In my humble and worthless opinion, the Catholics are the most confused of the christian sects.
Isn't it considered idolism for the Catholics to worship the Virgin Mary? Doesn't it go against the second commandment?
I was only a Catholic for 21 hours. They needed somebody to run an auction Friday night/Saturday afternoon and, since they couldn't have an atheist selling goodies on their behalf, they made me an honorary Catholic. I guess that makes me qualified to answer. Kind of. Sort of. Maybe.
As Cookie pointed out, Mary is not worshipped, she is revered. From a Catholic point of view, penitents can ask the saints to soft-talk God on their behalf. Since Mary was God's Mum (sorry, God's not an American so I don't have to say Mom) she's in a better position than most to put in a good word for them.
Some prayers to Mary are more effective than others. In one Dennis Wheatley novel, the hero wanted to have it away with a Polish countess. Before doing anything she may later regret she offered this prayer:
"Mother Mary we believe
that without sin didst thou conceive;
and so we pray to the, believing,
so we may sin without conceiving."
There's no idolatry in that. Just a prayer of supplication from a sinner in need.
BTW I was also a Hungarian for six months, but that's another story.
Catholics do not worship Mary, they revere her. Also the 10 commandments do not apply to gentiles, they only apply to those who are descendants of Israel.
Isn't Mary Dead? I don't think she can hear anyone!
From my understanding, most Catholics don't worship Mary (or saints) per say, but they do pray to these ones for specific reasons or for specific events. So a case can be made that it's not idolatry, again per say. What it is, though, is believing that someone other than Christ has the authority to speak to god on our behalf-which is incorrect according to the Christian Bible.