From Religion News Service:
Ask an evangelical what separates them from Rome, and they’ll likely mention Mary. Ask a Catholic convert why she crossed over, and she might say the same thing. Nothing divides evangelical Protestants from Catholics quite so visibly as Mary.
But beneath that divide lies deeper questions about authority, tradition, worship and what it means to belong to the Church. Over the past year as a writer and podcast host, I’ve spoken extensively with Protestant women who converted to Catholicism, as well as academics and those studying the forces behind this shift. “Catholicism is one of the few religions that respect and revere women,” Genileigh Wentworth, a 37-year-old convert, told me.