Study Outline
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Study Outline
Q: Can you recommend a study outline to me that would help me organize the importance of Mary in Catholic theology?
A: There are many ways of approaching the topic. Here is one:
1. Introduce topic by talking about apparitions (number, actuality).
2. Show how Mary always represents Christ (her messages are Christocentric, based on Gospel or wrong!).
3. Go on to show how Mary's life has been Christocentric (talk about passages in the Bible from Annunciation to Pentecost), always related to her Son.
4. Mary's messages at apparitions are directed to faithful, meaning Mary's role is also ecclesiocentric. She has a maternal role on behalf of the Church (forms Christians) and is their model in faith.
5. For this role to mediate between Christ and Church Mary was especially prepared (Immaculate Conception) and eventually rewarded (Assumption) and thus becomes blueprint of full humanity .
6. Explain how Chruch over the centuries has treasured the memory of Mary through prayers, feasts, devotions, pilgrimages, art and music.
7. Point to Mary's many theological and cultural faces: from various Christian denominations to Mary in Judaism and Islam; from various conceptions in past centuries to her acculturation in Latin America, Africa and Asia.
P.S. The reference to apparitions is to be understood as a pedagogical tool more than anything else.