Opus Dei [Archive] - Factnet Forum

Anonymous

05-26-2003, 02:56 PM

i have heard several different things about the opus dei religious group. are they considered a cult, as they are selective, secretive, and have certain requirements of membership, such as willing everything you own to the opus dei? also, does anyone have some history on the opus dei?

Anonymous

06-03-2003, 04:44 PM

Here you go, the unofficial site.
It gives both sides, but yes, they are a cult.

http://www.mond.at/opus.dei/

Michael Donahue

06-24-2003, 05:39 PM

You might also try www.opusdei.org.

Anonymous

06-25-2003, 06:44 AM

Note, the above link, www.opusdei.org. is the cults official site. Read the link, two above first.

It's a destructive and coercive cult, everyone, even 'normal' diocesan Catholic Priests think so.

Beware!!

Miguel Guerra Leon

09-07-2003, 04:48 PM

Antes que nada agradezco los comentarios de todos (compartan o no mis opiniones). Bueno en verdad nuca fui el unico que pidio una excomunion y ahora mucho menos gracias a la particion de medios de difusion (la republica, cesar hildebrabdt y medios del exterior). Pero creo que una excomunion es un tema polemico pero hay tantos temas por tocar. Aveces se habla (como yo tambien y dicho)de que perdemos energia en muchas cosas, pero se han puestoa pensar ¿porque no proponer algo en lo cual no perder esas energias? ¿En olvidarse de ideologias para no terminar en ataques?, casi siempre defendemos nuestro frente como si, fuera la verdad absoluta y queriendo mancillar a los demas. Como sostengo individualmente hacemos poco y colectivamente creamos agrupacines que nunca se ponen de acuerdo y crean brechas en la humanidad. Ya es hora que esto pare si de verdad quieren encontrar ese mundo mejor, sino la utopia en palabras efimeras continuarar hasta que la tierra y nuestros dias acaben.

PD. Seria preferible y mas correcto dejar una forma con sus nombres y mails para contestar en casos merecidos o para pasarles la voz cuando la web este actualizada. Gracias por todo.

Miguel Guerra Leon
escritor / libre Pensador

http://www.elvalle.tk
http://www.excomunion.tk
http://www3.larepublica.com.pe/2003/JULIO/pdf27/
http://argentina.indymedia.org/news/2003/07/122288.php

Anonymous

09-13-2003, 04:36 PM

que?

Miguel War Leon

11-27-2003, 04:35 PM

Before nothing I am thankful the commentaries of all (they share or not my opinions). Good in truth nape of the neck I was the unico that pidio one excomunion and now much less thanks to the diffusion means partition (the republica, to stop hildebrabdt and means of the outside). But I believe that one excomunion is a polemico subject but there are so many subjects to touch. Accustom is also spoken (like I and dicho)de that we lose energia in many things, but there are puestoa to think because not to propose something in which not to lose those energias? In forgetting ideologias not to finish in attacks, we defend our front almost always as if, it was the absolute truth and wanting to mancillar to demas. As I maintain individually we do little and collectively we created agrupacines that never is agreed and creates breaches in the humanity. It is already hour that this stops if really they want to find that world better, but utopia in efimeras words to continuarar until the Earth and our days finish.

PS. Serious preferable and but correct to leave to a form with its names and mails to answer in deserved cases or to pass the voice to them when the Web this updating. Thanks for everything.

Miguel Guerra Leon
writer/free Thinker

And if that rocks yer boat, good luck to yer!http://www.factnet.org/discus/clipart/smile.gif

Desengañado

12-05-2003, 03:03 PM

Evolución histórica del Opus Dei
Alberto Moncada

El primer Opus Dei se desarrolla en el seno del bando victorioso en la guerra civil al calor del fervor religioso de la época y Escrivá lo concibe como una especie de alternativa católica a la Institución Libre de Enseñanza. En los años cuarenta, favorecidos por un Ministro de Educación simpatizante, una docena de sus miembros ocupan posiciones importantes en la Universidad española y en el Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas y tratan de establecer, sin saberlo muy bien ellos mismos, una versión española de la Action Francaise. De esa època es la creación de la Editorial Rialp en la que Rafael Calvo Serer publica su "España sin problema", como respuesta a las dudas de Pedro Lain Entralgo en "España como problema" y en la que Florentino Pérez Embid y otros socios traducen el pensamiento conservador europeo y se declaran seguidores de Menéndez y Pelayo. El intento fracasa enseguida tanto por la escasa preparación doctrinal de aquellos jóvenes profesores, ahogados por una estrecha censura del pensamiento como por las contínuas peleas con otros grupos. Sin embargo, Pérez Embid, Rodriguez Casado y otros opusdeistas se incorporan a la Administración cultural franquista, primero en el Ministerio de Propaganda de Arias Salgado y luego en la dirección y control del Ateneo. La progresiva cercanía del grupo al poder franquista y, en particular, la estrecha relación entre Carrero Blanco y Laureano López Rodó, que destaca como organizador administrativo en el Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas, permite la segunda y más productiva etapa. Durante ella, años cincuenta y sesenta, Franco entrega la dirección de la maltrecha economía española a tres o cuatro opusdeistas, Alberto Ullastres, Mariano Navarro, Gregorio López Bravo y con ocasión de esa preeminencia surge un vigoroso "lobby" de miembros, amigos y favorecidos de la Obra, que se asocian y crean un montón de empresas nacidas al calor de la nueva "familia". Son años en los que el grupo se expansiona geográficamente, también fuera de España, sobre todo en las dictaduras de América Latina, Chile, Argentina, penetrando los grupos de católicos que se sienten más lejanos a las consignas del Concilio Vaticano II. Mientras tanto Roma ve con suspicacia a la fundación escrivaniana. La corriente mayoritaria en la Iglesia acusa al grupo de colusión con la dictadura española y de haber optado por el integrismo teológico más supino. Pablo VI, que fué militante antifranquista desde su Arzobispado de Milán, es particularmente crítico con esta situación y bloquea la petición de Escrivá de transformar la condición canónica del entonces Instituto secular.

La actuación política de los opusdeistas de la época se concreta en el primer ajuste duro de la economía española, algo que los tecnócratas posteriores suelen elogiar, realizada al dictado de los organismos internacionales y sin oposición popular o sindical alguna. Las cosas fueron peor para la red de intereses y empresas que se tejió alrededor de la Obra. Protagonizadas generalmente por gente sin experiencia, las incursiones grupales en el mundo financiero, editorial, de comercio exterior, se han saldado con muchos conflictos internos y externos, clamorosos fracasos y una fama de inmoralidad y arbitrariedad que desde entonces ha caracterizado las aventuras mercantiles de unos hombres cuyos mentores difundian la idea de la santificación por el trabajo. El "affaire" Matesa, el Rumasa y tantos otros están lleno de nombres opusdeistas. El socio supernumerario Ruiz Mateos, a quien las autoridades del Opus ponían como ejemplo de padre modelo, empresario ejemplar y protector destacado, tuvo que ser prontamente excluído del índice de los miembros exhibibles en público, sobre todo después de sus peleas con otros colegas también opusdeistas a quienes él achaca su caída en desgracia. A tanto llegó la crítica que Escrivá, a finales de los años sesenta, decretó la supresión de las llamadas internamente empresas auxiliares u "obras comunes", que fueron apresuradamente liquidadas. Las empresas de prensa, en las que Escrivá tenía puestas tantas esperanzas, "hemos de envolver el mundo en papel impreso", decía, fueron las últimas en perder la dependencia institucional y algunas se transformaron en el grupo Recoletos (Telva, Marca, Expansión), dominado por hombres y mujeres afines al Opus y hoy en manos inglesas. Siguen coleando algunos escándalos y trapisondas como el de la Fundación General Mediterránea, uno de los instrumentos de la "economía sumergida" del Opus que ha dado pié a tantos rumores sobre las conexiones entre las finanzas opusdeisticas y las vaticanas que algunos especialistas están empezando a documentar fuera de España.

Paralelamente, un grupo selecto de hombres y mujeres del Opus se fueron concentrando en la sucesión de Franco. Algunos de ellos, Federico Suárez Verdeguer, Angel López Amo, Laura Hurtado de Mendoza tomaban posiciones en la naciente casa del Príncipe. Otros promovían la restauración monárquica, con partidarios de la candidatura de Don Juan, como el grupo que dirigía Calvo Serer, o de la de Don Juan Carlos, tesis de López Rodó e incluso algún opusdeista apoyaba la candidatura carlista. El propio Escrivá, finalmente, se decantó por las tesis de López Rodó. (Véase, mi "Historia oral del Opus Dei", Plaza Janés, 1985 y Jesús Ynfante, "Opus Dei. Así en la tierra como en el cielo", Grijalbo, 1996).

La tercera y actual etapa del Opus Dei en España coincide con la democracia, el papado de Juan Pablo II y la crisis de la enseñanza católica confesional. En la democracia hay algunos, más bien pocos, hombres y mujeres del Opus en la cúspide de los partidos de derecha nacional y regional y del poder bancario pero ya no actúan de una manera teledirigida como durante el franquismo sino en la prosecución de los intereses normales del capitalismo democrático al que pertenecen y del que extraen una cierta plusvalía para los fines propios. Al carecer España de un partido de extrema derecha no se puede cuantificar el trozo de extremismo político de la Obra aunque era obvia la simpatía de tantos militares,y algunos civiles opusdeistas por los protagonistas del intento de golpe de Estado de febrero del 81. "Los militares, por el sólo hecho de serlo, tienen ya la mitad de la vocación al Opus Dei", predicaba Escrivá.

Juan Pablo II modifica la línea crítica del Vaticano hacia la Obra. Le concede, ya muerto Escrivá, la deseada transformación canónica y con ella una amplia autonomía de los obispos territoriales y beatifica al fundador en un episodio de manipulación del expediente que es censurado agriamente por miembros de la Curia y por todo el catolicismo progresista. Pero lo más importante de la nueva etapa es la transformación de la Obra en una organización dedicada a la enseñanza privada heredando la atención a las clientelas de clase media que los jesuítas estaban abandonando.

