Is Mary A Co-Redeemer

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Hi, I have been doing searches on the Catholic Church and the Virgin Mary. I came across some articles about how Catholics are petitioning Pope Benedict XVI to make Mary the Co-redeemer. What does that mean and what do Catholics think about Mary and redeeming us along with Jesus? :confused:

Thanks for your answers.
 
RuthErickson said:
Hi, I have been doing searches on the Catholic Church and the Virgin Mary. I came across some articles about how Catholics are petitioning Pope Benedict XVI to make Mary the Co-redeemer. What does that mean and what do Catholics think about Mary and redeeming us along with Jesus? :confused:

Thanks for your answers.
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Hopefully the Pope will have enough sense to turn it down. What does it mean? That some Catholics have a very dicey theology.
 
RuthErickson said:
Hi, I have been doing searches on the Catholic Church and the Virgin Mary. I came across some articles about how Catholics are petitioning Pope Benedict XVI to make Mary the Co-redeemer. What does that mean and what do Catholics think about Mary and redeeming us along with Jesus? :confused:

Thanks for your answers.
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No. Jesus needed no help.​

BTW, Jesus is the only Mediator betwee God and us.
 
IF this doctrine does get taught, then it will have always been true. It will simply be a deepening of the interpretation of dogma that has existed since the time of Christ.

IF it does not, then the understanding at least so far as has been expressed to this date is simply not a correct understanding. That does not however mean that Mary is not in some way a co-Redeemer but only that in whatever way she is, it is not in the way that these petitioners think she is.

Also you have to understand that Catholic use of words and terms is much more precise and ‘unchanging’ than Protestant use of terms. Most (not all) Protestants, for example, now use the word “pray” only in the sense of ‘prayer to GOD ALONE’ --but that is not the historical use of the word nor is it the way the word was used in centuries past.

Today the word ‘co’ implies a equality.

Historically speaking, the word (with its roots in Latin ‘com’) simply meant ‘with’. Thus you would speak of a co-leader, for example. This person would act with the leader but was SUBORDINATE to the leader. He would only be able to act without the leader in the case of emergency. If the leader were somehow incapacitated, the co-leader could then lead.

Now Mary was not actually a ‘co-leader’ but she certainly, using the correct understanding of ‘co-Redeemer’ “CO-operated” in the redemption of mankind through her ‘fiat’ or acceptance of God’s word and becoming the mother of Christ. That cooperation was necessary to Christ’s birth. Mary of course did not herself ‘redeem’ us in any way, and Catholics have never taught that she did. But in her acceptance of God’s will she did indeed contribute, by bearing the Christ, to Christ’s redemption–that redemption however being entirely His, of His own power and no one else’s. Mary’s fiat made the birth of Christ possible. Christ’s sacrifice then made our redemption possible.

I fail to see how any of the above is ‘dicey’ theology.
 
=RuthErickson-Hi, I have been doing searches on the Catholic Church and the Virgin Mary. I came across some articles about how Catholics are petitioning Pope Benedict XVI to make Mary the Co-redeemer. What does that mean and what do Catholics think about Mary and redeeming us along with Jesus? :confused:
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Thanks for your answers.
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This petition has a long history in the Catholic Church.

At base Catholics are neither saying nor do we believe that “Salvation is FROM Mary.” We do however hold that as a singular honor, and through the merits of Her Son Jesus, that God permits Mary to be NOT THE SOURCE of Grace, but the dispenser of grace.

Thus Mary does have a active, but non-decisive role in our salvation.

Love and prayers,
 
Thank you for your reply. I asked this because as a protestant I am interested in Catholicism. I like the Catholic church. A couple of weeks ago my mom and I got into a fight about this. I wanted to hear what Catholics think about this. This petition does a lot of damage with Protestants. We think that you want Mary to save us to. I think that is blasphemy. Thank you for clearing this up for me.
 
i agree with Tantum. Mary did not redeem us but by her submitting to God’s Will, redemption became possible. i’m sure if Mary declined God’s offer that God would have found another willing woman to bear the Christ. if that was the case then that other woman would have been co-redeemer. Mary is needed for God to become human and to save us from our sins. Her role is perhaps the most important role for a human in our salvation.
 
Tantum_ergo said:
IF this doctrine does get taught, then it will have always been true. It will simply be a deepening of the interpretation of dogma that has existed since the time of Christ…
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IF that doctrine does get taught, what I had up until now taken to be a slur on Catholics (that they worship saints) will have come true.
 
