By Robert Moynihan, an excerpt from Catholic Culture
In one of the most important gestures of his pontificate, Pope John Paul II on October 6 canonized St. Josemaria Escriva de Balaguer, the founder of Opus Dei. With that gesture, he placed the full weight of his papal authority behind Escriva's "Work"
"To be holy does not mean being superior to others; the saint can be very weak, with many mistakes in his life. Holiness is this profound contact with God, becoming a friend of God: it is letting the Other work, the Only One who can really make the world both good and happy."
— Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, remarks on the canonization of St. Josemaria Escriva, from the L'Osservatore Romano, Special Issue, October 6, 2002
"Heroism, sanctity, daring, require a constant spiritual preparation. You can only give to others what you already have. And in order to give God to them, you yourself need to get to know him, to live his life, to serve him." — St. Josemaria Escriva, The Forge, no. 78
The 20th century ended, for the Catholic Church, on October 6, 2002. It ended precisely 40 years after the opening of the Second Vatican Council in 1962.
It ended on a warm, blue autumn day in Rome with John Paul II's canonization of Josemaria Escriva de Balaguer, the founder of Opus Dei, as a saint.
In so doing, the Pope presented sanctity as the vocation of every baptized person, and so reiterated the central message of the Second Vatican Council. (This year marks the centenary of the birth of Josemaria Escriva, on January 9, 1902, in Barbastro, northern Spain. He died in Rome on June 26, 1975.)
The 20th century was the century that brought the medieval world to a definitive end.
That old world was "Christendom" (admittedly in considerable disarray from the French Revolution onward), dominated politically by at least nominally Christian kings and kaisers and aristocratic elites, dominated militarily and economically by Western Europeans, who colonized the world.
The First World War saw those elites slaughtered in the trenches of France, ushering in the Communist, Fascist and Nazi periods.
The Second World War saw the final destruction of the old European order, as Western European cities were bombed, the continent's Christian tradition was rejected and ridiculed, and its Jewish population murdered or expelled. Out of that war came the United Nations, the creation of the state of Israel, the general de-colonialization of the world, and, after a decade or so, the Second Vatican Council (1962-65).
The essential historical purpose and effect of that Council — as it now seems from a vantage point of 40 years — was to prepare the Church for a new world order : the order which is now nearly upon us.
No longer would the world be Europe-centered; the age of "globalization" could already be sensed in the era of intercontinental ballistic missiles (the Cuban missile crisis occurred in the month the Council opened, in October 1962) and international communications.
No longer would the Church be primarily organized in small, separated communities (parishes, dioceses) of people who lived most of their lives in one place, in one cultural context; the Church would increasingly be organized as one world-wide community, a less canonically and jurisdictionally structured social body than a world-wide order, or organism — like the new Church movements . . . or like a personal prelature (the group founded by Escriva, Opus Dei, is for the moment the only personal prelature in the Catholic Church).
The 20th century was marked by vast and pitiless persecutions of the Church. The Communists and the Nazis made clear to the Church that state power in the emerging "modern" world could seek out, crush and physically eliminate unwanted religious groups. (There were more Christian martyrs in the 20th century than in all previous centuries.)
But, if the post-World War II "new world order" were also to be un-Christian, perhaps in a veiled way but with even more sinister and effective means of control and persecution, because more advanced and comprehensive, what chance would the Church have to survive and prosper?
Having experienced the 20th century, the solution seemed evident: the Church needed to "go to ground" — to de-clericalize, de-hierarchicalize, and to have its members intermingle in all aspects of ordinary human life, indistinguishable in any outward way from other members of society, except in the excellence of their work, engaged in as a vocation . . . a vocation to sanctity in the midst of the world. And so, at the Second Vatican Council, the Church made the extraordinary leap, the epochal transformation, from a Church organized along lines that had worked well enough in the medieval age, hierarchical and clerical, to a Church organized to survive and flourish and live out the faith in a "new age," an age of a looming "new world order."
And this was the deep meaning of Pope John Paul II's words when he said, after canonizing Escriva, that the message of the Opus Dei founder is to stand up to "a materialist culture that threatens to dissolve the most genuine identity of the disciples of Christ."
The Holy Father pronounced the formula of canonization for the Spanish priest at 10:23 a.m. in St. Peter's Square. And so, in a certain sense, we may say that we know the exact minute that the old century and the old world ended: at 10:23 a.m. in Rome on a sunny October morning in the year 2002.
Some 300,000 pilgrims, many of them members of Opus Dei, who filled St. Peter's Square, applauded at that moment.
Read the rest at Catholic Culture.
Monday, October 17, 2011
Tuesday, September 27, 2011
Strong criticism from former members of a religious organization: What experts say
By Raul Nidoy in Reason
The departure of a member in a religious organization can cause pain and big problems for both the person who formerly committed his entire life for the organization and for the organization itself.
