Since 1950, the Catholic community has been celebrating St Mary of the Assumption.  This holiday was put into play to bring the Virgin Mary up from regular sainthood to a more respectful place as the Pope believed that more reverence should be given to the Virgin Mary who gave birth to Christ.  Upon the Pope's instructions, St Mary of the Assumption was to be a day for feast and celebrating the life of the woman who brought us the Lord Jesus Christ.  St Mary of the Assumption was not something that just popped into the mind of the Pope on the spur of the moment, the concept had actually been being kicked around for a lot of years and many Catholics were already celebrating St Mary of the Assumption before the ruling was made public by the Pope.  His dogma on the subject just opened the doors to bring the Virgin Mary up for sainthood to the elevated position that she now holds. 

St Mary of the Assumption also includes several doctrines about the life of the Virgin Mary.  It was accepted into dogma that the Virgin Mary was the mother of Christ the Lord and that the conception was immaculate as she was a virgin at the time of her giving birth.  This all came from the Pope himself as he states the Roman Catholic Church is an instrument for receiving revelations from the Holy Spirit.  This caused no change in the way the followers of the Church saw things.  They had always believed that the Virgin Mary was the divine vessel that brought Christ to the earth and her sainthood was a foregone conclusion by the time the Pope made St Mary of the Assumption a true holiday to be celebrated.  Some contend that since the word assumption does not appear anywhere in the Roman Catholic bible that the holiday is not true and the Virgin Mary should stay at the regular sainthood level that she had achieved.  This has sparked a good many heated debates over the importance of the Virgin Mary in context to Christ her son.  Throughout the history of the Catholic Church several false writings have been found that speak of the St Mary of the Assumption.  They have been credited to the apostles and long gone saints of the Catholic Church but many of them have been discredited.  This falls into the category that the Pope is making law and rulings with no historical religious writings to back them up.  Many have believed that the Virgin Mary is the intercessor between the faithful and Jesus which has brought up the question whether or not Jesus would disobey his own mother. 

Some early Catholic teachings have brought to light the way that the Virgin Mary has been viewed to be flawed in a certain sense.  This has caused the ripple effect through the church as many wonder why it took so long for the St Mary of the Assumption to take effect.  This and other questions are regularly debated among scholars who believe that the whole picture has not been revealed.

But for those of us that just want to celebrate this day without all these concerns, then we are more then welcome to. There will always be questions about the Virgin Mary's past but if we can just enjoy the day without all these questions then the holiday would be a great day for everyone.