Is Mary's Assumption Irrelevant?

With these words, Pope Pius XII formally declared, in 1950, the bodily assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary into heaven to be a dogma of the Catholic Church.

Over fifty years later, the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary remains Catholic dogma that cannot change. But in the intervening years, the attitude of many Catholics regarding Our Lady

changed. For them, the Assumption of Mary has become largely irrelevant-a doctrinal antique cluttering up the Church's theological attic. They may well nod affirmatively when asked whether they believe it, but their minds are not gripped by its meaning. They see no point to the doctrine.

Evangelical Protestants, on the other hand, think the dogma of Mary's Assumption anything but irrelevant. For them, it is all-too-relevant because it is utterly irreverent, and this for at least two reasons. First, because, in their view, the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin unduly exalts Mary's role in salvation history, giving her an honor they say is due Christ alone. Second, because, resting on the claim of the Pope's authority to define dogmas, the Assumption is regarded as the most recent and perhaps most vivid demonstration of the Catholic Church's alleged penchant for "inventing" new dogmas without warrant in Scripture and then imposing them of the faithful as infallibly true.

But the Assumption of Mary is neither irrelevant as some Catholics think, nor irreverent as most Evangelicals believe. It is an immensely important truth, which neither diminishes the honor of Christ nor imposes on believers something contrary to Scripture.

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