





	Again I find myself wanting to respond to a posting and having neither
the time nor the proper materials with me (you would think I would learn my
lesson by now--but I'm trying to finish writing my Thesis and don't have tons
of time.  Anyway...)

	The basis for our (the catholic church's) belief in the assumption of
Mary, body and soul, into heaven is that, to put it simply, the apostles 
and all the early generation Christians believed it.  In fact, throughout their
ministry the apostles kept in close contact with Mary, and 11 of the 12 were
present when she died.  Only Thomas was missing--when he arrived several days
later, he asked to be shown her body, and moved with pity, Peter and several of
the other apostles brought him to her tomb.  When they arrived the seal was
still unbroken.  They broke the seal, entered, and the body was missing.  There
was no sign that anyone had entered, forcibly or otherwise, and everything else
was laid out exactly as it had been left.  The apostles present all believed
that Mary was assumed into heaven--and the apostles TAUGHT this in their  
preaching (of course, this does not appear in any of the texts currently 
considered part of the bible, but it does appear in other writings left behind
by several of them.)  Basicaly, as an apostolic church (ie. founded by the
apostles), we believe that the teachings of the apostles, whether written down
in the bible or written down in other sources, is true, providing that the
authenticity of those other sources can be confirmed.  At least in the case of
the assumption of Mary, the authenticity is quite clear.