Adventure in Korea

By Mercé. Mercé is a nurse, although at present her full-time occupation is learning Korean. Along with other women of Opus Dei, she recently moved to Korea to help begin the apostolic work there.

Eighty years ago St. Josemaría unfolded a piece of paper and showed it to the first women of Opus Dei. It contained examples of the projects they would soon be beginning throughout the world: university residences, fashion courses, centers for professional formation….

Today that dream is becoming a reality also in Korea.

A few months ago, I came to help start Opus Dei in Daejeon, one of the Korean cities where the Christian presence is strongest. The first Korean-born priest, St. Andrew Kim Dae Gon, who died a martyr for his faith in 1846, came from Daejeon.

Four other women arrived with me, from Brazil, the Philippines, Argentina, and Australia. Two of them are from Korean families, something very helpful for the rest of us, since they have an acquaintance with the traditions and culture of a country none of us had been to before.

Thankfully, we haven’t had to start from scratch, for a member of the Work has been making occasional trips ever since 1988 to begin spreading the message about sanctifying ordinary life.

LEARNING KOREAN…WITH OUR NEIGHBORS’ HELP

With the assistance of a cooperator who met Opus Dei in Peru, we acquired an apartment in September 2009 and began to set up the oratory and find the furnishings we needed. To pay for all this, one of us is now working, and we also received contributions from people in several countries.

Most of us are devoting ourselves full-time to learning Korean because we want to speak it as soon as possible and begin to share in the concerns, interests and joys of the people we are getting to know.

We have received quite a warm welcome here. Someone always seems ready to lend a hand: to find a bookstore, a dentist, or a store that sells goods at a reasonable price.

I must especially thank our neighbors for their help. Among other favors, this past week they came over every day to help me practice my spoken Korean. Thanks to the help of so many people, I am amazed that after only five months I can now read and understand what a short time ago was nothing but an indecipherable puzzle.

Korea is said to resemble a small village that all of a sudden became a large country. Maybe that’s why I feel at home, even though I’m immersed in a new culture with customs and ways of doing things so different from what I’ve previously known. It’s easy to start a conversation with anyone. More than once people have stopped us on the street to ask us if we were speaking Russian!

I’m learning a lot besides the language: to eat "kimchi" with chopsticks, to bow respectfully, to set the table Korean style, to find my way out of the Metro among the eight possible exits…. It’s all a great adventure!

We arrived in Korea in time for the snowiest winter in a century. For some of us, it’s the first time we’ve seen snow. We’ve learned how to unblock the washing machine when the pipes freeze. And how loudly we laughed when a sweater that had been put outside to dry ended up frozen like cardboard: a true work of art!

SOLVING A PUZZLE

Korea is a land of religious diversity, where it’s common to talk about topics of faith. It’s wonderful to see people who are sincerely seeking the truth. In a short time a sizeable group of women has begun attending the classes we give on Catholic doctrine. They take note of points of special interest to pass along to their families and friends. One woman told me: "Faith is like a big puzzle that I’m finally starting to figure out."

Some of these women are beginning to appreciate the spirit of Opus Dei—offering up their work and doing it for love of God. For example, a voice teacher told me that even before hearing of the Work she had already discovered that teaching singing to her students could be a path to God. She had "understood" Opus Dei without having met it.

A few days ago I spoke with a student of English literature while on the bus to the university. When I explained to her that an hour of study well done is, as St. Josemaría taught, an hour of prayer, her eyes opened wide and she kept repeating: "Chincha? Chincha?" (which means, Really? Is that so?)

We go often to Seoul, the capital, where some women have begun helping out in various ways in the Christian activities the Work is organizing, and who attend the means of formation. In December we had a retreat that some of them attended with their friends.

On our way to Korea we stopped in Hong Kong. There I met one of the first three women who brought the Work to the Philippines. Among other things, she told us: "You’ll see that God is the one who will do it all." And that’s already becoming a reality!

