Dan Brown’s best-selling novel The Da Vinci Code compounds its blatant and at times absurd historical errors with a full-blown attack on the Catholic organization Opus Dei. According to the author, Opus Dei is an evil, wealthy, conniving cult that poses a danger to much of the world. Opus Dei officials have answered the charges in full, exposing them to be malevolent nonsense. (See www.opusdei.com.) Still, you have to give Brown credit for consistency; he is almost always wrong.
Opus Dei is a thoroughly recognized and approved organization within the Catholic Church. Founded in 1928 by Saint Josemaria Escriva, it has some 83,000 lay members in about 60 countries (3,000 in the United States), some 2,000 priests, and tens of thousands of “Cooperators” who assist the organization in a variety of ways. Millions participate in Opus Dei retreats, worship services, and social justice programs. Doctrinally, the organization is wholly orthodox, teaching the faith expressed in the Catechism and nothing else. This is a major reason it has enemies. The Left inside the Church is often just as angry as their brethren outside the body of the faithful, especially when it comes to teaching concerning sexual matters.
My wife and I first became acquainted with Opus Dei people in the Milwaukee area in 1997. They are among the finest human beings we have ever met. That impression has remained consistent over the years as our Opus Dei acquaintances have extend beyond our area. Nothing even suggesting the villainy found in Brown’s book has crossed our path.
Still, nothing on this globe is perfect, and one may expect some criticisms to ring true. Is Opus Dei smug and secretive, as is often claimed? Well, some members do appear smug, but never, in my experience, in an offensive way. They belong to a very select and rigorous organization. One doesn’t just sign up; there is a lengthy period of scrutiny before one may belong (again, see the Opus Dei website), and the daily spiritual exercises are not for the weak and the lazy. I call Opus Dei the Marine Corps of the Church. And the Marines are a pretty proud group. Still, if you criticized an Opus Dei member for smugness, chances are that he or she would be mortified, see a confessor, and make every effort to return to the radical humility mandated by the organization’s founder.
Secretive? Well, the organization does keep a rather low profile; you won’t see Opus Dei signs anywhere, not even outside the living quarters of its celibate members. But that is in keeping with the teachings of Saint Josemaria, who wanted the praise and glory to go upward rather than to those attempting to carry out the Good News. It may well also reflect a history of persecution of Opus Dei, especially by the Communists in Spain, where the organization originated. During the Spanish Revolution, it will be recalled, Reds slaughtered thousands of nuns, priests, and laity, and Saint Josemaria barely escaped with his life.
Read Opus Dei literature for yourself to see the founder’s vision. You might begin with The Way, a pocket-sized volume by Saint Josemaria that provides comfort and inspiration to millions. It contains nothing more nor less than the Catholic faith. Opus Dei operates its own press, making available some of the finest Catholic books and pamphlets ever written. It offers a New Testament with commentary, often by the early Church Fathers, that is most helpful to even veteran Christians.
Opus Dei does a great deal to help the physical and intellectual, as well as spiritual, lives of people all across the world. Members are especially mindful of the poor and needy, as Jesus Christ commanded. One nearby example is the Midtown Educational Foundation in Chicago, founded in 1965. (See www.midtown-metro.org.) In a recent “Report Card,” the MEF described itself thus: “Midtown Educational Foundation (MEF) helps inner-city youngsters to become better students and better people through its sponsorship of the metro Achievement Center for girls and Midtown Center for boys in Chicago and Waukegan, Illinois. Metro and Midtown’s after-school and summertime programs integrate academics with virtues.”
Between 1997 and 2004, 209 young men and women from Chicago’s inner city participated in MEF programs. A study by an independent consulting firm (See www.newtrac.com), showed that 89% of MEF alumni went on to college, as opposed to 20% of Hispanic and African-American students nationwide. An astounding 98% of MEF alumni graduated from high school, as opposed to 44% of their peers in Chicago public schools. Thirty percent of alumni surveyed said they participate in community volunteer activities.
MEF has an annual budget in excess of $2 million, raised in part by a board of directors containing some of the area’s leading business and professional men and women. The Chicago Bears organization has long supported MEF, and the Bears Care Foundation recently donated $25,000. Everyone may volunteer time and money to help youngsters reach their potential. Board member Joe Lane said recently, “What interests me most about MEF is its focus on motivating students. With some help from committed adults in the business community, these kids can prepare themselves for college and get ahead ‘on their own.’ MEF is a wonderful intersection between people who want to help and motivate students. It creates a cycle of success that continues to reach into communities where a little boost can make a big difference.”
The “threat” of Opus Dei, then, is its effort to promote Catholic orthodoxy and carry out the Gospel teachings of love and mercy. It is often said that you are known by the enemies you make. Those especially who hate the Christian faith and the Catholic Church do well to oppose Opus Dei, for it intends to do everything in its power to support, emulate, and encourage both.
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