One such problem is the existence of extraordinarily fierce criticism made by these ex-members towards the former organization they once showed devotion to.
Cardinal Christoph Schonborn discussed this phenomenon: departure or dismissal may ... occur after someone has already made a final commitment. Some of those who have left a community keep in friendly contact, following their own way by mutual agreement. Of course, communities approved by the Church will - in case of conflict - offer their members and ex-members the opportunity to approach the appropriate Church authorities.
Some ex-members cannot come to terms with their negative experiences and make them known from the platform of the media. People living together will experience their limitations and weaknesses. It is, however, unjustified, to present personal difficulties within a community as if they were a general experience. On the whole, negative experiences of individuals are painful for the whole Church community.
Massimo Introvigne, a sociologist of religion who wrote an Encyclopedia of Religion, defines three types of narratives or stories constructed by former members of new religious movements:
Type I narratives are from defectors. The narrative assigns responsibility to the failures of the leaver. He expresses regret and acknowledges the organization's high moral standards.
Type II narratives are from ordinary leave-takers, a phenomenon that happens everyday. They lose interest and commitment, and goes to a new one. They hold no strong feelings concerning their past experience in the group, and usually feel no need to justify themselves. They may make "comments on the organization’s more negative features or shortcomings" while also recognizing that there was "something positive in the experience."
Type III narratives are from what are technically called apostates. These ex-members dramatically reverse their loyalties and becoming a professional enemy of the organization they have left. These apostates often join an oppositional coalition fighting the organization, often claiming victimization.
Bryan R. Wilson, Reader Emeritus of Sociology of the University of Oxford and honored as "one of the most distinguished sociologists of the 20th century" who has exercised "a crucial influence on the sociology of religion", stated that apostates of new religious movements are generally in need of self-justification, seeking to reconstruct their past and to excuse their former affiliations, while blaming those who were formerly their closest associates.
Wilson, thus, challenges the reliability of the apostate's testimony by saying that the apostate "must always be seen as one whose personal history predisposes him to bias with respect to both his previous religious commitment and affiliations, the suspicion must arise that he acts from a personal motivation to vindicate himself and to regain his self-esteem, by showing himself to have been first a victim but subsequently to have become a redeemed crusader."
He also asserts that some apostates or defectors from religious organizations rehearse atrocity stories to explain how, by manipulation, coercion or deceit, they were recruited to groups that they now condemn.
While these experts say this, it does not follow that religious organizations are beyond reproach and are perfect. The Catholic Church wants to continue purifying itself and its members want to continue purifying themselves, re-converting to Christ. But so too the whole of humanity should continue purifying itself, especially from modern-day errors such as atheism (no God), secularism (no dedication to God and to religion), relativism (no truth) and hedonism (no moral standards, only pleasure). And instead turn back to Christ as one society.
As Cardinal Schonborn put it:
In our time, a new desire is arising in different countries of the world, in spite of all human frailty, to live up to the message of Christ and to serve the Church in unity with the Holy Father and the Bishops.
Many see new charisms as a sign of hope. Others experience these new awakenings as something strange; for others they are a challenge, by others again they may be experienced as an accusation, against which they vindicate themselves sometimes reacting with reproach in turn.
Some promote a kind of humanism that has less and less to do with its Christian roots. But we should not forget: "If the Second Vatican Council speaks of the 'ecclesia semper reformanda', it speaks not only of the necessity to think anew about the structures of the Church, but more about the constant renewal of the life of the Church and about questioning some long-established and treasured ideas which may be too much in keeping with the spirit of the age."
For further study:
Schonborn: http://www.ewtn.com/library/CHRIST/ORSECTS.HTM
Introvigne: http://www.cesnur.org/testi/Acropolis.htm
Wilson: http://www.neuereligion.de/ENG/Wilson/
The departure of a member in a religious organization can cause pain and big problems for both the person who formerly committed his entire life for the organization and for the organization itself.
One such problem is the existence of extraordinarily fierce criticism made by these ex-members towards the former organization they once showed devotion to.
Cardinal Christoph Schonborn discussed this phenomenon: departure or dismissal may ... occur after someone has already made a final commitment. Some of those who have left a community keep in friendly contact, following their own way by mutual agreement. Of course, communities approved by the Church will - in case of conflict - offer their members and ex-members the opportunity to approach the appropriate Church authorities.
Some ex-members cannot come to terms with their negative experiences and make them known from the platform of the media. People living together will experience their limitations and weaknesses. It is, however, unjustified, to present personal difficulties within a community as if they were a general experience. On the whole, negative experiences of individuals are painful for the whole Church community.