Nurse in Haiti: work as an opportunity to serve others

2010/03/08
http://www.opusdei.ca/art.php?p=37877

This was my fourth trip to Haiti to run a small mountain clinic for a week with four other nurse practitioners, most of them from the University of Illinois in Chicago (UIC). These trips are also service-learning experiences for nurse practitioner students from UIC, whom we team up with and teach as we see patients. Our entire team is part of Little by Little, a non-for-profit organization that focuses on improving the health of children and families in Haiti. Through Opus Dei I have learned to always see my work in health care as an opportunity to serve others. Being able to use my work to serve the poor in Haiti has been a special privilege for me.

This year, we saw over 1,000 patients in five days from January 7-12 in the little village of Gramothe on the side of a mountain just outside Port-au-Prince. Many Haitians we saw walked over a day’s distance and spent the night in the open air waiting for us to see them.

Our final day for the clinic was January 12. We saw our last patients by 4pm, cleaned up and left. Most of us decided to walk home, relax in the sun, stop to see some children from the village one last time and just enjoy our final day before our flight Wednesday morning. We made it down the mountain, walked some distance along the dry riverbed filled with white rocks and boulders, and started trekking up the winding road on the next mountain past some very simple homes and several long cinder block walls. At 4:53, just after passing one of the walls, the ground starting shaking, almost knocking us down, and a very loud rumble started.

At first we didn’t know what was happening. Once we realized it was an earthquake, we ran back to the house as fast as we could. Everyone was outside, safe but very scared. Our immediate thought was for the people in Gramothe. Six of us hopped on three all-terrain-vehicles (ATVs) and headed down our mountain, across the riverbed, and back up the other mountain towards the village and clinic. Most of the people in the village were outside; no one was seriously hurt, and although their homes were damaged, the damage was not severe.

Willem from our group took a little girl we found injured from a falling rock to a small nearby hospital. He discovered the hospital had just one doctor and several nurses. By that time, over a hundred injured people were starting to fill the hall and spilling out onto the parking lot. He rushed back to bring us to the hospital to start helping in any way we could.

It was not until this moment that the magnitude of what had happened started to sink in. Two people took a truck up to our own little Gramothe clinic to pack whatever supplies we had left up there. The rest of us hopped on a second truck and someone suggested we start praying. We prayed most of the way to the hospital. I had a prayer card of St. Josemaría with me and through his intercession I asked God many times to give us the strength we needed to handle whatever faced us that night. At the hospital we formed a human chain to be able to get in the doors and down to a room at the far end. It was shocking to walk past so many injured people, most of whom had had some part of a building fall on them.

We saw and stabilized more than one hundred severely wounded patients that night, working well past midnight. The injuries are indescribable but I will never forget the faces of the patients and families we saw. They were faces searching for hope – any kind of hope – and help for themselves and their loved ones. We were very short on supplies but used anything we had: cut-up scrubs were used as bandages, tourniquets and slings, pipes were used to splint fractures, and pieces of T-shirts were used to wash wounds. After we saw everyone who had been waiting, the first large aftershock rocked the building and we left and went home. The church in Gramothe was still lit up and singing voices could be heard in the dark, praising God in the midst of the tragedy.

Over the next two days, we set up a mini-clinic in the yard of our host family and continued to treat many wounded Haitians who walked to us or were carried into the yard on old mattresses. Many of these wounds needed to be treated in an operating room in the United States, but we did the best we could. On Thursday as we saw patients, we could hear songs from the Gramothe village church: it was the funeral of the first little girl we helped in the riverbed after the earthquake.

We returned to the States on January 16. I have settled back into life in Chicago and am back at work as a pediatric nurse practitioner. I continue to pray for the people in Haiti in such desperate need, and thank God for giving us the opportunity to help them as much as we could both before and after the earthquake.

