Mary occupies a richly textured imaginative space in the wider Catholic imagination. More strikingly, she occupies a generous space in the hearts of those who speak to, look to, identify with, implore, honor, and hope in her. In a conceptual world in which sacred presence is powerfully sensed, she is among those presences most poignantly and deeply felt. In the 2010 Madeleva Lecture, Wendy M. Wright reflects on the nature of the Catholic imagination as viewed through the figure of Mary and suggests that she might be considered the global Catholic Church's point vierge--a provocative phrase that opens up a dimension of both the Catholic imagination and the mystery of Mary in an intriguing manner. +