Escrivá había escrito en los documentos fundacionales que la Obra no tendría nunca centros de enseñanza, que lo propio de sus socios debía ser la actividad profesional ejercitada preferentemente "en instalaciones del Estado y con dinero del Estado" (Vid. Instrucción de San Gabriel, documento interno, 1937). Sin embargo, ni Escrivá ni sus delegados españoles dejaron de acoplarse a las circunstancias que les rodeaban, de hacer de la necesidad virtud. Liberadas tantas energías a partir de la crisis del modelo político mercantil, se inició una ininterrumpida carrera de creación de colegios de primaria y secundaria, y algunas Universidades, unos dependientes directamente de la institución, otros, de sociedades interpuestas. En 1998 no hay ciudad española ni capital latinoamericana que no tenga un colegio del Opus para chicos y otro para chicas, no se admite el sistema coeducacional, y algunas ciudades tienen tres o más. En ese empeño pedagógico, y en la burocracia interna, gastan sus energías la mayoría de los socios solteros del Opus, que, en cierto sentido, se ha transformado en algo parecido a aquellas congregaciones de enseñanza, como la de los Hermanos de la Salle o los Maristas, que surgieron en Francia como reacción contra el laicismo y el anticlericalismo de la Revolución. Eran gente seglar pero con votos religiosos, actuaban y vestían como laicos pero progresivamente sus costumbres e incluso su vestimenta se fueron uniformando, algo parecido a lo que ocurre con los solteros y, sobre todo, las solteras de la Obra. Poco a poco, el Opus Dei se clericaliza y hoy son sacerdotes la mayoría de sus mandos nacionales y regionales. La evolución de la institución lleva consigo también la transformación del paradigma de numerario. En la primera época el modelo ideal de numerario era un candidato a profesiones liberales, con un trato social esmerado. En la segunda, un gestor, un ejecutivo eficaz. Y en la actual, el perfil de numerario, antes laico, se va clericalizando. También se incrementa la endogamia social y la mentalidad de fortín, protección para los de dentro, gueto para los de fuera. Porque muchos de los socios numerarios nacen ya en un hogar de supernumerarios, van a los colegios propios, a las Universidades propias, de allí a Roma y, una vez entrenados, son destinados a la burocracia interna o a la red educativa sin ejercer una profesión civil ni tener experiencias mundanas. Es el caso del actual Presidente, Javier Echevarría, que muy joven se convirtió en el secretario de Escrivá y se ha pasado la vida en Roma, ocupado en la burocracia interna, sin tener estudios civiles ni experiencia profesional. Analistas del fenómeno coinciden también en observar una decreciente calidad social e intelectual de los nuevos afiliados.

La dedicación preferente a la enseñanza produce una reconversión de las metas fundacionales.Ya no se vislumbra ese despliegue de los opusdeistas por todos los sectores de la sociedad civil, a modo de "inyección intravenosa", como expresaba el fundador, sino una concentración de esfuerzos en la educación de la infancia y la juventud. El control de tantas instituciones de enseñanza abre nuevos horizontes de influencia. Por una parte los centros educativos se plantean como plataformas para la indoctrinación. Animados por un papa muy militante y nutridos por ese neoconservadurismo cíclico en la Iglesia, los maestros y maestras del Opus se afanan por convencer a sus alumnos de la importancia de mantener el modelo jerárquico de familia tradicional, célula principal de la deseable sociedad orgánica y se enrolan con entusiasmo en la causa antiabortista una vez que la causa anticomunista ha perdido vigencia. Una nueva Contrareforma calienta el apostolado de la Obra algunos de cuyos sacerdotes ocupan cargos en la burocracia eclesiástica relacionados con la censura y la persecución de los clérigos que piensan por su cuenta. Tal activismo fundamentalista ha hecho innecesario el diseño de una doctrina o teología propias, ya sólo se trata de mantener la lealtad al mensaje tridentino en su actual versión vaticana. Por ello apenas hay en la institución teólogos dignos de tal nombre aunque mantenga, en Pamplona y en Roma, Escuelas de Estudios Eclesiásticos, básicamente especializadas en moral y derecho canónico. Podría decirse que el mundo del Opus tiene que ver cada vez más con la disciplina grupal, con el control del comportamiento y menos con la religión, con la teología. Como en otras instituciones de la Iglesia contemporánea, también en el Opus Dei se planteó en su día esa colisión entre los principios evangélicos de caridad y solidaridad y las reglas de juego de la sociedad capitalista y pronto se tomó partido por el éxito individual en la competitividad del mercado. Uno de sus más conocidos centros, el Instituto de Estudios Superiores de la Empresa de Barcelona, con sucursales latinoamericanas, lleva treinta años formando a sus selectos alumnos en las técnicas del "management" a la americana y proporcionando gerentes y directivos a las empresas que los pueden contratar. Y para confirmar la apuesta, Rafael Termes, expresidente de la patronal bancaria española y uno de los numerarios más conocidos, acaba de publicar un libro, "Antropología del capitalismo" (Plaza y Janés, 1994), en el que trata de probar el carácter natural, "cuasi revelado" del sistema económico en el que cree con tanta firmeza como en su fé.

Los colegios de la Obra tienen prestigio entre la clase media, por su calidad técnica, por la atención tutorial. Han heredado esa relación mezcla de cooperación y complicidad con las familias y la creación de lazos clasistas entre los alumnos que caracterizaba a la educación jesuítica porque, como comentaba el padre Arrupe, "viendo lo que ellos son hoy, veo lo que nosotros fuímos ayer y no debimos ser nunca". Pero en ese éxito aparente está el germen de sus nuevos conflictos, la acusación por una gran parte del mundo católico de que el Opus Dei practica el sectarismo de menores en gran escala. Y en realidad no podía ser de otra manera. Los directivos del Opus han tenido que modificar su estrategia proselitista, su recluta de numerarios ante las nuevas circunstancias sociales. En la primera época los numerarios procedían de la Universidad y estaba prohibido, y mal visto, que chicos jóvenes fueran por las casas de la Obra. La vocación era cosa de hombres. Hoy, sin embargo, el proselitismo es dificil entre universitarios. Resulta más fácil aprovechar la red de colegios propios y el calor de los hogares de los supernumerarios para convencer a niños y niñas, de quince y hasta menos años, de que Dios los llama a una entrega total. Esta tarea se convierte en una obsesión para los maestros y maestras que se comprometen a hacer "pitar", a reclutar a dos personas al año como mínimo y, como consecuencia, no dejan en paz a sus alumnos, en tutorías y en confesionarios, generalmente con la complicidad de los compañeros de éstos ya reclutados e igualmente obsesos. Ampliar el número, "que seamos más" es la consigna. Tan pesados se ponen que ha surgido una organización norteamericana, la Opus Dei Awareness Network Inc, para defender a los menores de un sectarismo que consideran parecido al de los "moonies". Y aunque en España no existe tanta conciencia del peligro que representa tan precoz indoctrinación, los latinos somos más gregarios y el Opus forma más o menos parte de nuestro "habitat", ya hay organizaciones, como la catalana AIS, de asesoramiento e información sobre sectas, que recibe habitualmente peticiones de ayuda contra la indoctrinación opusdeista de menores. Porque los modos secretistas e intimidatorios de la recluta escolar se continúan cuando el niño, el adolescente se hace del Opus. Apartamiento de la familia, censura de amistades y lecturas, imposición de horarios, estudios y lugar de residencia, manipulación de la conciencia, control profesional y económico, algo así como aquel "mitad monjes, mitad soldados" de la guerra civil, una versión católica y española de la grupalidad sectaria, hermética.(Véase mi "Sectas católicas: El Opus Dei", en Revista Internacional de Sociología, 1992) Todo ello, por supuesto, contradice la versión oficial de que los socios del Opus son cristianos corrientes, laicos libres, con total normalidad en sus relaciones familiares y profesionales. Como decía una madre agraviada: "Si tanto predican los valores de la familia tradicional ¿ por qué tratan tan mal a sus propias familias? Un libro reciente, "Hijos en el Opus Dei", de Javier Ropero (Ediciones B, 1993) pone de relieve esta situación desde la perspectiva de quien la ha sufrido y luego ha reflexionado sobre ella. Como es lógico la mayoría de esos jóvenes opusdeistas dejan de serlo apenas abren los ojos a la realidad. Pero a muchos les cuesta duros conflictos de conciencia, les crea situaciones anómalas de las que salen a veces con heridas físicas y mentales. Dos hermanas bilbaínas relatan hoy con horror la manipulación psicológica que se hace de las vocaciones dubitativas en la Clínica Universitaria de Navarra y tan asustadas están que se niegan a dar sus nombres y a hablar en público sobre ello. Muchos obispos, empezando por el cardenal de Londres, se han quejado a Roma de este modo de proceder, sin apenas conseguir más que reconocimientos en privado porque la Curia conoce la particular devoción del papa a la Obra y en una sociedad tan jerárquica como la Iglesia no es costumbre llevarle la contraria al mando. Pero bastaría que el siguiente papa no fuera tan complaciente para que aquella primera animosidad eclesiástica contra la institución rebrotara y muchos lo están deseando. A ello contribuye la prepotencia, la animosidad con la que se comportan los hombres y mujeres del Opus cuando pueden prevalerse de alguna influencia para calumniar y machacar al adversario. Historias no faltan y hay muchas cuentas pendientes en esas tradicionales peleas en torno al poder religioso. Incluso parece que, dentro del neoconservadurismo de la Curia actual otros movimientos como los Neocatecúmenos de Kiko Arguello, también de origen español y los Legionarios de Cristo, de fundación mexicana, disfrutan hoy de más simpatía que el Opus, demasiado lastrado ya por su historia y por su estilo. En Roma se están librando ya las primeras escaramuzas de la época postwoytila y los que ahora son valídos pueden terminar siendo barridos. El Vaticano es así. Mientras tanto, el carácter sectario de la institución se documenta y reconoce en ámbitos judiciales y políticos. Recientemente, el Parlamento belga ha incluído al Opus Dei en la lista de las sectas peligrosas para la juventud teniendo en cuenta, entre otros factores, las protestas de muchas familias cuyos hijos han sido objeto del implacable proselitismo opusdeista.

Particularmente violenta suele ser la reacción de la jerarquía opusdeística contra los socios que abandonan la institución y no se avienen a callar sobre su experiencia. Bastante sonados han sido los casos de dos mujeres españolas, antiguas numerarias. Una, María Angustias Moreno, recibió toda clase de calumnias y fué tildada de lesbiana por sacerdotes de la Obra como consecuencia de haber publicado un libro en el que, desde un catolicismo bastante convencional, criticaba el culto a la personalidad de Escrivá que se practicaba internamente. (El Opus Dei. Anexo a una historia, Planeta, 1976). La otra, María del Carmen Tapia, antigua superiora de la Sección femenina, está siendo demonizada por sus excolegas porque se ha atrevido a hacer un relato pormenorizado de la manera despótica y prepotente de gobernar que tenía Escrivá ,al que sirvió de ayudante en Roma ("Tras el umbral, un viaje al fanatismo", Ediciones B, 1992. El libro ha sido traducido al alemán, al francés, al portugués, al inglés y al italiano).

Los directivos de la Obra esperaban mucho de la llegada al poder del Partido Popular y confiaban en que su gente iba a tener una importante cuota de poder. Sin embargo, los primeros resultados no son muy alentadores. Ningún opusdeista ha llegado a los ministerios importantes para ellos, desde luego no al de Educación y eso que el numerario Andrés Ollero había hecho notorios méritos para ocuparlo. Tampoco le han dado la cartera de Justicia el supernumerario Federico Trillo y algunos piensan que esa patada hacia arriba, hacia la Presidencia del Congreso ha sido la manera de evitar que tan contundente opusdeista reabra el debate del aborto de manera abrupta. Algunos de los líderes populares se ponen nerviosos cuando se les acusa de contaminación opusdeística.Y es que el Opus Dei ha heredado también de los jesuítas aquella mala fama de la que éstos gozaban en épocas pasadas. La influencia pública del Opus continuará ejerciéndose principalmente en el área económica, a través de los cientos de administradores y empresarios criados a su sombra que comparten la fé de Termes en el modelo de mercado y prefieren que el Estado intervenga en las costumbres sexuales más que en las otras. Los jesuítas y algunos otros grupos católicos no están muy conformes con que el PP haya entregado a un hombre del Opus la Dirección General de Asuntos Eclesiásticos. El nombramiento del canonista Alberto de la Hera garantizará, sin duda, la sintonía entre el actual Gobierno y el actual Vaticano y, de paso, el mantenimiento, sin recortes, de la financiación fiscal de la Iglesia católica.