Oscar Romero on Opus Dei: a secure orientation for living as sons of God in the midst of daily family and social obligations

A letter written to the Pope by El Salvadorean Bishop Oscar Romero on July 12, 1975, requesting the opening of a cause for St Josemaria’s canonization. Bishop Romero was killed while celebrating Holy Mass on 24 March 1980, 30 years ago.

"Most Blessed Father,

I regard the still-recent day of the death of Monsignor Josemaria Escriva de Balaguer as contributing to the greater glory of God and to the well-being of souls, and I am requesting of Your Holiness the quick opening of the cause for beatification and canonization of such an eminent priest.

"I had the good fortune of knowing Monsignor Escriva de Balaguer personally and of receiving from him support and fortitude to be faithful to the inalterable doctrine of Christ and to serve with apostolic zeal the Holy Roman Church and this land of Santiago de Maria, which Your Holiness has entrusted to me.

"I have known, for several years now, the work of Opus Dei here in El Salvador, and I can testify to the supernatural sense that animates it and to the fidelity to the ecclesiastical magisterium that characterizes the work.

"Personally, I owe deep gratitude to the priests involved with the Work, to whom I have trusted with much satisfaction the spiritual direction of my life and that of other priests.

"People from all social classes find in Opus Dei a secure orientation for living as sons of God in the midst of their daily family and social obligations. And this is doubtless due to the life and doctrine of its founder.

"In this stormy world overrun by insecurity and doubt, the superb doctrinal fidelity that characterizes Opus Dei is a sign of special grace from God.

"Monsignor Escriva de Balaguer was able to unite in his life a continuous dialogue with Our Lord and a great humanity; one could tell he was a man of God, and his manner was full of sensitivity, kindness, and good humor.

"There are many people who since the moment of his death are privately entrusting him with their needs.

"Most Blessed Father, I humbly repeat my petition for a quick opening of the cause for the beatification and canonization of Monsignor Escriva de Balaguer, for the greater glory of God and for the edification of the Church.

"With filial affection and submission, I kiss Your Ring."

A parish priest of the Adur Valley in West Sussex also reported in a blog that "I was told by an Opus Dei priest that on the very day he was shot, Romero had been spending a day of recollection with them."

James R. Brockman, S.J., in "The Spiritual Journey of Oscar Romero", writes:

Romero remained an auxiliary bishop of San Salvador until October of 1974, when he was named bishop of Santiago de Maria, a rural diocese. He remained in Santiago until named archbishop of San Salvador in February of 1977, at the age of fifty-nine. During these five years, his retreat notes show him continuing to work on the problems of getting along with others and trying to organize his life better, as he had in earlier retreats. At least two of the retreats he made were preached by priests of the secular institute Opus Dei, and during these years and perhaps earlier his ordinary confessor and spiritual director was one or another priest of Opus Dei. While he was bishop of Santiago de Maria, he wrote to Pope Paul VI to appeal for the beatification of [Escriva].

Making Space for God in a Communication World

Zenit

Father Manuel Tamayo admits that being on Facebook means he sometimes has to endure "rather irreverent jokes." But he says the most gratifying part of evangelizing through the media is hearing someone say they've converted or found clarity reading his words.

The Peruvian priest said this in an interview in which he reflected on Benedict XVI's message for this year's World Day of Social Communications, which focuses on priests' use of the media.

Father Tamayo says he remembers being a student when he heard that St. Josemaría Escrivá, the founder of Opus Dei, encouraged youth to study journalism.

"He encouraged young people to follow this career, because he wanted young people with a Christian concept of life to [...] be able to spread Christian doctrine through every means," Father Tamayo recalled. "The Church cannot stay behind and must use these means to reach the people. Hence the Holy Father's concern in encouraging priests."

Cardinal Schönborn: Freedom is precisely what Christianity has to offer modern Europe

By Kirsten Evans

WASHINGTON, D.C., FEB. 4, 2010 (Zenit.org).- Ice and snow did not keep them away. Amidst the flurry of a winter snowstorm, Cardinal Christoph Schönborn, archbishop of Vienna, addressed an auditorium over-flowing with students, faculty, clergy and lay faithful at the Catholic University of America (CUA)...

