There is a difference between praying to and worship. When we pray to Mary or the saints, we are asking them to pray for us or with us, we of course believe they are alive in Heaven. And the reason why we care so much about Mary is because she was great enough of a Woman to literally be the mother of Jesus Christ, who is the incarnate of God. That is why we respect her so much, it's because she is the mother of God himself. But we do not worship her.
If you do have any questions regarding this, feel free to ask, I would like to answer any questions you or anybody else may have.