Copyright Alberto Moncada © 1998
Most recent revision Monday 24 de February de 1998

Miguel War Leon

12-05-2003, 03:50 PM

I wish you'd post in English Senor!

Historical evolution of the Opus Dei
Alberto Moncada

The first Opus Dei is developed in the victorious side in the civil war to the heat of the religious fervor of the time and Escrivá conceives it like a species of catholic alternative to the Free Institution of Education. In the Forties, favored by a Minister of supporting Education, a dozen of their members occupies important positions in the Spanish University and the Superior Council of Scientific researches and tries to establish, without knowing it they themselves very well, a Spanish version of the Action Francaise. Of that època is the creation of the Rialp Publishing house in which Bald Rafael Serer publishes his "Spain without problem", like answer to the doubts of Pedro Lain Entralgo in "Spain like problem" and in which Florentino Perez Embid and other partners translates the European preservative thought and followers of Menéndez and Pelayo declare themselves. The attempt fails immediately as much by the little doctrinal preparation of those young professors, drowned by one it narrows censorship of the thought like by contínuas fights with other groups. Nevertheless, Perez Embid, Married Rodriguez and other opusdeistas get up the pro-Franco cultural Administration, first in the Ministry of Propaganda of Salgado Aryans and soon in the direction and control of the Athenian. The progressive proximity of the group to the pro-Franco power and, in individual, the narrow relation between Carrero Blanco and Laureano Lopez Rolled, that it emphasizes like administrative organizer in the Superior Council of Scientific researches, it allows the second and more productive stage. During her, the Fifties and sixty, Frank it gives the direction of the battered Spanish economy of three or four opusdeistas, Alberto Ullastres, Navarrese Mariano, Gregorio Brave Lopez and with occasion of that preeminence arises a vigorous "lobby" from members, favored friends and of Obra, that a pile of companies born to the heat of the new "family" is associated and created. They are years in which the group expands geographically, also outside Spain, mainly in the dictatorships of Latin America, Chile, Argentina, penetrating the groups of catholics who feel more distant to slogans of Vatican Concilio II. Meanwhile Rome sees with mistrust the escrivaniana foundation. The majority current in the Church blames the group of colusión with the Spanish dictatorship and of to have decided on the theological integrismo more supino. Pablo I SAW, that fué militant antifrancoist from its Archbishopric of Milan, he is particularly critical with this situation and blocks the request of Escrivá to transform the canonical condition of the then secular Institute.

The political performance of the opusdeistas of the time takes shape in the first adjustment it last of the Spanish economy, something that the later technocrats usually praise, made to the dictation of the international organisms and without popular opposition or union some. The things were worse for the network of interests and companies that was woven around Obra. Carried out generally by people without experience, the group incursions in the financial world, editorial, of foreign trade, they have been settled with many internal and external conflicts, clamorous failures and a fame of immorality and abuse that since then has characterized the mercantile adventures of men whose mentors difundian the idea of the sanctification by the work. The "affair" Matesa, the Rumasa and so many others are full of opusdeistas names. The supernumerary partner Ruiz Mateos, to who the authorities of the Opus put like father example model, exemplary industralist and protective outstanding, it quickly had to be excluído of the index of the exhibibles members in public, mainly after its fights with other also opusdeistas colleagues to those who it attributes his fall in misfortune. At as much the critic arrived that Escrivá, at the end of the Sixties, it internally decreed to the suppression of the calls auxiliary companies or "common works", that hastily they were eliminated. The press companies, in that Escrivá had puttings so many hopes, "we have to surround the world in printed paper", it said, they were the last ones in losing the institutional dependency and some were transformed into the group Recoletos (Telva, It marks, Expansion), dominated by men and compatible women to the Opus and today in English hands. They continue fishtailing some scandals and trapisondas like the one of the Mediterranean General Foundation, one of the instruments of the "submerged economy" of the Opus that has given pié to so many rumors on the connections between the opusdeisticas finances and the Vatican ones that some specialists are beginning to document outside Spain.

Parallelly, a select group of men and women of the Opus went concentrating in the succession of Franc. Some of them, Federico Suárez Verdeguer, Angel Lopez Master, Stolen Laura of Mendoza took positions in the rising house from the Prince. Others promoted the monarchic restoration, with those in favor of the candidacy of Don Juan, like the group that directed Bald Serer, or of the one of Don Juan Carlos, thesis of Lopez Rolled and even some opusdeista supported the carlista candidacy. The own Escrivá, finally, one showed preference for theses of Lopez Rolled. (It see, my "oral History of the Opus Dei", Janés Seat, 1985 and Jesus Ynfante, "Opus Dei. Thus in the Earth like in the sky ", Grijalbo, 1996).

The third and present stage of the Opus Dei in Spain agrees with the democracy, papado of Juan Pablo II and the crisis of denominational catholic education. In the democracy there are some, rather few, men and women of the Opus in the peak of the parties of national and regional right and of the banking power but no longer act of a way remoted-control as during the Francoism but in the continuation of the normal interests of democratic Capitalism to which they belong and of that they extract a certain capital gain for the own aims. When lacking Spain a party of extreme right the piece of political extremism of Obra cannot be quantified although the affection of so many military was obvious,and some opusdeistas civilians by the protagonists on the attempt of coup d'etat of February of the 81. "the military, by only done of being it, they already have half of the vocation to the Opus Dei ", Escrivá preached.

Juan Pablo II modifies the critical line of the Vatican towards Obra. It grants to him, already died Escrivá, the wished canonical transformation and with her an ample autonomy of the territorial bishops and beatifies to the founder in an episode of manipulation of the file that is censured bitterly by members of the Bar and all the progressive catholicism. But most important of the new stage it is the transformation of Obra in an organization dedicated to private education inheriting the attention to the customers of middle-class that the Jesuits were leaving.

Escrivá had written in the original documents that Obra would never have training centers, that the own thing of its partners had to be the professional activity preferredly exercised "in facilities of the State and with money of the State" (Grapevine Instruction of San Gabriel, internal document, 1937). Nevertheless, neither Spanish Escrivá nor its delegates let be reconciled to the circumstances that surrounded to them, to make of the necessity virtue. Released so many energies from the crisis of the mercantile political model, an uninterrupted race of creation of schools of primary and secondary began, and some Universities, employees directly of the institution, others, of interposed societies. In 1998 there is Latin American Spanish nor no capital city that does not have a school of the Opus for boys and another one for girls, the coeducational system is not admitted, and some cities have three more or. In that pedagogical persistence, and in the internal bureaucracy, they spend its energies most of the unmarried partners of the Opus, that, in a certain sense, it has been transformed into something similar to those congregations of education, like the one of the Brothers of the Salle or the Marists, that the laicism and the anticlericalism of the Revolution arose in France like reaction against. They were people to seglar but with religious votes, they acted and they dressed as lay but progressively their customs and their clothes even went away uniforming, something similar to which it happens with the unmarried ones and, mainly, the unmarried ones of Obra. Little by little, the Opus clericaliza Dei and today is priests most of their national and regional controls. The evolution of the institution also takes with himself the transformation of the numerario paradigm. At the first time the ideal model of numerario was a candidate to liberal professions, with a careful social treatment. In second, a manager, an effective executive. And in the present one, the numerario profile, before lay, it is clericalizando. Also endogamia is increased social and the bunker mentality, protection for those of inside, gueto for those of outside. Because many of the numerarios partners are born already in a home of supernumeraries, they go to the own schools, to the own Universities, from there to Rome and, once trained, they are destined to the internal bureaucracy or the educative network without exerting a civil profession nor having worldly experiences. It is the case of the present President, Javier Echevarría, that very young one became the secretary of Escrivá and the life in Rome has gone, occupied in the internal bureaucracy, without having civil studies nor professional experience. Analysts of the phenomenon also agree in observing a decreasing social and intellectual quality of the new ones affiliated.

The preferred dedication to education produces a reconversion of the original goals.No longer that unfolding of the opusdeistas by all the sectors of the civil society glimpses, as a "intravenous injection", as the founder expressed, but a concentration of efforts in the education of the childhood and youth. The control of so many institutions of education opens new horizons of influence. On the one hand the educative centers consider like platforms for the indoctrinación. Animated by a very militant Pope and nourished by that cyclical neoconservadurismo in the Church, the teachers and teachers of the Opus strive to convince their students of the importance of maintaining the model hierarchic of traditional family, main cell of the desirable organic society and enlists con.estusiasmo in the cause antiabortionist once the anti-communist cause is lost use. A new Contrareforma warms up the apostolate of Obra some of whose priests they hold positions in the ecclesiastical bureaucracy related to the censorship and the persecution of the clergymen who think by their account. Such fundamentalist activism has made the design of an own doctrine or theology unnecessary, only one already is to maintain loyalty to the tridentino message in its present Vatican version. For that reason as soon as there is in the institution theological worthy of such name although it maintains, in Pamplona and Rome, Schools of Ecclesiastical Studies, basically specialized in moral and canonical right. It could be said that the world of the Opus has to do more and more with the group discipline, with the control of the behavior and less with the religion, with the theology. Like in other institutions of the contemporary Church, also in the Opus Dei one considered in his day that collision between the evangelical principles of charity and solidarity and the rules of game of the capitalist society and soon party by the individual success in the competitiveness was taken from the market. One of his more known centers, the Institute of Superior Studies of the Company of Barcelona, with Latin American branches, it has been thirty years forming to its select students in the techniques of "management" to the American and providing managers and directors to the companies that can contract them. And to confirm the bet, Rafael Termes, ex-president of Spanish banking employer's association and one of the most well-known numerarios, it finishes publishing a book, "Anthropology of Capitalism" (Plaza and Janés, 1994), in that it tries to prove the natural character, "cuasi revealed" of the economic system in which it creates with as much firmness as in his fé.

