Mary, the Unwelcome (?) Guest in Catholic/Pentecostal Dialogue

Abstract

Abstract Catholic Marian doctrines and practices have been a major stumbling block for Catholic/Pentecostal dialogue. In this article I utilize a pneumatological perspective to suggest that Mariology exemplifies the intersection between a Catholic theology of grace (including spirituality) and ecclesiology (embracing Vatican II's articulation of Mariology). I build on the notion that the outpouring of the Holy Spirit alerts the Pentecostal/Charismatic believer to: 1) the church's existence in the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, 2) the reception of the grace, gifts and charisms of the Holy Spirit, 3) the fraternal/sororal recognition of “anointed ones” in the midst of the Pentecostal assembly, and 4) the doxological response in which praise and veneration are appropriate in an eschatologically oriented church. In doing so I correlate each of these points with aspects of Catholic Marian doctrine and praxis and seek to elicit a Pentecostal response.