- Ikenna Paschal Okpaleke
This story was narrated by a Ghanaian Catholic student-priest of Catholic Institute of West Africa (CIWA), Port-Harcourt. Fr. Thomas narrates that at one time in his local parish in Accra, he had organized a spiritual crusade with his pastoral team towards the end of the year. In a bid to reach out to other Christian communities in the area, the pastoral team had decided to invite an Anglican priest. Now, this was not a problem since the programme was a spiritual crusade and not a Eucharistic celebration. And given the relationship between the Roman Catholic Church and the Anglican Communion it was not a big issue for debate in the pastoral meeting. However, the choice of the Anglican priest to speak at the occasion is another material for discussion. Finally the team settled for a humble but prominent Anglican preacher from the south-western area of Takoradi. Rev. Peter is the name.
On the day of the crusade, Fr. Thomas and his associate Fr. Awiah had gone to pick Rev. Peter. As soon as he entered their car, Rev. Peter took out his Rosary and said, “Fathers, can we pray the Rosary?” To the embarrassment of the Catholic priests, none of them had the Rosary except the one Fr. Thomas had hung on his rearview mirror. Eventually, both ended up using their fingers in place of the Rosary beads. In the very lively discussion that ensued after the prayers, the Anglican priest gave them a lecture on how Catholics should not monopolize Mary, because she is the mother of all Christians and not of Catholics alone.
Now this is a classic example of spiritual openness. Rev. Peter did not see devotion to Mary as an object of denominational war against Catholics as most people perceive it. As you know when it comes to Mary, there are lots of accusations: a) that Catholics worship Mary, b) that the Rosary is made from the human tradition and so it is ‘ungodly’ and ‘carnal’.
What if we begin to look at it differently: In the first place, the Rosary is not a prayer to Mary. It is rather a meditation on the life of Christ. Now, you are not bound to believe it, but at least you can look at it by putting aside some bias and prejudice you may have. Each mystery of the Rosary is focused on the very Biblical events of the Gospels. When you look at the components of the Rosary separately, you will see that a) every part of the Rosary is taken from the Bible, and b) each part has a deep meaning.
The Rosary is made up of the following prayers: a) Hail Mary, which is taken directly from the Bible, from the very lips of God’s messenger, Archangel Gabriel (cf. Luke 1:28), and also from Elizabeth’s words of praise when the child in her womb rejoiced at recognizing Jesus as the Messiah (cf. Luke 1:42). The remaining little part involves asking for Mary’s prayers of intercession, in the same way you may ask family, friends, or clergy to pray for you, b) Our Father (The Lord’s Prayer), that is taken from Matthew 6:9-13, c) Glory Be, which is nothing more than a hymn of praise to the Holy Trinity, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, d) Apostles Creed, which is confession of what the followers of Jesus hold as their central belief, all in accordance with the scriptures, e) the various mysteries of faith (Joyful, sorrowful, luminous, and glorious), which serve the purposes of drawing the person praying deeper into reflecting on Christ’s joys, sacrifices, sufferings, resurrection and glory, and f) a concluding Hail Holy Queen, which is a final appeal to Mary’s intercession.
I have seen people who have been led to abandon their Catholic faith because other Christians greatly condemned Mary and the Rosary. Condemning Mary and the Rosary became fashionable as a method of converting Catholics. Yet, the Rosary remains one of the most powerful prayers that is filled with profound praises to God. Today, many people outside the Catholic faith, who study the bible without pre-judgments, have started to appreciate Mary and the Rosary. I once stumbled upon a Catholic who was promoting devotion to Mary on her Facebook page without knowing that the picture of the Marian devotion she used was that of members of the Celestial Church of Christ! In a similar fashion, when Pentecostals made speaking in tongues the center of their experience of the Holy Spirit, it was roundly condemned by most mainline churches. Yet today, many Catholics and Anglicans now speak in tongues. This perhaps serves as a caution, that we do not be quick to condemn without studying anything we observe in another church in the light of the Scripture; that we be open enough to engage in dialogue over issues for which we have some reservations, and that we do not become victims of spiritual propagandists. Yesterday everybody condemned the Holy Eucharist/ Communion, today it is now becoming fashionable in all Pentecostal churches. Why don’t we just sit down and talk about our understandings?
Well, until then, and as far as the bible is concerned, Mary remains Our Mary, not the exclusive property of Roman Catholics!