The schools of Obra have prestige between the middle-class, by its technical quality, by the tutorial attention. They have inherited that relation mixture of cooperation and complicity with the families and the creation of clasistas bows between the students who characterized to the jesuítica education because, as Arrupe father commented, "seeing what they are today, I see what fuímos we and had yesterday to be never ". But in that success it pretends is the germ of its new conflicts, the accusation by a great part of the catholic world of which the Opus Dei practices the sectarianism of minors in great scale. And in fact it could not be of another way. The directors of the Opus have had to modify their proselitista strategy, its recruit of numerarios before the new social circumstances. At the first time the numerarios came from the University and was prohibited, and badly seen, that small young people were by the houses of Obra. The vocation was thing of men. Today, nevertheless, the proselitismo is dificil between college students. It is easier to take advantage of the network own schools and the heat from the homes the supernumeraries to convince to children and children, of fifteen and until less years, of which God calls them to a total delivery. This task becomes an obsession for the teachers and teachers who commit themselves to make "toot", to recruit to two people to the year like minimum and, like consequence, they do not leave its students peacefully, in positions of a guardian and confesionarios, generally with the complicity of the companions of these already recruited and equally obsessed ones. To extend the number, "that we are more" it is the slogan. So heavy they are put that a North American organization has arisen, the Opus Dei Awareness Inc. Network, in order to defend the minors of a sectarianism who consider similarity to the one of the "moonies".

And although in Spain as much conscience of the danger does not exist that represents so precocious indoctrinación, the Latins we are more gregarious and the Opus more or less comprises of our "habitat", already there are organizations, like the Catalan AIS, of advising and information on sects, that it habitually receives requests of aid against the opusdeista indoctrinación of minors. Because the secretistas and intimidatory ways of the scholastic recruit are continued when the boy, the adolescent becomes of the Opus. Apartment of the family, censorship of friendships and readings, imposition of schedules, studies and place of residence, manipulation of the conscience, professional and economic control, something as well as that "half monks, half welded "of the civil war, a catholic and Spanish version of the sectarian grupalidad, hermetic.(my "catholic Sects See: The Opus Dei ", in Magazine the International of Sociology, 1992) All it, of course, it contradicts the official version of which the partners of the Opus are Christian currents, lay free, with total normality in its familiar and professional relations. As an offended mother said: "If as much they preach the values of the traditional family why so badly treat its own families? A recent book, "Children in the Opus Dei", of Javier Locker (Editions B, 1993) it puts of relief this situation from the perspective of that has undergone it and soon it has reflected on her. As it is logical most of those opusdeistas young people they let be it as soon as they are on the awares to the reality. But to many it costs hard conflicts to them of conscience, it creates anomalous situations to them which they leave sometimes with physical and mental wounds. Two Bilbao sisters today relate with horror the psychological manipulation that becomes of the doubtful vocations in the University Clinic of Navarre and so scared they are that they refuse to give his names and to speak in public on it. Many bishops, beginning by the cardinal of London, they have complained to Rome this way to come, without hardly obtaining more than recognitions in private because the Bar knows the particular devotion the Pope Obra and in a as hierarchic society as the Church it is not custom to take the opposite to the control. But it would be enough that the following Pope was not so complaciente so that that first ecclesiastical animosity against the institution sprouted again and many are wishing it. To it it contributes the great power, the animosity with which the men and women of the Opus behave when they can be used some influence to slander and to crush the adversary. Histories do not lack and are many pending accounts in those traditional fights around the religious power. It even seems that, within the neoconservadurismo of the present Bar other movements like the Neocatecúmenos de Kiko Arguello, also of Spanish origin and the Legionaries of Christ, of Mexican foundation, they enjoy more affection today than the Opus, too much ballasting already by its history and its style. In Rome the first skirmishes are getting rid already of the time postwoytila and those that now are valídos can finish being sweepings. The Vatican is thus. Meanwhile, the sectarian character of the institution is documented and recognized in judicial and political scopes. Recently, the Belgian Parliament has incluído to the Opus Dei in the list of the dangerous sects for youth considering, among other factors, the protests of many families whose children have been object of the implacable opusdeista proselitismo.

Particularly does violence to usually it is the reaction of the opusdeística hierarchy against the partners who leave the institution and they do not agree to shut up on its experience. Sounded enough they have been the cases of two Spanish women, old numerarias. One, Maria Anguishes Brown, it received all class of calumnies and fué labeled as lesbian by priests of Obra as a result of to have published a book in which, from a quite conventional catholicism, it criticized the cult to the personality of Escrivá that practiced internally. (The Opus Dei. Annexed to a history, Planet, 1976). The other, Maria of the Carmen Mud wall, old superiora of the feminine Section, it is being demonizada by his excolegas because it is had bold to make a story detailed of the despotic and prepotent way govern that it had Escrivá,to that it served as assistant in Rome ("After the threshold, a trip to the fanaticism ", Editions B, 1992. The book has been translated the German, to the French, to the Portuguese, to the English and the Italian).

The directors of Obra waited for much of the arrival to the power of the Popular Party and trusted that her people were going to have an important quota of being able. Nevertheless, the first results are not very encouraging. No opusdeista has arrived at the important ministries for them, of course not to the one of Education and that that the numerario Andrés Ollero had made well-known merits to occupy it. They have not either given to the portfolio of Justice the supernumerary him Federico I beat and some think that that kick upwards, towards the Presidency of the Congress it has been the way to avoid that so forceful opusdeista reopens the debate of the abortion of steep way. Some of the popular leaders are put nervous when it is accused to them of opusdeística contamination.And it is that the Opus Dei has also inherited of the Jesuits that bad fame which these enjoyed at last times. The public influence of the Opus will mainly continue exerting itself in the economic area, through the hundreds of bred administrators and industralists in its shade who share fé of Termes in the market model and prefer that the State takes part more in the sexual customs than in the others. The catholic Jesuits and some other groups are not very in agreement whereupon the PP has given to a man of the Opus the Main directorate of Ecclesiastical Subjects. The appointment of the Alberto canon lawyer of the Hera will guarantee, without a doubt, the syntony between the present Government and the present Vatican and, of step, the maintenance, without cuts, of the fiscal financing of the catholic Church.

Miguel War Leon

12-05-2003, 03:52 PM

Actually please delete these translations moderators.

It's a pure waste of Bandwidth, unless you're Spanish.

Anonymous

12-07-2003, 11:54 AM

http://www.mond.at/opus.dei/opus.dei.uo.faq.html#badThe Unofficial Opus Dei FAQ
Home

emailThe Unofficial Opus Dei FAQ
Franz Schaefer, schaefer@mond.at
v0.23, 8 Apr 2001

This document is copyrighted by Franz Schaefer except for the definition
of Fascism (which is from Chip Berlet). Permission to copy this document
verbatim for any purpose is hereby granted. The latest version of this
document can be found at: http://www.mond.at/opus.dei. Please forgive me
any grammatical mistakes or misspellings, as English is not my mother
tongue. (But I am always happy if someone tells me where I have made
mistakes.) Also note that this is ``Work in progress'' and I am still
adding material and changing things where I found that I was not accurate
enough. The next thing planned is a chapter about the ``late'' Escriva to
see if he learned from his faults when he grew older. Credits: Dr. Thomas
Wilson for language screening and numerous people for sending me their
opinions about my pages. En Español: http://opusdei.port5.com/faqs.htm

1. Q: What is Opus Dei?
A: Opus Dei a fundamentalistic sect which operates in a Catholic
environment. Officially it is part of the Catholic church and so they
claim that they are not a sect. Well, it all depends on how you define the
word ``sect''. It would be best for you to derive your own opinion by
reading this FAQ.
2. Q: Why have I written this FAQ:
A: A friend of mine got sucked into this cult and I had to explain to her
why it is a bad thing. When I was searching on the Internet for
information I found very little. There is their official home page
"http://www.OpusDei.org/", which does not reveal much about their true
nature. Since I also want to prevent other people from falling into Opus
Dei's traps I have written this document. I am a religious person and a
Catholic myself, though I am a critical person and do not accept all the
positions of the Church. In my opinion, the Catholic Church has
accumulated a lot of dust that covers the joyful message of Jesus. Opus
Dei is an organisation that adds to this dust and mistakes the dust for
the message in a lot of ways. So by claiming to be Catholic this
organisation brings my church into a rather bad light. With this document
I aim to help prevent more damage to my Church. It really upsets me when I
see what they are teaching in the name of God... The third reason for
writing this document is also the hope that it can help them to see where
their errors are and in this way help the organisation to change and
reform itself into something better.
3. Q: What kind of people are they?
A: Mostly good people. People with good hearts who love God and want to do
good things and sacrifice themselves for the work of God. Only/mostly good
people are attracted by them. These people are all a bit naive because
they make one big mistake: They think that the Opus Dei can not be bad,
because the people there are good people and they are all very religious.
Therefore, they do not see all the evil ideology which is in the teachings
of Josemaria Escriva (founder of Opus Dei). Most of these people are
rather intelligent, as the Opus looks for intelligent people because they
want to increase their influence on society this way and they can get more
money from them. But intelligence does not always go along with a critical
mind. Particularly when it comes to religious topics, many people refuse
to use their intellect at all.
4. Q: Are we supposed to use our intellect on religious things?
A: Of course we are. While it is true that we can never understand God
with our small brains, the Church is always built by mortal humans and
they may make mistakes. We are supposed to critically think about what
these people say and teach. The Catholic Church has made many bloody
mistakes in its history (crusades, burning of witches, the Spanish
inquisition, etc ... , etc ... see
http://spunky.paranoia.com/~wcs/victims.htm) ), so why should we assume it
is perfect now? If we do not use our minds on religious things we might as
well follow the sect that committed collective suicide with the California
cult when the comet came close to earth because they thought there would
be a starship to bring them to God. (Of Course, who knows: maybe they were
right and we (Catholic) people are wrong?)
Well, I do believe that God has given us our brain to use it and a
conscience to decide right from wrong. In opposition to this the Opus Dei
demands us to sacrifice our intellectuality to them and to completely
trust their teachings as they claim these teachings are all God's will.
Criticism is not wanted and not allowed. They will tell you that this only
covers the religious field and that the members are otherwise completely
free to do what they want. While I do believe that we should not
completely trust humans in religious fields this is belittling. For a man
who takes his religious beliefs seriously, almost any decision in life
will be covered by his beliefs. So do not sacrifice your rational mind to
any human organisation regardless of how holy they seem. You can sacrifice
it to God: You may believe in his supernatural power, in miracles, in his
infinite love. This is something extremely gratifying and not only may you
believe, I think you should. But do not confuse God with the ``Opus Dei''.

