A reader asks:

I hope you don’t mind my emailing you privately about this. I have been learning so much from you series on Mary at IC. A question came up in the comments and I was wondering if you had addressed it previously that I missed or would possibly be including it in a future column.

Even those of us Prots who are not largely ignorant anti-Catholics, those of us who are friendlier towards Rome, even if we haven’t found our way there — we have a hard time understanding the distinctions. It may be one of those things you have to step through the door before you can see or understand. However, I’ve never seen an adequate explanation which distinguishes between veneration, adoration and worship. By adequate I don’t mean one that necessarily will have half the Protestants who hear it swimming the Tiber – I simply mean one which isn’t dismissive of the concerns those of us on this side of the divide have.

Any possibility you will specifically address this?

I address this question at length in chapter 1, volume 3 of Mary, Mother of the Son. Basically, honor (aka veneration) is a species of love and Jesus teaches us that to love your neighbor is to love God. The only qualifier on that is that you must not love your neighbor *more* than you love God. So, for instance, if you do *not* honor your Father and Mother, you are actually sinning against God. Similarly, we are called to honor various other creatures in the manner proper to them. And we do this all the time: standing for the judge when he enters the court, applauding actors, cheering sports stars, pinning medals on soldiers and patches on Boy Scouts. All these are species of honor and are perfectly appropriate. What the Church does is honor saints in the way fitting for their particular status as creatures (this, and all the honor paid to creatures, is called “dulia”). The greatest saint, Mary, is honored with the highest honor due a mere creature (hyperdulia). But “latria” is reserved for God alone as the highest form of honor.

For more detail, I’d recommend a read of Mary, Mother of the Son.