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Opus Dei: Fact and Fiction An article published in the March 2004 edition of “Catalyst,” the Journal of the Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights. The Dan Brown book, The Da Vinci Code, is a best-selling work of fiction that discusses a real-life Catholic organization, Opus Dei. To help separate fact from fiction, we asked officials at Opus Dei to write a short article on this subject. Herewith is their reply. Founded in 1928 by St. Josemaría Escrivá, Opus Dei (Latin for “work of God”) has a mission of spreading Christ’s teaching on the universal call to holiness. A personal prelature, it works in dioceses around the world, with the approval of local bishops. Opus Dei has been the subject of several myths, made popular recently by The Da Vinci Code. Myth: Opus Dei has a political agenda. Fact: The only thing Opus Dei has to say about politics is what the Church says, and many of the Church’s social teachings leave room for different opinions on concrete political questions. In these opinionable matters, Opus Dei members make their own decisions just like other faithful Catholics. But you won’t understand Opus Dei until you realize that politics – whether civil or ecclesial – just isn’t its institutional focus. Opus Dei’s focus is on providing spiritual guidance to help people deepen their faith and integrate it with their daily life. Myth: Opus Dei is a secret society. Fact: The Opus Dei Prelature publishes the names of all its priests and all its international and regional directors. Like dioceses and parishes, it does not publish lay members’ names. Neither do health clubs for that matter, and people surely deserve as much privacy in their spiritual affairs as they do in medical matters. Members, however, are more than happy to tell you of their membership and what Opus Dei is all about. While we’re at it, we can confirm that the Pope’s spokesman, Joaquin Navarro-Valls, is a member, but we would like to dispel once and for all the rumors that Louis Freeh, Antonin Scalia, Clarence Thomas, and Mel Gibson are members. Myth: Opus Dei brainwashes, coerces, or pressures members and potential members. Fact: Opus Dei has complete respect for people’s freedom. It’s ludicrous to think that the Pope and bishops worldwide would support an institution that didn’t. In this era of relativism, there are plenty of people who will call teaching the faith, giving spiritual guidance, and being a Christian witness “brainwashing,” “coercion,” and “recruiting” or “proselytism.” Nowadays consenting adults are free of criticism for doing almost anything – anything apparently except trying to help people grow in their faith and practice it in their daily life. Myth: Opus Dei makes its members practice dangerous corporal mortifications. Fact: Each Lent, the Church reminds people that sacrifice is part of the spiritual life. To help its members follow this teaching, Opus Dei encourages them to make small sacrifices, such as persevering in their work or listening to those in need. The Catholic tradition also includes other penances, such as fasting and the use of a cilice or discipline, as means for deepening one’s union with Christ. Many saints, including Opus Dei’s founder, St. Josemaría Escrivá, have practiced such penances in a heroic way. Some celibate members of Opus Dei and of other Church institutions freely follow some of these customs, though in a mitigated way. They do so subject to the advice of their spiritual director and in a way that is never harmful to their health, completely unlike The Da Vinci Code’s distorted representation. These kinds of sacrifices are certainly not a focus in Opus Dei, which emphasizes integrating faith with the activities of everyday life. Myth: Opus Dei’s status as a “personal prelature” cuts it loose from oversight by the bishops. Fact: Like a diocese, a personal prelature is overseen by the Holy See. Additionally, Opus Dei receives permission from local bishops before starting apostolic work in their dioceses and keeps diocesan bishops informed about its activities. The guidance it offers its members pertains only to matters connected with its mission, which is educating people about the universal call to holiness and helping them fulfill this call in their daily life. The members of the prelature remain members of their diocese and are subject to their local bishop just like other Catholics. Myth: With all the criticism, Opus Dei must be doing something wrong. Fact: Every successful organization has its critics, from Coca-Cola to the Catholic Church itself. As for Opus Dei’s critics, anyone who does not believe in Christ, the Church’s teachings, or loyalty to the Pope could easily have “issues” with Opus Dei, since it accepts all these things. It’s also common that an organization’s critics have personal reasons for misinterpreting things – even with good intentions. What’s more relevant than the criticism is the fact that millions of people around the world know and love Opus Dei, including the Pope and a great number of bishops. This is because Opus Dei gives so much help to ordinary people who want to connect their faith with daily life. Catholic League Opus Dei Website - how long have personal prelatures existed in the Church? - Although similar personal hierarchical structures already existed (such as military vicariates), the juridical figure of the personal prelature is the result of an apostolic desire of the Second Vatican Council that later took form in the present Code of Canon Law. The first to be erected was the prelature of Opus Dei, in the Apostolic Constitution Ut sit of John Paul II, on November 28, 1982.