5. Q: What are the positive things in Opus Dei?
A: In short: They have a good spirituality. The ``childhood in front of
God'' and the idea of the necessity to become holy in every day life.
5.1 Q: What is the ``childhood in front of God'' about?
A: The idea of ``childhood in front of God'' has been nicely covered in
the main book of the founder of Opus Dei (Josemaria Escriva: ``The Way'').
Unfortunately, like every thing that is meant for God the Opus tries to
utilise it for itself. So out of the ``childhood in front of God'' the
``childhood in front of the Opus'' is developed - so that their members do
not act on their own responsibility, but leave every important question to
the Opus, like children do with their parents.
5.2 Q: What about ``becoming a saint in every day life''?
A: I think every one here on earth should make this world a better place,
so there can never be enough saints. Making the world a better place can
especially be done by charity and love. Unfortunately the Opus Dei view is
that becoming a Saint is mostly a question of prayer; the topic of charity
and love is of secondary importance to the love of God. (If Escriva, the
founder of the Opus, had been a person with a little understanding of the
Bible he would have known that there is no difference between these two
types of love at all:
And the King will answer them, `Truly, I say to you, as you did it to
one of the least of these my brethren, you did it to me.' Matthew 25.45
5.3 Q: What about the development of a deeper spirituality
A: This is also one of their good points. Keeping up a high level of
spirituality in our modern world is not an easy task and they do have some
good concepts of how to do this.
6. Q: What are the negative things in Opus Dei?
A: In short:
The Fascist ideology in Escriva's teachings. The fundamentalism. The
Intolerance towards other religions.
The dishonesty.
The danger inherent in the undemocratic structure of blindly following
orders.
The danger inherent in the psychological control they have of their
members due to the ``weekly chat'' where they have to tell the innermost
details of their souls to their spiritual leaders.
The aggressive and manipulative way in which they try to catch new
members.
The evil character of the founder.
The fact that they do not reveal their true goals and keep a lot of
material secret from the public.
The smug thinking of belonging to an elite.
6.1 Q: What is fascism?
A: A good definition of it can be found at a site dedicated to reminding
us of the crimes of the holocaust. (by Chip Berlet)
http://www.remember.org/hist.root.what.html
An other good definition comes from Umberto Eco (14 features of fascism):
http://www.loop.com/~bramble/fascist.html I used the one from Chip Berlet.
(to compare Escriva's teachings with the (mostly equivalent definition
from Eco is left as an exercise to the readerhttp://www.factnet.org/discus/clipart/happy.gif)
Here are some quotations from that document:
The seeds of fascism, however, were planted in Italy. ``Fascism is
reaction,'' said Mussolini, but reaction to what? The reactionary movement
following World War I was based on a rejection of the social theories that
formed the basis of the 1789 French Revolution, and whose early
formulations in this country had a major influence on the Declaration of
Independence, Constitution, and Bill of Rights. . . . Fascists
particularly loathed the social theories of the French Revolution and its
slogan: ``Liberty, Equality, Fraternity.''
Liberty from oppressive government intervention in the daily lives of
its citizens, from illicit searches and seizures, from enforced
religious values, from intimidation and arrest for dissenters; and
liberty to cast a vote in a system in which the majority ruled but the
minority retained certain inalienable rights;
Equality in the sense of civic equality, egalitarianism, the notion that
while people differ, they all should stand equal in the eyes of the law;

