well, Hope, since these are precisely the sort of questions that tend to come from fundamentalists, it seems at least possible that some fundamentalists have "gotten to you" on this issue.
Since you are a Catholic, you know that not all revelation is contained in scripture, so the issue of whether or not it is "in the Bible" is not of overwhelming significance. The question is whether or not it is in Divine Revelation, either scripture or tradition. Since the Magisterium teaches that we should pray to Mary and honor her (see the Catholic Catechism), that she is perpetually a virgin, and that she was assumed into heaven, we are on safe ground in believing all these things, since the Church teaches with divine authority. "He who hears you, hears me" "The Church is the pillar and ground of the truth."
That said, there are as a matter of fact several indications in the Bible that we should pray to Mary and honor her. It says in John, "Jesus said to the disciple, "Behold your mother." The Church has always taken that to mean that every disciple has a spiritual mother in Mary, that we can turn to her with our problems and find good counsel and solace. Obviously, if she is a mother to us in the spiritual life, we should honor our mother. "Honor your father and your mother."
As for any problem with praying to her, we do not worship her, but merely give her the greatest honor and respect that is possible to any human being, since she is after all the mother of the Lord. Any good dictionary will show that pray means to ask, and when directed toward a divine being includes the notion of worship. Since Mary is not divine, this aspect is not present in our prayers to her, as I am sure you well know, good Catholic that you are. If I ask for your prayers, I am in fact praying for your prayers, which is always legitimate between human beings.
Since death and corruption are penalties for sin, and Mary was conceived without sin, the Assumption is a logical result of this singular privilege. It is the faith of the Church, confirmed by Pius XII in 1950, that Mary was assumed into Heaven. Her numerous apparitions also bear witness to this. Of course, we are not required to believe in them strictly speaking, but good Catholics at least believe in Lourdes, Fatima and Guadalupe. As a matter of fact, in my little Bible study group is a fellow who was a Southern Baptist until he saw an apparition of Our Lady.
You get a picture of her in Heaven at Revelation XII, 1, the woman clothed with the sun, who also represents the Church.
Regarding her perpetual virginity, this also is a teaching of the Church, a Biblically guaranteed Church, and derives first of all from the fact that the Bible testifies that Christ was born of the Virgin Mary. The usual Protestant objection is that scripture mentions the brothers and sisters of the Lord, but this term also included cousins.
You might ask your fundamentalist friends, if such you have, where it says in the Bible that all revelation is in the Bible?
You also might ask them, since they believe so much in the Bible, where are their bishops, priests and deacons, their belief in the real presence in the Eucharist, their belief in the primacy of Peter? That should give them something to think about.
In the meantime, don't fail to have a warm and loving relationship with Our Lady by devoutly saying the Rosary. Cultivate the relationship with her that is yours in the Lord. She is your mother in Christ.
Lee