Well protestant do not understand any thing about Mary now and if Mary is a Co=Redeemer well it split them more,Protestant do not have the ability to understand.
 
Well, if it is true then it will be taught, whether or not some people see it as ‘worship of the saints’. I mean, some people now believe all sorts of lies about Catholics (and let’s be fair, some people believe all sorts of lies about Protestants, Jews, atheists, you name it). Lies will always be around but truth exists even if nobody were to recognize it as truth. That being said, if one understands Mary’s cooperation with God as the way in which Jesus was able to assume His earthly form and thus after His life to culminate in His death and resurrection, one could call her cooperation a ‘co-redemption’ if one is careful to state that ‘co’ does not mean’ equal to’ but simply as the means whereby Christ was able to become human (incarnate).

Probably since the term is so liable to misunderstanding, if it really is proper to understand Mary’s role in this way it will be very carefully taught as being in no way equal to or assuming that Mary herself is the cause of our redemption by Christ, and perhaps would be more likely expressed as ‘facilitator for Christ’s redemptive action’ or “cooperator with God to bring about Christ’s redemptive action” with the main emphasis, as it should be, on the fact that it is Christ and none other who redeems us. I don’t see the actual term "Co-Redeemer’ as ever coming into play simply because it would be so misunderstood.
 
TristanCross said:
Agreed. I love Mary, but in no way is she co-redemptrix or co-mediatrix.
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She is our co-redemptrix in the sense that through her redemption was made possible by Jesus. She is our co-mediatrix in the sense that she is a friend to whom we may always turn to intercede on our behalf to Jesus.
 
Mary as a co-Redeemer doesn’t mean we worship her. we just recognize her important role in man’s redemption. without her redemption would not have been possible (or like i mentioned earlier, God would have selected another willing woman)
 
Right. It seems to me that part of the reason that some (not all) Protestants tend to downgrade Mary comes from their embrace of the Calvinist, “all men are wholly degraded” viewpoint. IOW, they don’t want to recognize any human being for anything whatsoever; either the human is ‘predestined’ to follow God and therefore saved but it’s all totally God and the human just follows along, or the human is destined to reject God (although it seems in THAT case it’s all the human’s fault, except if he’s predestined that implies God choose not to save him). To them, Mary was a ‘vessel’ which God used (just as He would with any of us weak totally depraved and sinful slobs), and any ‘temporary glory’ she got was from holding Christ in her. Once He was born, she is (to them) of no account whatsoever, and even her bearing Christ was because God ‘told her to’, no glory to her and not even any chance she agreed of her own ‘free will.’

I don’t agree with this at all but thankfully I’m a Catholic and not a Calvinist. I always feel sorry for them because I find their theology frankly ‘despairing’ at best and derogatory at worst.
 
Tantum_ergo said:
Right. It seems to me that part of the reason that some (not all) Protestants tend to downgrade Mary comes from their embrace of the Calvinist, “all men are wholly degraded” viewpoint. IOW, they don’t want to recognize any human being for anything whatsoever; either the human is ‘predestined’ to follow God and therefore saved but it’s all totally God and the human just follows along, or the human is destined to reject God (although it seems in THAT case it’s all the human’s fault, except if he’s predestined that implies God choose not to save him). To them, Mary was a ‘vessel’ which God used (just as He would with any of us weak totally depraved and sinful slobs), and any ‘temporary glory’ she got was from holding Christ in her. Once He was born, she is (to them) of no account whatsoever, and even her bearing Christ was because God ‘told her to’, no glory to her and not even any chance she agreed of her own ‘free will.’

I don’t agree with this at all but thankfully I’m a Catholic and not a Calvinist. I always feel sorry for them because I find their theology frankly ‘despairing’ at best and derogatory at worst.
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Hebrews 13:7 - Remember your leaders, who preached the word of God to you, and as you reflect on the outcome of their lives, take their faith as your model

Degrading and refusing to acknowledge saints on the grounds that they were ‘depraved’ or the fact that they were sinners goes against Scripture.
 
I think focusing on what it will mean if it is taught is not as important as focusing on whether or not there is solid reasoning behind it. I personally do not see any reason whatsoever for this to ever become dogma. It can still be the case that Mary’s assent is important without adding some unnecessarily confusing honorific and possibly borderline heretical exposition to make it fit into Marian devotion as it existed before the new dogma.
 
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