Fraternity in the sense of the brotherhood of mankind; that all women
and men, the old and the young, the infirm and the healthy, the rich and
the poor, share a spark of humanity that must be cherished on a level
above that of the law, and that binds us all together in a manner that
continuously re-affirms and celebrates life.
This is what fascism as an ideology was reacting against. Its support came
primarily from desperate people anxious and angry over their perception
that their social and economic position was sinking. Frustrated with the
constant risk of chaos, uncertainty and inefficiency implicit in a modern
democracy based on these principles, fascism, the antithesis of democracy
became an option.. . . Fascism and Nazism as ideologies involve to varying
degrees some of the following hallmarks:
Nationalism and super-patriotism with a sense of historic mission;
Aggressive militarism even to the extent of glorifying war as good for
the national or individual spirit;
Authoritarian reliance on a leader or elite not constitutionally
responsible to an electorate;
Cult of personality around a charismatic leader;
Reaction against the values of Modernism, usually with emotional attacks
against both liberalism and communism;
Exhortations for the homogeneous masses of common folk (Volkish in
German, Populist in the U.S.) to join voluntarily in a heroic mission -
often metaphysical and romanticized in character;
Dehumanization and scapegoating of the enemy - seeing the enemy as an
inferior or subhuman force, perhaps involved in a conspiracy that
justifies eradicating them;
The self image of belonging to a superior form of social organisation
beyond socialism, capitalism and democracy;
Elements of national socialist ideological roots, for example,
ostensible support for the industrial working class or farmers; but
ultimately, the forging of an alliance with an elite sector of society.
Abandonment of any consistent ideology in a drive for state power.
6.2 Q: Why are they Fascistic?
A: The term ``Fascist'' has created some confusion. The ideology of Opus
Dei has all the features commonly found in the abstract political category
of ``fascism'' even though it is a very special form of this ideology,
since it is mixed with elements of the Christian religion. Reading
Escriva's book ``The Way'' with the above definition of fascism in mind,
it is evident that he is the perfect Fascist. Here are some indicators: In
#849 he directly states that he is against Voltair's ideas.
Fascist loathe Liberty:
They have this law and order mentality: every thing should be under the
control of the leaders. Large chapters in the book are about leadership
and blind obedience. I guess Hitler would have loved this book. (read #56
till #80) Of course, they want to control the information you get. Like in
#339:
You shall not buy books without the advice of an experienced Christian.
It is so easy to buy something useless or mischievous. Often people
believe they are carrying a book under their arm ... but they only carry
a load of mud. (Josemaria Escriva, The Way, #339)
According to Maria del Carmen Tapia they also read the private mail of
their members. And of course they want enforced religious values, too.
Some People argue that other spiritual works also recommend obedience as
useful but this does not prove it is a good thing. Particularly, the blind
obedience (blind because the Opus also controls the information one can
get) is dangerous. Normally if a person joins a monastery he will have to
submit to some obedience there too: but that obedience usually only
concerns ``outside'' things. You will do the house work they want you to
do and you would go to mass regularly ... etc. but you would still be
allowed to think independently. The obedience that also concerns mind and
thinking is of a much higher level of obedience. Would you want to live in
a world where the way you have to think is dictated? Criticising religious
things and a free will is not wanted and not allowed: (see e.g. #945, #53,
...)
Fascists loathe Equality:
Escriva teaches that people should not even be equal in the eyes of God!!
(#98 priests are more valuable than other people). In many others the need
for leadership is expressed (e.g. #60, #61) the whole chapters about
leadership all implicitly suggest that there are people who are superior
and this is their legitimation of why they should rule over others. (I
think there is a teaching where he explicitly says that he does not
believe in equality. Can't find it, though ...)
Fascists loathe Fraternity.
One would think that Fraternity is something every person would
immediately agree with, but his idea of fraternity is rather limited to
the fraternity within the sect. (#458,) Also it is not the humanity that
is a motivation for fraternity but a selfish way of being strong within
the sect and against THE WORLD. (#460, #462, #55, #924) There seems to be
no idea in them that the people outside the sect are equal humans too;
they are just potential victims for their ``apostolate'', enemies, or even
``devils''. At the moment where he calls someone ``devil'' he excludes
these people from: ``... a spark of humanity that must be cherished on a
level above that of the law, and that binds us all together in a manner
that continuously re-affirms and celebrates life'' as it is expressed so
neatly in the definition of fraternity. Furthermore the characteristics of
fascism from the above document have been:
Nationalism and super-patriotism with a sense of historic mission.
Nationalism is something they can not really afford as they want to be
globally active. Nonetheless they do think a little bit of nationalism
is good for being Catholic: read #525. Obviously their goal is not to
win power in a country but to win power in the Catholic Church and in
the whole world. Where fascism in general needs enemies to blame for all
the evil Opus Dei has to be very selective. Because of its global nature
it can not as easily pick other nations. It would be a dangerous game to
openly spread hate against other religions. This would lead easily to
contradictions with their own spirituality (one of their good sides) but
also to intolerance of other religions, which is not hidden very well
(see my chapter about tolerance in my FAQ. In any event, the main
enemies they picked are:
all people who criticise them.
communists.
some mysterious Freemason... dark world conspiracy.
Glorifying war: see e.g.:#306 or #311. It is not clear how much the
words are metaphors or how much they are meant as written. (They are in
a chapter entitled ``more from the inner life'' (at least this is the
name of the chapter in the German edition), but his points often have
other meanings than just the one that the chapter would suggest. In
Spain there are many Opus members in top positions in the army (from the
TAZ/Berlin 15.9.1995). Or read about the Archbishop of El Salvador
below.
Authoritarian reliance on a leader or elite not constitutionally
responsible to an electorate. There is no democracy within the Opus Dei.
The points which emphasise the importance of leadership are numerous.
Cult of personality around a charismatic leader. It may be that he was a
man with very bad traits. It is curious that such a person has any
status at all. However, in the practical life of the Opus Dei the
members had to treat him and is relatives like if he where God himself.
(read e.g. Carmen Tapia's book). Members still write letters to him
although he is already dead. If you go and ask Opus Dei members, they
will tell you that they have a lot of material about Escriva that they
do not show to the public because it would destroy the portrait that
they have painted of him.
Reaction against the values of Modernism, usually with emotional attacks
against both liberalism and communism. e.g. see #849. Communism is not
directly mentioned but the anti-communism is everywhere in Opus Dei.
Exhortations for the homogeneous masses of common folk (Volkish in
German, Populist in the U.S.) to join voluntarily in a heroic mission -
often metaphysical and romanticized in character. (What could be more
metaphysical than religion?) Also, he constantly appeals to heroic
feelings when he describes how noble it would be to serve the Opus Dei.
Dehumanization and scapegoating of the enemy - seeing the enemy as an
inferior or subhuman force, perhaps involved in a conspiracy that
justifies eradicating them. (Enemies are devils. or see e.g.: #833 where
he constructs the image of Freemasons as a demon-like enemy;)
The self image of belonging to a superior form of social organisation
beyond socialism, capitalism and democracy. Most Christians will see
their belief not as something that contradicts democracy or socialism.
However, by merging all his political statements in his book, Escriva
places his beliefs in direct competition with political ideologies. From
his Fascist ideas it is clear that he is against socialism. All the
points about leadership/obedience show that he does not think all too
well of democracy. I think he has no problem with capitalism, if you
have enough money you can also buy a little bit of holiness by being a
``cooperator'' (see their homepage).
While their ideological root is definitely not directly national
socialistic, the forging of an alliance with an elite of society is
exactly what they do. What `` ostensible support for the industrial
working class or farmers'' concerns: They keep them silent and obedient
by promising them a better life in heaven with their ``sanctification of
ordinary work'' slogan. This is an abuse of religion.
Abandonment of any consistent ideology in a drive for State power.
Fascist ideology is in contradiction with Christianity and so it is not
all to easy to combine these two things. The question is: Why did he
press all the Fascist ideology into this book at all? Of course if you
want to construct a sect than the ideology comes handy: The
leadership/obedience constellation is especially useful, but then he
could have hidden the ideology much better behind religiose
explanations. The fact that the ideology is so open, suggests it must
have been something very important to Escriva. But to make his sect a
success he does not care that it is in contradiction with Christianity.
(Maybe he did not see that at the beginning, but I imagine that a lot of
people will have talked about that topic with him. If he did not want to
agree with a logical argumentation he used his 2+2+God equation (#471).
To agree with the arguments of others? Never! (#54) Furthermore:
Inconsistencies and contradictions gives you more freedom when you want
to use the ideology to direct people into certain directions. When you
want to command them, the one thing you can use is this point, and when
you want to command them otherwise you use another.
One last point: Like the Nazis' head the ``entartete Kunst'' (art that did
not conform to the official sense of beauty) Escriva also labels modern
art as ``morbid'' and ``subjective''. (While, of course it is subjective -
but it does not hide that - but he implicitly claims that he has the
objective truth). Cutting down the freedom of arts is also a sign of
Fascistic and totalitarian governments.
Conclusion: As it can be seen there is a lot of Fascism in the book of
Escriva and in his sect. The reader who is aware of it will find a lot
more in his book and in the behaviour of Opus Dei. The strong focus on
leadership in particular, makes this organisation extremely dangerous, and
with the mind control of the weekly ``confident'' talks, their leaders
have incredible power over their followers.
6.3 Q: Do they have tolerance towards other religions?
A: No. Other religions are not even mentioned in his book. What we know
about Escriva from the Carmen Tapia he called Queen Elizabeth (Head of the
Anglican church) ``this daemon''. In #433 he uses the names of battles
fought by Christians against Moslems as a synonym for victory. He also
hated other Christian Religions like Protestantism (#505: ... do not trust
anything that does not have this sign (the love for the virgin Mary))
which is a clear affront to the Evangelic Church. He even had hateful
words for some Catholic organisations (e.g. the Jesuits). The intolerance
in Escriva's attitude is strongly related to the fundamentalism of his
teachings. One who concentrates only on the unimportant details of the
Catholic beliefs instead of the core of the messages of Jesus can not be
tolerant towards other religions which may have the same core but other
details.
Have you ever spent a thought on the question of how it is possible that
there are so many different religions, and how all people think that their
view of God is the right one? For example, are there different Gods for
different people, and do Christian people go to Heaven, and are Buddhists
reincarnated? Or is it that, only one view of God is the right one, and
the other religions have a wrong view? If so, than what happened to the
people that lived before Jesus Christ was born? Lots of questions. Once I
heard a nice parable which has a nice answer to the problem of explaining
why there are different religions. it goes like this:
God is like the sunlight that falls through the window of a church which
has many colourful pieces of glass in it. And the light throws spots of
colourful lights on the floor of a very very large church. And the small
people who stand there they only see one colour, which depends on where
they stand. So one sees God as a green light and the other one as a red
light while no one sees the whole picture. I do like this parable and I
set some store by it. So I think we should not trust anyone who says that
God is like this and everything else is wrong and bad. And especially not
if they are so picky about unimportant details that they do not even allow
other Christian religions.
I think we get the best picture of God if we try to move around a bit on
the floor of this church so that we see different colours. That is we
inform ourselves how other religions see things. For example, when I read
``Siddhartha''(Hermann Hesse) I did learn a lot about God, although it is
a book about Buddhism.
6.4 Q: What is dangerous in the structure of Opus Dei?
A: The inherent danger lies in the undemocratic structure of the Opus
which totally reflects the Fascistic ideology in Escriva's teachings.
People have to follow the orders given to them by their leaders without
doubting them. Leaders have total control over the people subordinated to
them through the weekly talk where they learn everything they need to
manipulate followers. So, if the topmost leader decides to do something it
will happen. They justify this structure with the excuse that it is all in
God's name. But the people in the Opus are all humans and there is always
a chance that they might make mistakes. In the dictatorship-like structure
of the Opus a mistake or an evil decision by just one person on top of the
organisation can have fatal consequences. Their response is something
like: ``Oh well we have built a dictatorship, but do not be worried: we
have such a nice dictator on top who is such a kind person with a good
heart ...'' Besides: Escriva was not a person with a very good character.
And a person who does not admit that he has made a mistake by putting this
Fascistic ideology into his work, even after 1945, when the evil of the
Fascistic ideology should have become obvious to everyone is definitely
not a saint. Well at least, I think that God is NOT a skin head in
camouflage and army boots, who likes Fascism.
6.5 Q: Do they abuse the information they get from their members in the
weekly talk to manipulate them?
A: Yes. According to Carmen Tapia they do. When she was in the position of
a spiritual leader she had to write reports about all the people under her
and she sometimes received orders from above on what to tell them.
6.6 Q: What about the ``Apostolate''?
A: As in most sects, this is one of the most important things: Finding new
members. The necessity of the apostolate is everywhere in Escriva's book,
beginning with #1. Especially #614:
When doing apostolic work there is no disobedience that would be slight.
According to people who left the sect there is a strict plan on how to
approach new potential members and how to talk to them.
6.7 Q: Is the apostolate a bad thing?
A: No. Not in general. Normally if an idea is good it will spread by
itself. People will tell their friends and if the thing makes sense they
will spread it further. There should be no need to lay special emphasis on
the importance of the apostolic work. Nor is it justifiable to give strict
rules on how to use these manipulative techniques to find new members.
6.8 Q: How do they catch new members?
A: The most important instrument is the so-called ``vocation trap''. They
tell people about the non-selfish life of saints and what good things they
did and they then make them feel guilty because they do not do that much;
with the implicit promise that when they join the Opus Dei they can become
little saints in their everyday life. This trap, of course only works for
people with good hearts who want to do good. And I do not doubt that most
of the people who have been caught by the Opus would have lived a just
life and would have become good people and would have done a lot of useful
work if they had never met the Opus. Once they have been caught, their
good hearts are abused to catch more members instead of performing useful
charity. Here is an example of their manipulative way in catching new
members: In #563 of ``The Way'' Escriva writes:
Federalise with the guardian angel of the person you want to win for
your apostolate - He is always a good ``accomplice''.
Imagine a young girl with a good heart who was brought up with a Catholic
spirit, and then a person tells her: ``Well, this night I will pray to
your guardian angel so that he might help you to find the right decision''
(leaving no doubt about what the ``right'' decision is). This girl would
feel very bad with the idea in her head that her angel would be terribly
sad because she did not decide to join the Opus. From my point of view the
abuse of such innocent symbols of our childhood beliefs to bring people
under control of an evil ideology, that they do not even understand, is a
spiritual rape.
6.9 What is the role of women in the Opus Dei ideology?
A:Let us see how they think about women:
... Woman are so sinful and are responsible that we have been dislodged
from the garden of eden. And the only possibility for them to lessen
their guilt is by subordinating themselves... ``You should be like a
carpet where people can step onto'' he explained... (Heard by a lot of
people at an information evening of the Opus Dei in Dornbirn Austria.
easter 1994. from the book "gottes rechte kirche" by t.m. hofer)
6.10 Q: What kind of person was Josemaria Escriva?
A: He was a priest who founded Opus Dei in the year 1928. He was born into
a time of war, so perhaps his idea was to found a kind of ``army'' for
God. (Many aspects of the organisation of the Opus show similarities to
the structure of an army: replaceability of every member; uncritical
submission to orders, ... ). According to Carmen Tapia, he was a person
with very bad manners. She writes that he could be nice and kindly at time
but also very angry. He spoke derogatorily about women. He often shouted.
(The most extreme example is In her book. Carmen Tapia writes: when he was
angry at a woman (G.) who secretly brought her (Tapia) mail he shouted:
``And she there (G.) has to be spanked throughout. Draw up her skirts,
tear down her panties and give it to her in the ass!! In the Ass!! Until
she talks. MAKE HER TALK!!!'' (translated from the German edition of her
book to English)
I think this quote fits well with the sexual obsessions that shine through
a lot of statements in his book. Escriva did not live the ascetic live of
a saint but always liked delicious dining in his palace-like headquarters
in Rome (A building with 24 chapels!). To me he seems to have been a
person of medium intelligence who always wanted to be a philosopher.
Perhaps he got hurt in discussions with intellectual people and than he
tried to compensate for his lack of intelligence with concentration on his
religious beliefs, which allowed him to polish up his self esteem again in
such a way that he could look down on the people who did not share those
beliefs. I am not a psychologist, but this would explain some of his
teachings (e.g. the one with: 2+2 = 4, 2+2+God=?). From what Carmen Tapia
tells he was very proud. Cite: ``... I have met a lot of bishops and
different Popes but I am the only founder ...''. Also the value
intelligence had for him can be seen in what he told them once: ``Do not
become so stupid as those nuns ... (and he was trying to making a dumb
face)''
Given all the Fascist ideology in ``The Way'', it will not come as a
surprise to you to hear that he even had sympathy for Hitler:
Wladimir Felzmann, an ex-Opus Dei member tells about a talk with
Escriva: after he (Escriva) insisted that with Hitler's help the Franco
Government has saved Christianity from Communism he added: ``Hitler
against the Jews, Hitler against the Slavs, this means Hitler against
communism''
To be fair: When judging about Senior Escriva we have to consider that he
was a child of his time. And a lot of people at the time held that kind of
ideology and those ideas; for a lot of people they might have been quite
normal. However, this does not make his ideology any better and does not
give any justification for mixing it with his religious teachings.
What an unbelievable arrogance of this man that he named his own work
``The Work of God''.
6.11 Q: What kind of person is their current chief Javier Echevarria?
A: It looks as if Echevarria is a ``worthy'' successor to Escriva. One day
he was quoted as saying that if you are handicapped since birth this is
probably because your parents did some sinful sexual practices. Even
though, they later denied that statement and claimed that it has only been
