I liked this topic a lot, Beaver. I think I may have some elaboration for one of these questions.
The thing about Jesus’ brothers; Let’s highlight James (which is Hebrew for “Supplanter” which means “to take the place of another”. James was a son of Mary and Joseph some years after Jesus was born; thus, in the strictest sense of the word, we see that James was Jesus’ half-brother. When people worship “The Virgin Mary” or “La Virgen” or “La Madonna”, they are awestruck by the miracle of Jesus’ birth. I think this is the reason people refer to Mary as the Virgin: Her sanctity remained even after Jesus’ birth because her son was God’s Son.
I still have to throw back to my earlier topic here; if you aren’t worshiping Jesus Christ who died on the cross, you’re missing the mark. God put Mary here to bring Jesus into this world. He put the cross here to slay Jesus and he put the nails here to make Jesus bleed. Still, God’s whole purpose for putting His plan into action was to save His creations from the pain of death and Hell. Jesus is who we praise, and the father likewise to worship. We shouldn’t praise Mary, or the Cross, or the nails. They’re all symbols. We need the substance.