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The reaction was shock, earlier this year, when Newsweek reporteda groundswell of grassroots Catholic support for declaring Mary Co-Redeemer,Mediator of All Graces, and Advocate for the People of God. Over 4 millionsignatures have made their way to the Vatican, the magazine reported, asit floated the idea that the pope might actually heed their plea.

This news came like a cold shower in an era when evangelicals have been temperingtheir traditional anti-Catholicism and warming up to Catholics throughcollaboration in the pro-life movement and the culture wars, and throughsuch dialogue as Evangelicals and Catholics Together (ECT).

The news also seemed alien in a time when many newly built Catholic churcheshave no prominently displayed statue or altar dedicated to Mary. And sucha move would be a sharp U-turn for the Roman church, which at Vatican IIclearly decided against such imprudent elevation of Mary and affirmed thatit should do nothing on Mary that would further alienate the "separatedbrethren," as Protestants and Orthodox were called.

STAY THE COURSE
In this issue, we report on a remarkable new development in the informaland unofficial ECT process: jointly drafted by evangelicaland Catholic theologians, it is an affirmation of key beliefs about salvationthat evangelicals hold dear, some of which they never thought Catholics wouldassent to (see "The Gift of Salvation,"p. 34). But now leading Catholic thinkers have indeed done so.

The possibility, however remote, of the pope's responding to the grassrootsgroundswell by giving Mary titles that blur the New Testament's clear visionof Jesus' unique role in our salvation endangers this uncompromising achievementof clarity. All of which prompts us to say, Don't. Don't give to Mary thatwhich belongs to Jesus. Do keep on the road established at Vatican II.

In the Vatican II document Lumen Gentium, several key directions wereset: First, teaching about Mary was not treated apart from the doctrine ofthe church but placed squarely within it. Second, it was made clear that"Mary's role in no way obscures or diminishes [the] unique mediation of Christ."Third, it was explained that Mary's titles "are to be so understood thatthey neither take away from nor add anything to the dignity and efficacyof Christ the one Mediator. For," the document explains, "no creature couldever be classed with the Incarnate Word and Redeemer."

Fourth, theologians and preachers were exhorted to explain "the offices andprivileges" of Mary as "always related to Christ, the Source of all truth,sanctity, and piety." The document concludes: "Let them painstakingly guardagainst any word or deed which could lead separated brethren or anyone elseinto error regarding the true doctrine of the Church."

But while Catholic theologians have for the most part followed that advicesince Vatican II, popular piety continues to perpetuate the misunderstandingsthat have long divided Protestants and Catholics. Mary has been treated asfar more than the model believer she was: As the cult of the saints developedin the early centuries, she took her place at the head of that pantheon ofpatrons of popular religion. In medieval society, Jesus' identity asLord of the church was colored with the absolutism and remotenessof the lords of the state. And thus the genuine approachability the New Testamentascribes to Jesus (Heb. 4:15-16) was transferred to Mary, as our Lady,who was viewed as maternal and gentle, and thus more approachable.

In the sixteenth century, the Reformers continued to hold Mary in high esteemand relate to her with affection, but they believed that the bushy growthof Marian tradition required radical pruning since it obscured the commonChristian's understanding of the present ministry of Jesus, his intercessionon our behalf in the heavenly sanctuary (Heb. 3-10).

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December 8 1997, Vol. 41, No. 14