Of heaven and earth

Alluding to St. Augustine, Cardinal Schönborn went on to explain, "Here in lays the distinctive and unmistakable strength of Christianity: her dual citizenship. At once earthly and heavenly, it invites one to a loyal participation in society, taking on responsibility for the city of man without wanting to overthrow it in order to create some utopian society. This engagement with the temporal is founded on the fact of a peril-less citizenship in the city of God."

Cardinal Schönborn made clear that the Christian's claim to belong not only to an earthly citizenship, but to a heavenly one, is what makes Christianity hated by totalitarian systems, most especially notable in the 20th century. "The Christian is free," he says. "Free with respect to the state, because he is never only a citizen of the state. Never before has this Christian freedom been more clearly expressed than during the time of fascism, communism, and Nazism during the last century, when authentic Christian witness resulted in millions and millions of martyrs."

The cardinal believes that this foundation of freedom is precisely what Christianity has to offer modern Europe. "It is freedom from the demands of the mainstream, from political correctness, or simply from the pressure of the latest fashions. Christian freedom," Cardinal Schönborn described.

Radical freedom

As testimony to the power of Christian freedom, Cardinal Schönborn recalled the great spiritual movements that became cultural movements in Western history. "This year marks exactly 1,100 years since the monastic reform of Cluny," he remembered. "This monastic reform brought Europe over 4,000 monasteries in a period of 200 years. A fantastic network all over Europe, with an enormous economic, social, artistic and spiritual energy."

The cardinal explained that when Cluny began to decline another great spiritual renewal was sparked with Bernard of Clairvaux, then again with the Cistercians, and history repeated itself again with the mendicant orders of Francis and Dominic. Each of these spiritual renewals made enormous contributions to the cultural and civil societies of their time.

"Has enough consideration been given to the freedom made possible by these renewal movements and how much Europe has been influenced by these movements?" he questioned. "From its inception, Christianity allowed people to step outside of their temporal and political order. The idea that man must obey God before he need obey man brought an enormous element of freedom into society," he continued.

The cardinal argued that throughout the centuries the freedom to radically follow Christ set free enormous creative energy throughout the Western world, and is "one of the permanent sources of European vitality."

Cardinal Schönborn also expressed his joy over the resurgence of spiritual movements in today's Church. "Why should history not repeat itself today?" he asked. "Why should we not have the kind of surprise, undreamt-of surprise, ahead of us that Francis of Assisi brought to Europe 800 years ago?" He described the lay movements in the Church as "a very vital sign" and claimed they point to the same creative Spirit that once brought to life the Christian spiritual and cultural renewals of previous centuries. The cardinal mentioned in particular Opus Dei, the Neo-Catechumenal Way, and Communion and Liberation.

Call to purification

But the cardinal did not fail to point out that the modern relationship between secularism and Christianity serves a needed purpose for the purification and maturation of Christianity: "Christianity also needs the critical voice of secular Europe, asking hard questions, sometimes nasty questions, questions we should not try to escape or avoid.

"It does Christianity good to listen to the questions of secular society and be challenged to answer them. It wakes the Christians up and challenges them. It questions Christianity's credibility. And Christianity needs to be questioned.

"It is good for us to be held accountable."

He explained that the critical questioning of the secular world presses Christianity to become what it is called to be, and helps to purify what is incoherent between its words and deeds. "And why?" he asked. "Because deep down, the secular West longs for an authentic Christianity, and hopes for a Christianity that is credible through its life."

Cardinal Schönborn ended the evening with a call to faith. "Christian freedom has an inexhaustible source. 'Remember, I am with you until the end of time.' This saying of Jesus Christ is Christianity's most powerful resource!" he exclaimed. "This alone explains the inexhaustible power of regeneration in Christianity, which again and again experiences its resurrection, in the power of the One who rose again."

