I want to reiterate that I have never met a Catholic who took an idolatrous approach to Mary, despite the impression a superficial reading of devotional literature could produce.
As Cynical Bear very sensibly remarked,
Your joking right? The little girl adored her dad. He adored his daughter. The wife adored her husband. Weren't those children adorable at the Christmas program? Get the picture?
Exactly, CB. Expressions like this show normal hearts welling with affection and devotion. They do not denote idolatry.
Saw a pope on tv bowing and praying to a statue of Mary, thanking her for saving his life...So that counts...
While you say it is not Catholic doctrine, that pope set the stage for Catholics to worship the mother of Jesus...
The total disconnect from reality that Catholics exhibit absolutely stuns me. My comment about the word "adore" as Catholics use it. Let's look.
"This worship called forth by God, and given exclusively to Him as God, is designated by the Greek name latreia (latinized, latria ), for which the best translation that our language affords is the word Adoration." [http://www.catholic.org/encyclopedia/view.php?id=228]
You see, we have to understand when Catholics use words it may not be what we normally think when the word is used. It's the word games Catholics play.
So don't assume we agree when we happen to use the same words.