Many converts seem to have trouble with the Church's Marian doctrines. I personally never did, and I am not sure why. It always made sense to me that the Mother of God (the new Ark of the Covenant) would have to be special and unique. Perpetual virginity? No problem - I remember as a child asking a parent what the term 'virgin' meant, (I think I read 'virgin wool' off a clothing label) and being told it meant untouched or pure. Well, of course the Mother of the Messiah would have to be untouched and pure. Recycled is good enough for everyday, but new is for special - and how much more special than to incubate the body of the Saviour? And to remain pure? But of course! What a miracle to add onto the miracle of the Incarnation.
And thinking back, the Immaculate Conception only made sense, as well. I do get rather upset at people (so-called comedians in particular) who confuse the Immaculate Conception of Mary with the Virgin Birth of Jesus.
The Assumption of Mary into Heaven is another dogma that gives some non-Catholic Christians pause. When explaining this one, I go back to the Old Testament, where the prophet who walked with God was bodily taken up to heaven. As a child, that story enchanted and fascinated me, and I longed to be holy enough to bypass earthly death in that fashion.
Yesterday was the Feast of the Assumption, and it would also have been the 55th anniversary of my parents-in-law's marriage. Because it was a mixed marriage, it was celebrated in the rectory, not the church. My mother-in-law must have truly loved her husband, to enter into a mixed marriage in those days. Later, my father-in-law entered the Church, much to the delight of his wife. My husband remembers that one day, instead of sitting in the pew during Communion, he walked up the aisle with them and knelt to receive - this was how he announced his conversion to his children. My parents-in-law were very holy in that ordinary everyday way that is so important, and so very difficult.
I don't know why they were married on a major feast day - but I am glad that they were - because every year on August 15, I remember their lives and thank God for the gift He and they gave me of a loving and faithful husband.
It's funny, because with all their talk of "rapture", you'd think that the Protestant fundamentalists would buy into the idea that God might want to take someone up early. I find the Assumption of Mary a much easier religious concept to wrap my brain around than some others.