Massimo Introvigne, a sociologist of religion who wrote an Encyclopedia of Religion, defines three types of narratives or stories constructed by former members of new religious movements:
Type I narratives are from defectors. The narrative assigns responsibility to the failures of the leaver. He expresses regret and acknowledges the organization's high moral standards.
Type II narratives are from ordinary leave-takers, a phenomenon that happens everyday. They lose interest and commitment, and goes to a new one. They hold no strong feelings concerning their past experience in the group, and usually feel no need to justify themselves. They may make "comments on the organization’s more negative features or shortcomings" while also recognizing that there was "something positive in the experience."
Type III narratives are from what are technically called apostates. These ex-members dramatically reverse their loyalties and becoming a professional enemy of the organization they have left. These apostates often join an oppositional coalition fighting the organization, often claiming victimization.
Bryan R. Wilson, Reader Emeritus of Sociology of the University of Oxford and honored as "one of the most distinguished sociologists of the 20th century" who has exercised "a crucial influence on the sociology of religion", stated that apostates of new religious movements are generally in need of self-justification, seeking to reconstruct their past and to excuse their former affiliations, while blaming those who were formerly their closest associates.
Wilson, thus, challenges the reliability of the apostate's testimony by saying that the apostate "must always be seen as one whose personal history predisposes him to bias with respect to both his previous religious commitment and affiliations, the suspicion must arise that he acts from a personal motivation to vindicate himself and to regain his self-esteem, by showing himself to have been first a victim but subsequently to have become a redeemed crusader."
He also asserts that some apostates or defectors from religious organizations rehearse atrocity stories to explain how, by manipulation, coercion or deceit, they were recruited to groups that they now condemn.
While these experts say this, it does not follow that religious organizations are beyond reproach and are perfect. The Catholic Church wants to continue purifying itself and its members want to continue purifying themselves, re-converting to Christ. But so too the whole of humanity should continue purifying itself, especially from modern-day errors such as atheism (no God), secularism (no dedication to God and to religion), relativism (no truth) and hedonism (no moral standards, only pleasure). And instead turn back to Christ as one society.
As Cardinal Schonborn put it:
In our time, a new desire is arising in different countries of the world, in spite of all human frailty, to live up to the message of Christ and to serve the Church in unity with the Holy Father and the Bishops.
Many see new charisms as a sign of hope. Others experience these new awakenings as something strange; for others they are a challenge, by others again they may be experienced as an accusation, against which they vindicate themselves sometimes reacting with reproach in turn.
Some promote a kind of humanism that has less and less to do with its Christian roots. But we should not forget: "If the Second Vatican Council speaks of the 'ecclesia semper reformanda', it speaks not only of the necessity to think anew about the structures of the Church, but more about the constant renewal of the life of the Church and about questioning some long-established and treasured ideas which may be too much in keeping with the spirit of the age."
For further study:
Schonborn: http://www.ewtn.com/library/CHRIST/ORSECTS.HTM
Introvigne: http://www.cesnur.org/testi/Acropolis.htm
Wilson: http://www.neuereligion.de/ENG/Wilson/
Monday, September 5, 2011
Proper understanding of the Eucharist is where we need to begin to restore the Body of Christ.
By Jim Cope in RenewAmerica
We Catholics go to Mass dressed worse than when we go to the dentist. I guess it all starts from a lack of understanding of Who resides in the tabernacle. Of course, many churches have placed the tabernacle somewhere outside the sanctuary or even the church proper. He is in something of a holy broom closet or a chapel in another part of the building.
The fact that the Eucharist is the Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity of Jesus Christ is not well known among the laity — and sometimes I think our priests don't know it either. Proper understanding of the Eucharist is where we need to begin to restore the Body of Christ.
I remember being very deeply touched by the Opus Dei priests at evenings of recollection during exposition of the Most Blessed Sacrament. The priest turned to the monstrance before speaking and said, 'With your permission, Lord Jesus Christ.' I wish all Catholics could witness that once; it would be life-changing for them.
We Catholics go to Mass dressed worse than when we go to the dentist. I guess it all starts from a lack of understanding of Who resides in the tabernacle. Of course, many churches have placed the tabernacle somewhere outside the sanctuary or even the church proper. He is in something of a holy broom closet or a chapel in another part of the building.
The fact that the Eucharist is the Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity of Jesus Christ is not well known among the laity — and sometimes I think our priests don't know it either. Proper understanding of the Eucharist is where we need to begin to restore the Body of Christ.
I remember being very deeply touched by the Opus Dei priests at evenings of recollection during exposition of the Most Blessed Sacrament. The priest turned to the monstrance before speaking and said, 'With your permission, Lord Jesus Christ.' I wish all Catholics could witness that once; it would be life-changing for them.