Showing the real story in Africa

By Rome Reports

Africa continues to be an unknown territory for many. Not only for those who visit it’s deep jungles or it’s deserts. Even those who read the headlines daily don’t get the full grasp of the reality on the continent.

Harambee, an NGO, says the media rarely tells the full story on Africa. In an effort to change that, it’s established the 'Communicating Africa' award, which offers professional audiovisual journalists a challenge.

Rosalinda Corbi
International Coordinator of Harambee Africa International Onlus
“It’s about recognizing Africa through a news report. The award has two categories, one for western journalists an another for African journalists. Each one can tell their own story about Africa according to their point of view.”

It’s an award for journalists to shed some light on the rich untold stories about the history of this continent. It’s not about giving a naive or simplistic view of Africa, but instead an effort to show that even in a place ravaged by war and hunger there is also hope and there’s the earnest work of many organizations.

That’s why the prize is just the tip of the iceberg and Harambee wants to gradually change the bias about the continent with as great expectations as its people.

This NGO came to be out of donations that were collected for the canonization in 2002 of Saint Josemaria Escriva, the founder of Opus Dei. Since then Harambee has been dedicated to African development.

So far it’s financed more than one and half million euros 28 projects in 14 African countries. One way of providing a small contribution for development of the continent, is by focusing on the education of children.

Giovanni Mottini
President of Harambee Africa International Onlus
“We’re convinced that education is a priority to Africa because in about 10 or 15 years today’s kids will the future of these countries. Among them will be those who will be responsible for making the tough decision in these countries. That’s why education is our priority.”

Harambee means, “all together” in Swahili and it illustrates exactly what Africa needs and the nature of this organization. All together, for a continent that has so much to show the world.

If man is not reconciled with God, he is also in conflict with creation, with himself

Q: In some of his conferences he has spoken of the "rediscovery" of the sacrament of reconciliation. To what degree do you regard this need as important?

Cardinal Herranz: To the degree that this sacrament is, as the arteries are for blood in the body, the privileged channel for the life of grace in the soul, the "stopping" or abandonment of the sacrament of penance or reconciliation would produce a heart attack or necrosis in the spiritual fabric of the person, and also of whole Christian communities, because the sense of sin, the need for forgiveness and the enjoyment of peace and joy of the reconciled soul would be gradually lost.

In fact in the address I just referred to, Benedict XVI addressed this profoundly human need: "If man is not reconciled with God, he is also in conflict with creation. He is not reconciled with himself, he would like to be something other than what he is and consequently he is not reconciled with his neighbor either. Part of reconciliation is also the ability to acknowledge guilt and to ask forgiveness from God and from others. Lastly, part of the process of reconciliation is also the readiness to do penance, the willingness to suffer deeply for one's sin and to allow oneself to be transformed."

And the Pope added: "Today, in this world of ours, we need to rediscover the sacrament of penance and reconciliation. The fact that it has largely disappeared from the daily life and habits of Christians is a symptom of a loss of truthfulness with regard both to ourselves and to God; a loss that endangers our humanity and diminishes our capacity for peace.."

In many cases -- as John Paul II reminded in his Motu proprio "The Mercy of God" -- it suffices for the priest to be available at all times and also in an ample schedule known in the parish and other places of public worship, so that little by little many more Christians will again receive this sacrament in a personal way. As is logical, we must also pray and do everything possible so that abuses in collective absolutions, wherever they happen, will disappear, which do grave damage and do not give true peace and joy to consciences. When sacramental confession is practiced frequently, there begins to be spiritual direction, greater desires for holiness, more peace in families and justice in society, more priestly vocations.

It is well known that I owe very much to St. Josemaría Escriva. He was a great apostle of sacramental confession, which he presented in his European and American catecheses as the sacrament of joy." He said for example in Chile, with the direct and familiar style that characterized him: "Confess, confess, confess! Christ has lavished mercy on creatures. Things don't go well, because we don't go to him, to cleanse us, to purify us, to inflame us. [...] The Lord is waiting for many to have a good bath in the sacrament of penance! And he has a great banquet prepared for them, that of a wedding, of the Eucharist; the ring of engagement and fidelity, and of friendship for ever. Go to confession! You, daughters and sons, bring souls to confession. Don't make my coming to Chile futile!"

