On Marian worship

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When Mr Protestant comes in and sees me placing flowers on a giant Our Lady of Guadalupe Altar, my guess he will hear “altar” and see the statue and think worship.

Honestly, Mass at side altars was a thing many years ago, I believe it is not done now. Side altars are simply devotional in nature.
 
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Is Mary a Queen? If so how are queens treated are to be treated?
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It would be good to consider the position of the Queen Mother in the Old Testament, to gain insight into why Mary is venerated so highly, as Queen Mother of Christ Jesus.
The queen mother of Israel interceded in behalf of the subjects of the kingdom. She was their most powerful, and therefore preferred, advocate. Her specific place of honor and intercession is dramatically illustrated in the following passage from 1 Kings 2: 13-21:

"Adonijah, son of Haggith, went to Bathsheba. the mother of Solomon. “Do you come as a friend?” she asked. “Yes,” he answered and added. “I have something to ask to you.” She replied, “Say it.” So he said, “There is one favor I would ask of you. Do not refuse me.” And she said, “Speak on.” He said, “Please ask King Solomon, who will not refuse you, to give me Abishag the Shunamite for my wife.” “Very well,” replied Bathsheba, “I will speak to the king for you.” Then Bathsheba went to King Solomon to speak to him for Adonijah, and the king stood up to meet her and paid her homage. Then he sat down upon his throne, and a throne was provided for the king’s mother, who sat at his right. “There is one small favor l would ask of you,” she said. “Do not refuse me.” “Ask It, my mother,” the king said to her, "for I will not refuse you. So she said, “Let Abishag the Shunamite be given to your brother Adonijah for his wife.”
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Protestants have a difficult time with the word “worship” because the usual way they “worship” is without a sacrifice. Catholics, on the other hand, worship (only) God and we offer God the holy sacrifice of the Body and Blood of Christ.

We do not offer Mary sacrificial worship even if there is an altar with an image or statue of Mary there.

This will be confirmed if you pay close attention to the Eucharistic prayer that the priest uses.

The whole idea of carrying statues around as is common in places around the world is not even close to the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. Those processions don’t “do” anything for me. And, as the OP indicated, it is a source of confusion or worse for non-Catholics. If I were Pope, I would suppress processions with statues. In the Far East, there are statues of Bhudda all over the place that are worshiped by devout followers of that philosophy (if I am not misspeaking here).
 
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Thank you all for the responses. I was posing a hypothetical question–I didn’t invite any protestants to the crusade, but have some very good friends whom I associate with, and some of your answers will help. Also, I wasn’t talking about the golden calf in Exodus specifically, but commenting mostly on how the statue was being carried. I am a cradle Catholic that wandered for years in the protestant sects for 22 years before coming back to where I belong, so I know how they operate. Thanks again for the helpful comments.
 
This was an excellent response.

The only thing I wanted to add is people tend to forget Jesus told us to Love God and Love Neighbor. It is possible to still be Loving God when you aren’t at this very moment loving your neighbor. However it is not possible to love your neighbor without loving God.

Basically what I am getting at is I think when people see us showing love to Mary they think we are taking that love away from God. They don’t realize that it is not possible. What man wouldn’t feel the love of a neighbor that cared for and watched over his mother while he was out of the country. I’m a father of 5 and I never feel more loved than when one of my kids goes out of their way for their mother.

God Bless
 
many here would have me convinced of its properness (statues). Did the Israelites have statues of Moses , or Abraham, or David, to use during worship to Jehovah or even intercessory prayers, or in their homes ? Not sure they communicated with saved souls in paradise either as some do now with saints.

For story telling yes, but for ‘lifting up", and "honoring’’, not so sure, even though it is not worshipping, it can compete with honoring God.
 
I have seen a statue of Jesus carrying a cross (Life sized) paraded around a town. Very exhausting!
People literally make lines to receive the honor of being one of be bearers.
Catholics do not worship statues, but on the above example they offer up the hardship of carrying the weight and parade that heavy load around for all to see so that everyone can see what Jesus did for them. Same goes for any other hero in Heaven. And this is how we should explain it to outsiders.
Compare this, with how, at the end of the world cup, the players of the winning team are paraded, carried on shoulders around the stadium and receive a heroes welcome back home.
How much more should we honor those who are with Jesus. Our best HERO!
 
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I like that answer—it helps me a lot.
 
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Take that friend to mass. Teach the scriptural origins of the mass. To go to an advanced and very personal devotion is to ask your friend to jump into the deep end of the pool. One must learn to dog paddle before jumping off the high board.
 
I have a friend at work who’s a cradle Catholic and his response to Marian processions etc was ‘I don’t like it, it’s the sort of thing that triggered the Reformation’ whereas a newly converted friend says she was drawn to convert because she was so drawn to Mary and the idea of a faith venerating her as heavenly Mother. So in summary you would need to explain that all Catholics have ways of showing respect to Mary just some are more public than others
 
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