three principal forms, whereby the angels and saints are honored for their sanctity, asked to intercede before the divine Majesty, and imitated in their love and service of God. (Etym. Old English weorthscipe, honor, dignity, reverence: weorth, worth +ship.)

However, in evangelical churches, worship is simply the act of adoration of God, therefore, any show of adoration is an act of worship.  Veneration of Mary is thus an act of adoration, which is only reserved for God, and thus it is "Mary worship."  

The key difference, which you see in evangelical "worship services" is that there is no Holy Sacrifice of the Mass.  There is adoration and prayer.  If you want to get technical, that adoration and prayer are often considered the sacrifice, but it doesn't feel very sacrificial to be entertained with music and edgy sermons. 

Getting down to brass tacks, the problem with evangelicalism is that it is over-simplified.  They've over-simplified the definition of worship to the point that they actually cannot see the difference between latria and dulia.  This is why, no matter how you try to explain that Catholics don't worship Mary, they simply can't wrap their heads around the concept.