Roots of accusations of secrecy against Opus Dei

From Wikipedia on Opus Dei

According to several journalists who have worked independently on Opus Dei, such as John Allen, Jr., Vittorio Messori, Patrice de Plunkett, Maggy Whitehouse, Noam Friedlander many of the criticisms against Opus Dei are myths and unproven tales.

Allen, Messori, and Plunkett say that most of these myths were created by its opponents, with Allen adding that he perceives that Opus Dei members generally practice what they preach.

Allen, Messori, and Plunkett also state that accusations that Opus Dei is secretive are unfounded. These accusations stem from a clerical paradigm which expects Opus Dei members to behave as monks and clerics, people who are traditionally known and externally identifiable as seekers of holiness.

In contrast, these journalists continue, Opus Dei's lay members, like any normal Catholic professional, are ultimately responsible for their personal actions, and do not externally represent the organization which provides them religious education.

Writer and broadcast analyst John L. Allen, Jr. states that Opus Dei provides abundant information about itself.

These journalists have stated that the historic roots of criticisms against Opus Dei can be found in influential clerical circles.

Why are Opus Dei centres not signposted?

Question and answer at Opus Dei today

Leo:

I have a friend who goes to an Opus Dei centre and when I went to it, I noticed that there was no sign outside indicating that it was Opus Dei. Why is that? I mean if you want people to know you're there.. wouldn't it make sense to show that "Here!.. this is an Opus Dei centre"! Thanks.

leo


Pam:

Hi Leo,

I always think about a center as a family home. Wouldn't you be surprised if while you go by the street you see a sign in front of each house saying "Mary Smith's home" or "John Black's house"? I think the same about an Opus Dei center. The numeraries (celibate members) live there and the "center" is actually a home so it would be a little weird to have a sign outside... I'm sure you realized that when you accompanied your friend, you realized it wasn't a "club" or "college" with classrooms but a family home with living rooms, right? On the other hand, I believe each diocese has the address and names of the Opus Dei members working in their diocese so there is in fact no secrecy.

I hope I answered your question. I do not live in a center, I'm a married woman, but I feel at home everytime I go to a center. Opus Dei is like a family within the big family of the Church and its Founder, St. Josemaría Escrivá, wanted the centers to be like family homes...

All the best,

Pam

Leo:

OK.. thanks Pam. But I don't think Opus Dei is like a family.. I mean it's an established organisation in the church, right... so, like any other organisation - they have their places ear-marked on the map so people can go to them. I mean.. Opus Dei centres are also places where people receive standard information from the organisation like talks and stuff.


Pam:

Hi again!

I was glad to see you came back to read the answer ;O)

Yes, you're right in saying Opus Dei is an institution, among the many that exist within the Catholic Church. But you don't receive "standard information", actually the idea is to give you formation, doctrine, that help you know your faith better, to help you know Christ better.

I will encourage you to keep going to the center with your friend. That's the best way you can get to know more about Opus Dei itself. Please keep writing if you have more question, we're glad to help!

All the best,

Pam

Leo:

Ok, thanks Pam. I kind of understand it now. I guess it's just the whole secrecy thing people keep harpping on about it and the signposting is one of those things that they like to use to "prove" their point: "you see there!.. they don't even show where they give their talks!"... but I understand it pretty much if they are a family and they live in a home.. I wouldn't like my home to have neon lights either!

Roque:

I'm glad Leo asked that question about signposting Opus Dei Centers as Opus Dei Centers. Pam's answer may make sense if a person knows Opus Dei very intimately. Though in some part of the world the mailboxes carry the name of the Family who lives in that house.