What you need to know as Opus Dei chooses a new leader • Inés San Martín Jan 20, 2017 VATICAN CORRESPONDENT Pope Francis greets Bishop Javier Echevarria Rodriguez, head of the personal prelature of Opus Dei, during an audience to exchange Christmas greetings with members of the Roman Curia in Clementine Hall at the Vatican Dec. 22, 2014. (Credit: CNS photo/Paul Haring.) ROME- After the December death of Bishop Javier Echevarría, the Catholic organization Opus Dei today begins the process of choosing a new leader, who for the first time will be a someone who wasn’t a right-hand man of their founder, Spanish St. Josemaría Escrivá. There are 94 possible candidates, all priests, coming from 45 countries. Under the rules, all are over the age of 40, all are members of the group for at least 10 years and priests for at least the last five. For the record, none are self-flagellating assassin monks as depicted in Dan Brown’s potboiler novel The Da Vinci Code. As a matter of fact, there are no monks in Opus Dei at all … and, needless to say, no assassins. Here’s what you need to know about “The Work,” as Opus Dei is referred to by members, and their process to elect a new prelate, as the leader is called. A brief history of Opus Dei Founded in Madrid, Spain, in October 1928 by Escrivá, Opus Dei was established as a personal prelature by Pope John Paul II in 1983, eight years after the death of their founder, in 1975. Put in very simple terms (and bound, in its simplicity, to make some canon lawyers pull out their hair), a personal prelature is an entity that incorporates both clergy and laity around a specific spirituality rather than the geographic boundaries of a diocese. So far, Opus Dei is the only personal prelature recognized by the Catholic Church. It’s because of this canonical status that the leader of the Work is known as a “prelate” and why its 92,600 members today, most of whom are lay, and 57 percent of whom are women, tend to get irritated whenever it’s called a “movement” (or, for that matter, anything other than the technical term “prelature”). Escrivá was succeeded by his closest aide, Álvaro del Portillo,who in turn was succeeded by Echevarría, his former secretary. Portillo died in 1994, while Echevarría passed away in Rome on Dec. 12, 2016, the feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe. All three were Spaniards. Both Del Portillo and Echevarría had worked closely with Escrivá and were widely seen internally as authoritative interpreters of his mind, so it was almost as if the founder continued to hold the reins from beyond the grave. One of the biggest challenges of the new prelate will be the fact that most of the candidates were teenagers at the time of Escrivá’s death. There are currently 2,083 Opus Dei priests, plus 1,900 who are members of the Society of the Holy Cross, an association for priests. Most in the latter group were ordained in diocesan seminaries, but later in life embraced Opus Dei’s spirituality. The prelature’s website defines “the sanctification of work, prayer and service to others, unity of life and, especially, knowing ourselves to be children of God and of the Church” as the keys of St. Josemaria’s message. During the almost 90 years of its existence, Opus Dei has been a powerful actor in the Catholic Church, and also controversial. Lauded for its commitment to the empowerment of laity, it was also looked upon with suspicion by critics who accused the group of a cult-like internal culture. It’s also often considered to have a conservative political and theological agenda, which plays well among some circles and not so much in others. As prelate, Echevarría had to get through several controversies, including the aftermath of Escrivá’s beatification under St. Pope John Paul II, which many believed happened too quickly after his death. Then similar accusations arose a decade later, when Escrivá was declared a saint. Accusations of Opus Dei being a financial empire, too aligned with a “machista” treatment of women and secrecy were common currency, leading to some bishops looking askance at the idea of an Opus Dei operation in their diocese. Today, however, most Catholic officials see Opus Dei as they might see Caritas or the Salesians: as another piece of furniture in the Catholic living room.
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