EWTN’s “Crushed by the Woman” — set to air on the Aug. 15 solemnity of the Assumption at 5:30 p.m. ET — aims to answer common questions Protestants ask regarding the Blessed Virgin Mary.
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The 30-minute program features a lineup of notable Church figures who explore the beliefs Catholics hold regarding the Blessed Mother and the many misconceptions non-Catholics have about her.
The program addresses questions such as: Does devotion to Mary take away from Jesus or offend Our Lord? What does the angel Gabriel’s “Hail, full of grace” greeting mean? Is the assumption of the Blessed Virgin contrary to the Bible? Why do Catholics pray to Mary? Why do Catholics say Mary did not have other children? How is Mary our perfect mother?
Father Dwight Longenecker, who was raised a fundamentalist and ordained an Anglican priest before converting to Catholicism, and Mark Miravalle, a professor of theology at Franciscan University of Steubenville and president of the International Marian Association, are joined by several other Church leaders to provide answers to these questions.
“Quite often, our Protestant brothers and sisters will say: You believe in something called the assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, that she was taken up into heaven and that she was crowned as the queen of heaven,” Longenecker says in the program. “That’s nowhere in the Bible. Why do you believe these things?”
“Catholics are not Bible-only Christians. You are,” Longenecker continues. “We believe in the inspiration of the Bible, but we also believe that the Holy Spirit speaks through the Church…speaks through the lives of the saints… speaks through the teaching of the Church. Therefore, we’re not Bible-only Christians. We’re not obliged to prove our religion according to your terms.”
Miravalle points out that nowhere in Scripture does it say that Scripture is the only source of revelation. “[T]o hold that is an unscriptural position,” he says.
Ann-Marie Altomare, director at Our Lady of Guadalupe Family Life Center in Ave Maria, Florida, provides further examples: “[W]e also know there are a lot of things about the apostles, how they were beheaded or how they died as martyrs, that are not written in Scripture.”
Addressing the question of why Catholics pray for Mary’s intercession, Longnecker says: “We need a mother to intercede, to protect us from external dangers. We need a mother to remind us of our personal dignity, that we’re all made in the image and likeness of God. One mother united Jesus and her other children, you and me, together.”
“[W]ithin the Catholic understanding, she stands for motherhood,” he adds. “She stands for fertility. She stands for children. She stands for family, and this is exactly where, in our society today, Catholics are being attacked, because we still stand up for virginity, for chastity, for family, for marriage, for children. We stand up against abortion, we stand up against the sexual immorality in society, and so, we will be attacked for that.”
“Crushed by the Woman” can also be watched online here.
This article was originally published by CNA.
