There are lies.
Then there are damned lies.
Then there's Dan Brown (and Michael Baigent and the rest of his silly cohorts).
Here's the REAL scoop about the work of Opus Dei: http://www.opusdei.us/art.php?p=16004
Their mission says it all: Finding God in daily life.
Sounds good to me.
In solidarity with these good brethren, I, a member of the Antiochian Orthodox Church (Western Rite), in good Kennedyesque fashion, proclaim to all: Today, I am a member of Opus Dei! Let this be the cry of all devout Christians everywhere against the silly and baseless attacks on traditional and historic Christianity.
(The above picture is that of the saintly founder of Opus Dei-the recently canonized Spanish priest St. Josemaria Escriva. There is a link in the above website to another website specifically about him and his ministry.)
1 comment:
I was a member of Opus Dei for seventeen years and believed in the public statements that Opus Dei makes about becoming holy by sanctifying your professional work. However, as I became more involved and pulled into the inner leadership, I found Opus Dei to be a manipulative organization which believes that they have such Divine Favour that the ends justify the means. I was misled in the way I was recruited by them, then browbeaten in the name of freedom, punished by silencing, and in a state of enforced ignorance required to falsify the financial documents of Warrane College, a dormitory which they run (ref. www.warrane.unsw.edu.au). This was documented in an audit. When I complained to the Prelate in Rome, his answer was that such things do not happen in Opus Dei, and when I spoke up against that in public, I was forced out of the organization without the due process provided for in their secret statutes under Canon Law.
My eyes were really opened when I searched the website of the Opus Dei Awareness Network, www.odan.org . The testimonies given there, many of them signed, made it very clear to me that my experience was not an isolated incident carried out by some low level leadership
Many people have been led to believe that John Allen's book, Opus Dei: An Objective Look Behind the Myths and Reality of the Most Controversial Force in the Catholic Church, has finally lifted the veil and cleared up all the mystery. That is not the case. John Allen visited me, interviewed me for his book and he quotes me three times. In the interest of brevity let me say that, when John asked Opus Dei why the governing documents were so carefully guarded, the directors of Opus Dei said that they cannot release a translation of the Latin Statutes and the Constitutions because there are difficulties in the interpretation of the "contract" by which members are joined to the Prelature in Canon Law. To quote his book on Page 153, "The deeper logic, according to Opus Dei insiders, is that some essential terminological questions have not yet been settled in canon law. For example, is the relation between a member and Opus Dei best described in terms of a 'contract' or an 'agreement'? ... and many canonists feel it's inappropriate for describing the nature of a bond in the Church". Quite seriously, this indicates to a careful observer that the Vatican has not fully and completely approved of the institution when such critical things as membership are not defined.
I would be happy to discuss this if you need more information
Dennis Dubro
email: dwdubro@comcast.net
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