said because he was not used to the Italian language, this statement
throws a good spotlight on the spiritual attitudes of this person.
6.12 Q: Are they honest and open?
A: No. They are not open. Secrecy is an important principle within the
Opus (compare ``The Way''). They do not even present all the teachings of
Escriva to the public. They have secret books which are only used for
internal teachings, etc ... So if even the book which is supposed to be an
advertisement for the Opus is full of these negative things, what do you
expect is in the internal books? Why don't they present them to the
public? Here 2 examples from the ``Way'' where Senior Escriva asks people
to be dishonest:
#643: do not reveal the secrets of your apostolate: don't you see that
the world is full of selfish not-understanding?
#655: I can not stop to tell you about the importance of "discretion".
maybe it is not the spire of your weapon but at least it is the handle
of it.
An entire chapter is dedicated to this kind of dishonesty. While this does
not directly ask people to tell lies it asks them to deliberately hold
back the truth. According to Carmen Tapia, lies have a good tradition
within the Opus. When she had to work in the print office of the Opus,
they had to call back papers they had printed out and change them
afterwards to eliminate traces of certain persons the Opus wanted to get
rid of. So they can afterwards claim: ``There is nothing about that in the
archives''. Most of all they revised the statutes of the Opus Dei after
they had been approved by the Pope!!!
7. Q: What attracts people to Opus Dei?
A: As the people within Opus Dei are mostly nice people with good hearts,
people do not suspect that this organization might be bad at all. They
will be attracted by the positive sides of their spiritual beliefs (see
above). Furthermore, people with good hearts like the idea of sacrificing
themselves because they want to do good. The `childhood in front of God''
idea especially will be attractive for many people, because this is
something most people want deep down inside them: to become children again
and give away all the burdens and responsibilities of their every day
life. This is exactly what the Opus offers: Not only to become a child in
front of God but to become a child in front of the Opus. To blindly follow
their advice and rules and to give away responsibility by discussing
everything with the spiritual leader.
This is also how most sects work: They offer a clear and simple frame of
values in a world that becomes more complex every day - too complex for
many people. Just pray a lot, tell everything to your spiritual leader,
wear the flagellation belt for 2 or 3 hours a day, and donate some money
to us, then you are on your way to becoming a saint. Easy and simple. This
is especially attractive for persons in positions with high moral
responsibility (lawyers, doctors, etc ... ). They do not even have to give
up their profession, nor do they have to be afraid that they may be fired
because of Opus Dei - because they are supposed to keep that a secret. In
my opinion we are not supposed to give away responsibility. God has given
us our mind and our conscience to use it - even if this is the hard way.
Furthermore there also might be people who are attracted by the negative
sides in Opus Dei. e.g.: The proud thinking of being something better than
the average person who doesn't belong to the Opus. Last, but not least, as
the Fascistic ideology in Escriva's book is so dominant, it can not be
ruled out there are also some people in the organization who are
especially attracted by Fascism.
8. Q: What kind of person do they select for their apostolate?
A: They want intelligent people with influence on society, most of all.
They usually select people whom they think might be easy to convert. That
is, they select people with a Catholic background, especially people who
might be searching for social contact, that is: e.g.: exchange students,
people who often go to church alone, ..., etc.. Also it is usually not
explicitly expressed but they seem to search for physically attractive
people, as it is more easy for them to convince new victims of the Opus.
When Thomas M. Hofer (``Gottes Rechte Kirche'' page 98) asked the Public
Relations Officer for Opus Dei in Austria (Martin Kugler) he caught him in
a lie: Kugler said: ``From a statistically point of view, a majority of
Opus Dei members fall into the group of housewives. We do not target our
advertising towards rich and intellectual persons''. But than he had to
admit that in Austria (as in most other countries) more than 50% of the
members have academic education. In contradiction to the lies that they
spread on their web pages, internal Opus Dei papers confirm that their
main target are the important people of society. Of course they only see
that as an intermediate step: The final goal is of course the total
control over all people, but the strategy to reach that targets people
with much influence first.
9. Q: How can an organization that is built of mostly good people be a bad
thing at all?
A: First: Even a single person with the best intentions can do wrong
things if she/he is not informed well or do not use their mind to think
about the consequences that their actions might have. But within the Opus
people are not supposed to use their minds and the information they get is
filtered and influenced by the Opus. (They are not allowed to read any
book. They have indoctrination courses there, etc ... ) So the good people
within the Opus might still think that they are doing positive things and
that they are becoming saints, while they are already losing their
understanding of what it is to live in the real world.
Second: An organization is more than the sum of its parts. The difference
is the additional structure of the organization. And the structure of Opus
Dei is a hierarchical, dictatorship-like structure. Within a
dictatorship-like structure a single unscrupulous person on top can
corrupt the whole organization. And the founder's presence is still
present through the rules he gave this organization. As we have seen he
was a person of questionable character. He might have believed himself,
that he was doing good work for God. But that does not make the whole
thing any better.
10. Q: What is their position within the Catholic Church?
A: I believe that most of the ordinary people in the Catholic Church have
a good understanding of the message of Jesus. They understand that God
means infinite love and that most of the rules of the Catholic Church are
not meant to be taken too seriously. They will like the attractive points
of the Opus but they will have little or no understanding of the Fascist
ideology and the fundamentalism of the Opus. In opposition, many officials
of the church like the idea of having uncritical sheep that can be easily
governed and directed.
Our current pope, John Paul II, is especially a friend of Opus Dei. He
made the Opus a ``personal prelature'' in 1982 and he beatified Escriva in
1992 ... So either the Opus has already gained so much control over the
Catholic Church that they could establish a conservative Pope that they
like and influence the advisors around the Pope, or the Pope just did not
see all the bad things in the Opus because he is a very spiritual person.
However: A lot of people criticised the Catholic Church because they did
not speak up against the Nazi government. So the beatification of the
Fascist Escriva by the Pope was a very bad signal to the public - instead
of asking the victims of the holocaust for forgiveness a Fascist gets
beatified. This again just shows that the Pope is not entirely infallible.
In any case: They are in no way representative for the Catholic Church of
today. See here http://www.we-are-church.org/ to find out what the average
Catholic of today believes.
10.1 Q: Are they a young and innovative part of the Church?
A: No. Absolutely not. They are extremely conservative. Within the Opus
Dei changes are not allowed, as this would violate what they call "The
Work's Esprit". They never change. The most innovative change they had
since their foundation is that now woman are allowed to wear trousers! http://www.factnet.org/discus/clipart/happy.gif
They where not even innovative when they where founded. What they present
as new ideas: "That even lay people are called to a live of holiness" are
not new but already in the teachings of Jesus. Contrary to ``Vatican II''
they still claim that they have the absolute truth and only they know what
is good or bad. Lay people have no right to decide about religious things,
but that we all have to blindly follow their orders. So their spirit is
not new but the contrary: They want a Church of authority and of Doctrines
instead of a Church of brotherhood of free people only responsible to
their own conscience. The real youth of the Church today are the people
who want to bring more democracy to the Church and spread the spirit of
the Second Vatican Council.
10.2 Q: What is their position towards the ``Vatican II'' Council?
A: While they pick some things out of the text of the Council and also
claim that they have contributed to Vatican II most of the spirit of the
Council is totally contrarily to the teachings of Escriva. (Some points
however clearly reveal their unholy influence on the text) Here are some
snippets from the Text of the Council. (
http://www.rc.net/rcchurch/vatican2/index.html) e.g.:
Tolerance towards other religions:
In our time, when day by day mankind is being drawn closer together,
and the ties between different peoples are becoming stronger, the
Church examines more closely her relationship to non-Christian
religions. In her tasks of promoting unity and love among men, indeed
among nations, she considers above all in this declaration what men
have in common and what draws them to fellowship. (...)
This is in total contradiction with the intolerance found in Escriva's
teachings.
Charity:
... For this reason, love for God and neighbour is the first and
greatest commandment. Sacred Scripture, however, teaches us that the
love of God cannot be separated from love of neighbour: "If there is
any other commandment, it is summed up in this saying: Thou shalt love
thy neighbour as thyself... Love therefore is the fulfilment of the
Law" (Rom. 13:9-10; cf. 1 John 4:20). To men growing daily more
dependent on one another, and to a world becoming more unified every
day, this truth proves to be of paramount importance. ...
Again this is in contrast to Escriva's teaching which separates the love
of God and charity. Moreover:
Therefore, although rightful differences exist between men, the equal
dignity of persons demands that a more humane and just condition of
life be brought about. Excessive economic and social differences
between the members of the one human family or population groups cause
scandal, and militate against social justice, equity, the dignity of
the human person, as well as social and international peace.
We see, the Christian Social teaching of the Vatican is indicative of a
democratic and, even, some may say, socialist/ egalitarian perspective,
in an extreme, contrary to Escriva's Fascistic ideas. Usually Opus Dei
members denounce anybody who cares to much for social needs as being a
Marxist.
Religious Freedom:
A sense of the dignity of the human person has been impressing itself
more and more deeply on the consciousness of contemporary man, and the
demand is increasingly made that men should act on their own
judgement, enjoying and making use of a responsible freedom, not
driven by coercion but motivated by a sense of duty. (...) However,
men cannot discharge these obligations in a manner in keeping with
their own nature unless they enjoy immunity from external coercion as
well as psychological freedom.
Compare this with Escriva's talk about Obedience or take a look at the
psychological manipulations they use.
10.3 They claim to be faithful to the Pope and the Catholic Church. Does
that mean they can not be dangerous?
A: there are 2 points to keep in mind here:
1.) Maybe they follow the church. At least they claim to. But what if they
manage to further increase their already great influence on the Church and
the Pope and can infiltrate the whole Church with their evil ideology?
What if they drive it towards more intolerance? What if a person like
mister McCloskey makes the policy then? People are already afraid that
their influence is already so great that the next Pope could be an Opus
Dei member.
2.) I doubt that they would take "following the Church" all too seriously
if we get a liberal Pope. Furthermore Carmen Tapia writes in her book that
when she worked at the printing office of Opus Dei they had to change the
printing plates with the text of the statutes of Opus Dei that had been
signed by the Pope after they had been signed... and she also tells how
mister Escriva often had angry words for the Pope. I am not sure if they
would still falsify documents today. But a bit of misrepresentation of
text as mister McCloskey does it with the Vatican II texts also helps them
a lot..
11. Q: What is their ideal picture of a person?
A: If you look into Escriva's book you will find the kind of person that
they want to make out of people:
He wants you to be become a fanatist who does not make concessions. A
Warrior who blindly fights, instead of peacefully discussing with
others. (#54, #393, #396)
Blind obedience. (e.g.: #62, #614), never think by yourself (#777,
#856).
Feeling guilty for sexuality (#130). People who feel guilt are easy to
control.
Heartless. You should lock your heart behind 7 gates (#150, #161, #188)
and your heart should only belong to God, but of course he means that
you should give it to the Opus. (fulfilment of duty #162). Best of all,
in a sense, you should remove your heart totally (#166). ``Fortunately''
he not only demands heartlessness but also gives you a way to reach it:
killing your emotions and your senses (#181, #188)
Without scruples! (#258, ff) (Do not ask me what this should have to do
with becoming a saint - I have no idea. Being without scruples is like
not listening to your conscience. Maybe this is just a mistake in the
translation from the Spanish to the German version of the book - but it
is the heading of a whole chapter. Maybe someone can enlighten me about
that a bit.)
Selfishly searching for your redemption and your own happiness. (#297)
Beautiful, intelligent and looking down on others like they are only
animals (#367).
You should be a perfect instrument. A tool to be used by them. (e.g.
#484)
Secretly working behind peoples backs. (see the chapter about
``Discretion'' e.g.: #643)
12. Q: What about their influence on our society?
A: Besides direct influence in politics via people that are under their
control (look here some names: http://www.cath4choice.org/pubpolicy.html)
they try to infiltrate the mass media. In the year 1979 the chief of the
Opus Dei of that time (Portillio) gave some statistical material to the
Vatican. Due to an indiscretion the secret information become public.
According to the data from Portillio the Opus Dei had members in: 479
universities and higher schools, 604 newspapers and other periodicals, 52
radio and tv stations, 38 news and advertisement agencies and 12 movie
productions companies. (according to T. M. Hofer / P. Hertel) This was in
1979. Today they even try to infiltrate public web chat boards with their
agents.
12.1 Q: Are they involved in politics?
A: Yes. A lot of Opus Dei members are involved in politics. Right wing
politics of course. They try to get influence within institutions of the
European Union, and even high members of FBI and CIA are known to have
good?????? Here are some examples:
Peru:
From: http://users.cybercity.dk/~ccc17427/newsflash.htm
Cipriani (Roman Catholic Bishop), a member of the conservative Opus Dei
movement in the Roman Catholic church, is one of Fujimori's closest
friends and one of the few who have had access to him during the crisis,
sources said. One of the hostages, Peruvian Foreign Minister Francisco
Tudela, is also close to Opus Dei. ...
[...]
What about the relationship between the military and the Fujimori
regime?
The support which both have given to one another in the past has only
served to act as a cover for state terrorism and corruption. The
government and high-ranking military officials are very corrupt...
From: http://www.blythe.org/peru-pcp/intro/intro1.htm
In some regions of the jungle and in Ayacucho, for example, there are
priests that train and lead the Army's paramilitary rondas. Among these
paramilitary priests the most notorious is the archbishop of Huamanga
"Cristiani" of Opus Dei, and the infamous U.S. born killer-priest known
as "father Mariano".
Argentina:
From: http://www.ort.org/communit/jpr/AWRweb/Americas/argentina.htm
Another former ultra-nationalist in office was Rodolfo Barra, who became
Menem's public works secretary in 1989. Barra also served as a supreme
court judge from December 1993 to June 1994, and was minister of justice
for the next two years. As a secondary school student in the 1960s,
Barra joined the Union Nacional de Estudiantes Secundarios (UNES,
National Union of Secondary Students), the youth branch of the
right-wing Catholic organization Tacuara, and was in charge of UNES
publications, according to the Buenos Aires weekly news magazine
Noticias (22 and 29 June 1996). More recently, Barra has been identified
with Opus Dei, a conservative Catholic organization founded in Spain,
which has no extremist connections. Yet by June 1996, when he proclaimed
his repentance regarding his Nazi youth, he had lost the confidence of a
section of Argentine society.
El Salvador:
From: http://www.unix-ag.uni-siegen.de/aew/salvador.htm and
http://www.latino.com/news/Pope0204.html about Archbishop Fernando Saenz
Lacalle:
... The next paragraph contained a short report from El Salvador: there
the Opus Dei Archbishop has assumed the title Brigadier General, in an
army that has one of the most brutal track-records in recent history.
Now, it transpires, he has banned public observances to commemorate the
martyrdom of Archbishop Oscar Romero, felled in 1980 while celebrating
Mass - executed on the orders of the military whose insignia the current
Archbishop so proudly sports
Romero was a man in the middle: he had both affection for the left and the
right wing sides of the church. (The Official Opus Dei site even uses him
to advertise: http://www.OpusDei.org/romero.htm).
From http://www.rdrop.com/users/bortec/wip/elsal.html
Archbishop Oscar Romero had been a conservative until he was converted
by the poor and the military attacks on clergy working with the poor.
Spain:
From: http://rs6.loc.gov/frd/cs/estoc.html
During the late 1950s and the 1960s, Opus Dei members came to control
the economic ministries, and they occupied other important cabinet posts
as well. This was in keeping with the organization's aim of influencing
the development of society indirectly. Opus Dei recruited its members
from among the brightest students, which encouraged a sense of elitism
and clannishness. Because of this clannishness and the secrecy that
surrounded the organization, some critics termed it the "Holy Mafia."
13. Q: What about the Opus Dei in Austria?
A: The bishop of Vorarlberg (Klaus Kueng) is known to be an Opus Dei
member. The bishop of lower Austria (Kurt Krenn) is known to be a friend
of the Opus and has ranged many members around him. He also publicly
recommends voting for a right wing political party which spreads hate
against immigrants. This should not come as a surprise if you look at the
Fascism within Opus Dei. (Interestingly: The Pope excommunicated a priest
in South America because he got involved in politics - but this was left
wing politics: He wanted to help people. It seems the Pope is a little bit
blind on one eye.)
A good overview about the Opus Dei and other right wing sects within the
Catholic Church in Austria can be found in the book``Gottes Rechte
Kirche'' by Thomas M. Hofer.
14. Q: Are they harming anyone?
A:
First there are the people they indoctrinate. They steal the time and
money of these people. They also steal it from society as these people
with their good hearts could otherwise be useful members of society. Of
course, one could argue that if people are happy with their artificial
world of self-flagellation why should they not be? The problem here is
the psychological manipulation. Furthermore, as people should not search
for their happiness in a selfish way, this organization brings those
people away from God!
Even more harm is done to the families and friends of the people of
their victims. Incredible pain that is caused by the knowledge that the
person they love is, by means of Opus Dei's manipulative indoctrination,
being transformed into a puppet who blindly follows their orders. While
I had to suffer from the pain for a few weeks and it was the most
painful experience I ever had, there are thousands of mothers, fathers,
brothers, sisters and friends out there who have to suffer from that
pain for their entire life!
14.1 Q: Do they brainwash?
A: That depends on where you draw the line between heavy indoctrination
and brainwashing. The treatment that Carmen Tapia had to undergo is, from
my point of view, definitely a kind of brainwashing. We can also find some
points in Escriva's book that show that he finds nothing wrong with
manipulating people: (#851, but especially: #488 - if the tools (the
people) do not work as intended - perform surgical therapy - (what ever
that means)). For a good introduction on what the term ``brainwashing''
means and how that usually works read the article form Robert J. Lifon:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/national/longterm/cult/misc/lifton.htm
Thought Reform and the Psychology of Totalism: A Study of ``Brainwashing''
in China. Even though the position of Opus Dei is exactly on the other
side of political extremism the methods of ``thought reform'' they seem to
use on their members is very similar to those that Dr. Lifton has studied.