Most Centers used by Opus Dei members that have a public status like the Center where I reside in Iloilo City, Philippines, have a sign that names the Center. The Center in Iloilo is called Tuburan Study Center and it has a sign visible next to the entrance. But the sign does not say that it is an Opus Dei Center. But if you read the brochures for public distribution about the activities in this Center the phrase: "The spiritual direction of Tuburan Study Center is entrusted to Opus Dei, a Personal Prelature of the Catholic Church." appears in the brochure. No secrets here at all.

The reason why we do not sign-post the Center as an Opus Dei Center is because most centers are not owned by Opus Dei. It's that simple. The Centers themselves, the physical structures, are not owned by Opus Dei itself. They are usually owned by a local Foundation whose trustees may or may not be members of Opus Dei. For example the Tuburan Study Center where I live is owned by the Daguaio Foundation, not by Opus Dei.

I've been in Opus Dei for 40 years now more or less and I never heard if it was explicitly forbidden to sign-post a center as an Opus Dei Center as if we were trying to hide something. Who knows perhaps someday it would be done. Perhaps never. It really is no big deal. But I do understand Leo's concern.

Somehow, by word of mouth people get to know that a particular Center is run by Opus Dei. And people who want to know about Opus Dei can write the official web site and get info as to where they could go for activities organized by Opus Dei. They will be given the contact numbers or addresses of the Center closest to where they live.

Hope my comments help clarify Leo's question.

Catholic Opus Dei-inspired MBA is number one in Economist Global Rankings

By Egbert F “Burt” Bhatty in Washington Hotwire. Burt has worked 30 years as an analyst at the American Embassy, New Delhi, and at British Dunlop and American Chase Manhattan multinationals.

Opus Dei.

Isn’t that the powerful, evil, Catholic group in The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown in 2003?

No. Opus Dei is nothing like this bizarre creation of Dan Brown’s overwrought imagination.

In reality, Opus Dei, which is Latin for “Work of God”, runs educational institutions and agricultural training centers. In more than 90 countries across 4 continents.

One such educational Institution is IESE.

The initials IESE stands for “Instituto de Estudios Superiores de la Empresa” in Spanish.

In English, IESE translates as “Institute of Higher Business Studies”, or “International Graduate School of Management”.

And, The Economist ranks the IESE Business School’s MBA the # 1 in the world in 2009. A rank it, also, attained in 2005 and 2006.

The ability of the IESE MBA program to progress careers, open new opportunities, develop personal and work-related skills, were factors that The Economist considered in its rankings.

But, IESE students get more than just these secular capabilities.

Being students in a Catholic-driven Institution they get the whole Catholic shebang.

But, lightly.

Ever so lightly.

They assimilate the fundamental Catholic belief that each one of us, in our own way, is called to holiness.

That the very quotidian of our lives is the way to Goodness and Godliness.

Or, as Opus Dei founder, St Josemaria Escriva de Balaguer, put it — “There is something holy, something divine, hidden in the most ordinary situations, and it is up to each one of you to discover it.”

Discovering the Divine is what IESE’s MBA students are taught to do.

But, where is the Divine to be found?

In Man. In men.

Which is why IESE states that its mission is to teach students “to serve society…..”

Quite unlike American Business Schools which teach students to screw people if necessary to guarantee profits.

Opus Dei: A Call to Holiness for Everyone

By Derrick Flannigan, of Washington, Missouri, who teaches music and theology. 8 March 2010

During this Lenten season, we are inclined to look at our lives and ask how we can better serve Our Lord and others by means of daily sacrifice. For some this may mean giving up chocolate or deciding to pray the Holy Rosary each day. But how are we to approach the spiritual life after these forty days in the desert? Are we to simply go back to our old habits?

