Hi Colin,
I looked up the link, thanks.
You're welcome.
1 John 2:1 specifies that there is only ONE advocate, Jesus Christ the righteous.
1 John 2:1 - "My little children, I am writing this to you so that you may not sin; but if any one does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous"
The verse that you mention does not speak of only one advocate, nor does it speak of an advocate to the exclusion of all others. What it does say is that Jesus is our parakletos (assistant, pleader, legal assistant, etc.). The implication (what is implied) is that Jesus died for our sins and so through him, we have recourse to the forgiveness of sins.
No one can do what Jesus did because no one else is fully God and fully Man and atoned for our sin by conquering death through the resurrection. Terms must be defined. Advocate, in the sense of Mary, speaks of her role of accepting our prayers and presenting them before her Son, Jesus Christ in heaven.
As the Second Vatican Council says in its Dogmatic Constitution on the Church (Lumen Gentium - or, "Light of the World", speaking of Christ), "There is but one Mediator as we know from the words of the apostle, 'for there is one God and one mediator of God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself a redemption for all' (1 Tim 2:5). The maternal duty of Mary toward men in no wise obscures or diminishes this unique mediation of Christ, but rather shows His power. For all the salvific influence of the Blessed Virgin on men originates, not from some inner necessity, but from the divine pleasure. It flows forth from the superabundance of the merits of Christ, rests on His mediation, depends entirely on it and draws all its power from it. In no way does it impede, but rather does it foster the immediate union of the faithful with Christ."
I hope this helps clear things up a bit.
God bless,
Carson
[ October 28, 2002, 06:34 PM: Message edited by: Carson Weber ]