15. Q: I am thinking about becoming a member. Should I?
A: No. Given all the evil things in Opus Dei it is very clear to me that
this Organization can not have anything to do with God at all. Of course
there are some positive points in it, but if it were ``The Work of God''
there would not be so many evil things in it. It is not the work of God
but the work of men and as such it has errors and in this case some very
serious ones, too. Of course most people there are nice and have good
hearts, but that does not make Fascism a good thing. There are so many
real ways you may serve God in love and charity for our society, and there
are a lot of spiritual people outside the Opus Dei too. Just walk through
the world with open eyes and always judge with your own mind. Never give
others the right to judge for you. Read this FAQ and think about it, if it
makes sense or not. Search a bit on the Internet. (Try the search term
``Opus Dei'' in conjunction with things like ``right wing'', ``Fascism'',
etc...)
Furthermore: You might think that you can do with your life what ever you
want. But this only holds if you do not hurt anyone else, and exactly here
is the problem: You will probably have parents and friends who love you
and they will have to suffer terribly if they have to fear that you get
transformed into a puppet on a string. So even if you think that becoming
a puppet and shaking of all responsibility can make you more happy you
should not act that selfishly. Even if you sit there and pray all day long
for your whole life you will never be able to make up for the pain that
you have caused your family and friends. (Remember the 10 commandments?).
If you think about not telling them to save them from pain - you are
acting even worse: This is like telling a lie. Furthermore, by keeping
that a secret you would become entangled into further lies. So the best
thing would be, if you leave the Opus immediately before they have
indoctrinated you so much, that you do not even realize the suffering you
cause.
15.1 Q: They tell me I can leave the Opus Dei at any time?
A: Yes, you can leave them but they will indoctrinate you not to leave and
they tell people that they can not become happy again after they leave.
And I think this is true: After all the indoctrination one has received
people are not functioning too well after they have left. Often they need
many years to recover. So do not risk to join them, and if you already are
a member then you would be better to leave them today than tomorrow. No
one needs to feel guilty for leaving a Fascist sect and there are 1000 and
1 possibilities where you can really serve God outside the Sect. You do
not need to throw away the child with the bath: You can keep your
spirituality and your believe in God, but do it in on your own
responsibility again and not as their puppet. We are not always supposed
to go the easy way, you know... http://www.factnet.org/discus/clipart/happy.gif
16. Q: What should be changed within the Opus Dei?
A: As I have said: I hope these pages can also serve as an inspiration for
the organization to change. This document lists a lot of their problems
and I think it should be fairly obvious what should be changed. We can
hope that they withstand the temptation to make some ``cosmetic''
improvements on the surface while not dealing with the root of the
problem: i.e. the teachings of Escriva. Here are some thoughts on how a
reformed Opus Dei could appear:
No more secrecy - instead people would be encouraged to be open and
honest wherever they go.
Encouragement of individual and critical thinking on all (worldly and
religious) matters. Encouragement of individual responsibility. No
censorship of books, etc .. anymore.
Democratic structure.
More focus on charity and love for the neighbour instead of political
indoctrination.
I guess when they start with these all other problems will go away too.
The basis of all is of course a critical position concerning some of the
teachings of Escriva.
16.1 Q: Is there some change?
The official Opus Dei web site now has a page with ``reflections on
Charity by the founder'' on their front, which is not that bad at all and
is part of some of Mister Escriva's late writings. Even though the
document is in contradiction with ``the Way'', the book that still forms
the basis of the Opus Dei, and recent writings of the Opus Dei priest
McCloskey http://www.mond.at/opus.dei/mccloskey.html, this may well be the
indication of a shift in attitude of the organization. We can only hope
that this is really the case and that this is not merely a cosmetic trick
to present them in a good light to the public. In any event, this is only
the start of a fundamental change, which may finally reach the point where
they can critically deal with the particularly horrible teachings of
Mister Escriva. On the other hand when we can still read ``Msgr. Escriva
de Balaguer has written something more than a masterpiece; he has written
straight from the heart, and straight to the heart go these short
paragraphs...'' in their recension of the ``Way'', then this might seem a
bit too optimistic. On the other hand people have reported that the
structure of the Opus Dei is not as rigid as it was some 20 years before.
17. Q: My friend/child has been caught by them. What can I do?
A: The problem is: When you get to know that he/she is in the Opus Dei, it
might already be too late, as they normally ask people to keep that a
secret. So when they allow him/her to tell you than they think that the
person is already under their control. Still, you might have a good chance
to bring her back to real life. What you can do is:
Show this FAQ document to him/her. Discuss it with him/her. Ask him/her
to read "The Way" carefully. Ask them to read Carmen Tapia's Book.
Show your concern and show your love for him/her.
Do not do anything behind the back of him/her. Be open and honest to
him/her. It does not help if you use the same methods as the sect.
Ask him/her to consider to leave the Opus for about a year and then
decide about going back or not, without their influence.
Ask them to talk about the matter with a priest that is not a member of
the Opus.
Show them that there are many ways where he/she can really serve God.
There are a lot of good Orders that believe in love and charity. And one
does not even have to be a member of an Order. One can also find God in
everyday life - without the Fascist mind control of this sect.
If you are a religious person: Pray for him/her. And pray for all the
souls that have been abused by the Opus and the souls of the abusers.
18. Q: What other sources of information about Opus Dei are available?
A: When I tried to find information about them on the net, the only useful
things I found were their official home page http://www.OpusDei.org and
the transcript of a Finnish TV documentation:
http://www.mond.at/opus.dei/opusbold.html (The Pope's Bold and Beautiful).
In the meantime a lot of new Opus Dei sites are on the web. I maintain a
collection of links on my unofficial home page:
http://www.mond.at/opus.dei
Their Official homepage
While their official homepage does not reveal much about them it should be
obvious for a religious person that this organization can not have much to
do with God. It talks about ``govern'' and holiness but does not talk
about love or charity. A nice part is where they describe the role of the
so-called ``cooperators'':
Cooperators are those who, without being faithful of the Prelature,
collaborate through their prayer (if they are believers), their