These questions have lead me to the writings and work St. Josemaria Escriva, the "founder" of Opus Dei. Although this organization has been criticized in recent years, Opus Dei has helped members both in and outside of the Catholic Church to experience a life of virtue while living in society. Escriva is known for admitting that he did not begin Opus Dei ("work of God") saying, "I did not invent anything; another is acting and I am merely ready to serve [God] as an instrument". The essence of Opus Dei is to assist people in experiencing God in their work, study, family life and ecclesial worship.

After first encountering Opus Dei, I thought it was most likely started after the Second Vatican Council. However, Opus Dei was started in 1928 and actually was under scrutiny by many in the Church. Today Opus Dei is a personal prelature of the Church and has study centers throughout the world. By helping the faith to live lives of holiness, Opus Dei is ultimately fulfilling what the Council called all to: become holy...become saints! Anyone who has read Lumen Gentium knows that the Church calls all to holiness, not just priests and religious. And this is exactly what Escriva saw the need for when he "began" the Work!

Escriva challenges everyday Christians to live a life of heroic virtue. This type of virtue is one in which we strive to encounter Christ in our daily lives and are faithful to Him. Many of us won't be great saints in the Church, but we're all called to holiness, to live our faith the best we can and see Christ in others! I love the description that our current Pope Benedict XVI gave when commenting on Opus Dei: "Heroic virtue does not mean that the saint works out a 'gymnastics' of holiness that ordinary people could not tackle. It means, instead, that God's presence is revealed in the life of a person; it is revealed when the person could do nothing by himself or for himself" (Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, 9 Oct 2002: L'Osservatore Romano, page 3)

It's clear that we cannot do anything good without God. It's also clear that we have been called by God! Because of this call we can be sure that Our Lord will give us the gifts necessary to do His will and truly live a life of holiness. The primary gifts of Our Lord are the Sacraments, the means of grace for mankind! How often do we fail to remember that Our Lord gives of Himself freely in these seven gifts. We must strive to use such gifts for the good of our souls and those around us! Our Lord is waiting for us to respond...He wants to do so much good by means of us...let us go to Him!

And so, after prayer and reflection, I hope to pursue a vocation with Opus Dei, striving to learn from St. Josemaria Escriva practical ways to serve Our Lord and encounter Him as a theology teacher, son, brother, uncle, boyfriend, colleague and friend. Please pray for me as I begin this journey, which will begin this evening with my first session of spiritual direction with a priest of Opus Dei and an "Evening of Recollection" with other men of Opus Dei! Thank you for your prayers and for responding to God's call to holiness!

A crusading editor who stood up to the fascists

By WILLIAM WEST in The Age

THE death of Antonio Fontan, named by the International Press Institute as one of the "heroes of press freedom", ends a critical chapter in the battle for freedom of the press around the world.

Fontan, editor-in-chief of Spain's Madrid daily newspaper from 1967 until 1972 when it was forced to close by the Franco government, refused to back down when the fascist regime repeatedly tried to silence the newspaper.

During that period, Fontan continued to publish pro-democracy material and to criticise the government.

As a result he was prosecuted 19 times and fined 10 times for a range of articles, including those championing civil liberties and defending democratic principles.

The paper had to cope with large losses when it was shut down for four months in 1968. Eventually the Franco government threatened to take steps to close the publication permanently unless Fontan was replaced by a journalist close to the governing Falange party.

....

Fontan's stand was vindicated when democracy was restored in 1975 and Spain's Supreme Court overturned the order forcing Madrid's closure, forcing the state to pay damages.

In the democratic elections that followed, Fontan ran for the Senate as a member of the Union de Centro Democratico coalition party, became the first Senate president of Spain's democracy and helped to draft Spain's 1978 constitution which legislated freedom of information and expression. Fontan then served as a government minister for three years.

In addition to his roles in the media and government, Fontan played an important role in training young journalists.

He established the country's first university school of journalism at the University of Navarra, a university under the guidance of Opus Dei, of which Fontan was a member.

His role in opposing the Franco government, which numbered members of Opus Dei, was seen in Spain as a confirmation of the political freedom of Opus Dei members.

To read the full article, please see The Age.