Catholic veneration of Mary is one of the major stumbling blocks for non-Catholics, especially Protestants. Catholics do not worship Mary and cringe at the suggestion. Devotion for Catholics exists on three planes:

Latria: Worship due to God alone. Hyperdulia: Veneration of Mary.
Dulia: Veneration of all other saints.

Only the triune God is due actual worship; however, Mary points the way to her Son, Jesus. None better.

From the man credited with launching the Protestant Reformation. In his own words:

"No woman is like you. You are more than Eve or Sarah, blessed above all nobility, wisdom, and sanctity." (Sermon, Feast of the Visitation. 1537).

"One should honor Mary as she herself wished and as she expressed it in the Magnificat. She praised God for his deeds. How then can we praise her? The true honor of Mary is the honor of God, the praise of God's grace.. .Mary is nothing for the sake of herself, but for the sake of Christ...Mary does not wish that we come to her, but through her to God." (Explanation of the Magnificat, 1521).

--Martin Luther

Credit: Dave Armstrong, Catholic Culture, 8-24-03, https://www.catholicculture.org/culture/library/view.cfm?id=788

Responding to: Catholics show too much honor to Mary
by Steve O'Keefe, Staff Apologist

In Romans 13:17, Paul says we should “pay [...] respect to whom respect is due, honor to whom honor is due.” So we need to begin by asking: “What is the appropriate amount of honor owed to Mary?” Let’s take an account.
In Luke 1:46-55, Mary prophecies about the mercy and justice of God, as well as the honor she will receive in the future. And if we look at Matthew 10:41, Jesus encourages us to honor prophets.

In Luke 2:35, Simeon describes the suffering Mary will experience as part of God’s plan of salvation. He says, “A sword will pierce your own soul too.” Correspondingly, in Paul’s letter to the Philippians, he instructs his readers to give great honor to people who have suffered for God’s sake [Phil 2:29].
In John’s Passion account, he recalls Jesus saying to him, regarding Mary, “Behold, your mother” [Jn 19:26]. Jesus’ statement describes the new relationship we have with His mother as disciples.

Lastly, if one looks through the Old Testament, we see that in the Davidic monarchies the mother of the king was considered the queen of that kingdom. Jesus is the reigning Davidic King, which would make His mother - Mary - the queen.

Thus, you should not feel the least bit defensive when challenged on how much we honor Mary. You are not the one who is out of bounds. How much honor is due to Mary? Going from the Bible alone, we would owe her the honor due to a mother, a martyr, a prophet, a queen.

I was told Mary couldn’t be sinless because she thought Jesus was crazy.
Did she?
by Steve O'Keefe, Staff Apologist

In Catholic and Orthodox circles, the ancient teaching regarding Mary
is that she was preserved from ever committing sin. Among Protestants this is often seen as an absurd proposition. And in response, some will search the New Testament for faults committed by the Blessed Virgin. The example mentioned by your friend is from Mark 3:21. In most English translations, it reads: “Then Jesus entered a house, and again a crowd gathered, so that He and His disciples were not even able to eat. When His family heard about this, they went to take charge of Him, for they said, ‘He is out of his mind.’”

The first thing we need to ask is whether this passage actually portrays Jesus’ family thinking He is crazy. The key phrase “they said”. Who is the word “they” referring to? One could think it refers to Jesus’ family, but there is another option. The next verse says: “The scribes who came down from Jerusalem said, “He is possessed by Beelzebul!” With that in mind, we can propose an alternate reading of Mark 3:21. Jesus’ family isn’t coming to get Him because they think He’d gone mad. Rather, they knew that prominent people from Jerusalem were
accusing Him of being crazy. His family, hearing this, were paying a visit out of concern. Either because they wanted to see for themselves, or because they were afraid of what the scribes might try to do to Him.

But let’s suppose it was Jesus’ family who said He thought He was crazy. The text doesn’t require us to think every member of his family without exception thought this. It could be the majority of the family thought so, and they brought Mary along to prevail upon her son. But all the way there, she could have been saying, “My boy is just fine, you’ll see.