Alongside One Another 
Well said!
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God bless you Nne
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Just yesterday, I had an exchange of believe with someone, a man who said he was confirmed a Catholic and decided to leave when he realised that the teachings were all wrong, he pointed out the statues and the worshiping of Mary. Even with all the points from the Bible I gave to him explaining the confusion he’s presenting to himself, he wasn’t just interested.
Padre, you’ve done well in explaining further.
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Thank you Christiana. God bless. You can help us share our write-ups so that we can call everyone to a greater understanding and tolerance.
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Waoooo Father. This is very informative and educatieve to me especially as I am still learning new things about the Catholic faith.When i just newly joined the Catholic church i was very hesitant to pray the rosary because i had been thought that it is idol wotship.I nfact when the rosary was said i will be quiet.But i had to go back to google and start reading about the rosary and how it came about. Even all the prayers were biblical and i new all of them. I read so many testimonies about praying the rosary.I decided to relax my spirit and started learning how to pray it. I still have questions about it to get more understsnding.
For the first time in my life i did not only participate in the procession of Mary but also help in carrying the beautiful statute. I know my family will condem me for idol worshipping but is is their cup of tea. I thank God i did have the opportunity to participate in this great speritual activity. I still pray in tougues in my private moments.God bess U Rev.
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Dear Shella, thank you for always sharing freely your immense experience. God bless you!
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It’s really painful and discouraging seeing some of our catholic members act and speak against our mother Mary. Most of them do not understand how rosary originated and the mistery behind it, yet they condemn it completely without personal research. Some will try to confuse you by saying “it’s not in the bible” . I will never forget the day mother mary’s statue was taken round in Aba, the church came out in mass, each society wearing their uniform with different musical groups just to honour mother mary and to make the rally courful. People called us names, shrugged, spat and said nasty things about mother mary and the catholic worshippers, some catholic members refused to join the rally saying they don’t want to partake in idol worship. This clearly shows that not even all the catholic worshipers believe in mary and the rosary. Well written father, weldone.
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In the other way round father, we don’t worship Mary but the honour being given to her is excessive and seems to be worship, we give reference to her even more than we do to God almighty. For instance, bowing down to her images, training our little children throug block rosary group, inculcating into them chanting songs and prayers concerning mary which they can not even explain the meaning instead of bringing them to the knowledge of christ and the word of God, and when they grow up, they find it difficult to defend their faith . For these reasons many protestant come to believe that we worship mary more than God himself. So father, being a catholic, i believe in the oral tradition of the church, i suggest you enlighten the people more on how the rosary originated, when and how was it introduced to the church? why bowing down to the images? These are the controversial issues. Please throw more light on this. This is very neccessary because you cannot imagine how many people that leave the catholic church on daily basis as a result of these doctrines. Remain everly blessed father.
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Thanks a lot dear for your contribution. I agree with you that the issues you put up are very real. Part of our problem is practicing what we don’t even understand or seek to understand. That speaks to the failure of catechesis in our parishes. By this I don’t mean the one we underwent while preparing for communion and confirmation. Nope, I mean catechesis for everyone. Catechesis is a means of teaching the faith, apart from the preaching that happens in Mass. When I was in the parish I started two things as a way of catechizing the people: a) production of leaflets that describe the doctrines or basic beliefs, and b) started ‘faith clinic’ which involves pure teaching every Sunday evening. People responded with their attendance but more with their questions which we have left unanswered all these while. I also think our lay people should also demand these from their priests and even undergo theological training and take up the defense and explanation of the faith. Maybe I would have to find another online platform to handle the catechetical issues (though I’m getting direct questions on my phone right now) but my focus on this blog is on ecumenical matters. Thank you very for always reading and contributing very much to the blog. God bless you.
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Padre you are indeed an advent christian who believe that through the intercession of Mary the world will know peace. I look forward to read more on the life of Mary and how we can model our life like hers. God bless you Padre!
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Thanks Uche. Much grace. Please help us to spread the message by sharing to groups and friends!
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Padre you are indeed an advent christian who believe that through the intercession of Mary the world will know peace. I look forward to read more on the life of Mary and how we can model our life like hers. God bless you Padre!
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Thanks a lot Uche. God bless!
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Padre you are indeed a seasoned christian who believe that through the intercession of Mary the world will know peace. I look forward to read more on the life of Mary and how we can model our life like hers. God bless you Padre!
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