[jocon307]

"Would "mortal" be a better word choice than "mere" and still make the point?"

Well, let's see if I've gotten your point. Mere is not good, in and of itself it is a dismissive word, not insulting necessarily, but minimizing.

Mortal is good, if what you're getting at is the Mary was not mortal, that is she did not die, she ascended into heaven, as did a few other worthies of the Old Testament, if I am not gravely mistaken.

Obviously from my Bible-ignorant reply, I'm a Catholic, and no, to us Mary is not divine. Unless you're not well educated. I remember one fellow (I think on these threads) telling me his mom thought that the Holy Trinity was God the Father, Jesus, and Mary. But, er, that was a mistake.

[commish]

I think a lot of the confusion for non-Catholics in regards to Mary involves the "Hail Mary". Many non-Catholics look on this as a prayer to Mary, and ergo if one is praying to her then by fiat one must consider her to be devine.

I have many catholic friends who have cleared things up for me, but I think that may be the sticking point for a lot of others.

I think the suggestion of another thread, or maybe just a good explanation of Mary and her role in Catholic Religion would be very enlightening.