Why World Youth Day is Cool
By Chiqui Agoncillo in Inquirer
On August 16, just a few days from now and counting, hundreds of thousands of young people from all over the world will meet with each other and the Pope in Madrid for World Youth Day 2011 (WYD).
The worldwide celebration happens only every three years in different host countries. WYD celebrations had been held in Rome, Argentina, Spain, Poland, USA, Philippines, France, Canada, Germany, and Australia.
Although it is a Catholic event, all youth are called to join the pilgrimage, regardless of religion.
It was started by the late Pope John Paul II in 1985 to encourage young people everywhere to grow in love for Christ.
The theme of every WYD celebration is traditionally based on a scriptural verse, which is particularly relevant to the time the event is held. This year’s theme comes from St. Paul: “Planted and built up in Christ, firm in the faith.”
Cool pilgrimage
Many young people look forward to WYD because it is a time and place to get in touch with their spiritual side in a new, fun, and cool way. Aside from the pilgrimage, they get to meet people of different backgrounds, exchange souvenirs with them, attend youth festivals and culture programs every day and night for a week.
The last night, however, is what pilgrims look forward to the most because it is the night everyone camps out together after a vigil with the Pope. Think of it like a sleepover in the Cuatro Vientos airport with more than a million people. It really is no surprise that so many people signed up for WYD this year!
WYD is not all fun and games, though. Previous pilgrims from our school told us they’d be really exhausted by the time they got to bed, and they slept for three to four hours only every night. The food’s not always good, and there are crowds everywhere. But you don’t go to WYD for a vacation—WYD is a journey; it’s ultimately a pilgrimage of self-discovery and the discovery of God’s love for us all.
Narra delegation
People usually register for WYD with their families, friends, or delegations. I, with approximately 44 of my schoolmates in Paref Woodrose School Inc., formed the Narra Delegation for the WYD.
Our school entrusts the spiritual formation of the people in it to Opus Dei, a Catholic institution founded by the Spanish Saint Josemaría Escrivá in 1928. The mission of Opus Dei is to spread the message to everyone that work and circumstances of everyday life are occasions for growing closer to God, for serving others, and for improving society. It is in 66 countries and is growing.
Read the rest in the Inquirer.
On August 16, just a few days from now and counting, hundreds of thousands of young people from all over the world will meet with each other and the Pope in Madrid for World Youth Day 2011 (WYD).
The worldwide celebration happens only every three years in different host countries. WYD celebrations had been held in Rome, Argentina, Spain, Poland, USA, Philippines, France, Canada, Germany, and Australia.
Although it is a Catholic event, all youth are called to join the pilgrimage, regardless of religion.
It was started by the late Pope John Paul II in 1985 to encourage young people everywhere to grow in love for Christ.
The theme of every WYD celebration is traditionally based on a scriptural verse, which is particularly relevant to the time the event is held. This year’s theme comes from St. Paul: “Planted and built up in Christ, firm in the faith.”
Cool pilgrimage
Many young people look forward to WYD because it is a time and place to get in touch with their spiritual side in a new, fun, and cool way. Aside from the pilgrimage, they get to meet people of different backgrounds, exchange souvenirs with them, attend youth festivals and culture programs every day and night for a week.
The last night, however, is what pilgrims look forward to the most because it is the night everyone camps out together after a vigil with the Pope. Think of it like a sleepover in the Cuatro Vientos airport with more than a million people. It really is no surprise that so many people signed up for WYD this year!
WYD is not all fun and games, though. Previous pilgrims from our school told us they’d be really exhausted by the time they got to bed, and they slept for three to four hours only every night. The food’s not always good, and there are crowds everywhere. But you don’t go to WYD for a vacation—WYD is a journey; it’s ultimately a pilgrimage of self-discovery and the discovery of God’s love for us all.
Narra delegation
People usually register for WYD with their families, friends, or delegations. I, with approximately 44 of my schoolmates in Paref Woodrose School Inc., formed the Narra Delegation for the WYD.
Our school entrusts the spiritual formation of the people in it to Opus Dei, a Catholic institution founded by the Spanish Saint Josemaría Escrivá in 1928. The mission of Opus Dei is to spread the message to everyone that work and circumstances of everyday life are occasions for growing closer to God, for serving others, and for improving society. It is in 66 countries and is growing.
Read the rest in the Inquirer.
Sunday, September 4, 2011
Kabataan Club: For Public School Girls
By MCS PASION, Contributor for Manila Bulletin
September 1, 2011, 4:25am
MANILA, Philippines — Values education and life-coaching are the key elements that distinguish this club that prepares public high school girls for a productive and meaningful work life…
Public education in our country does not enjoy general esteem. Lack of competent teachers, unmanageable student-teacher ratio, pathetic classroom facilities: these are but some of the culprits.
In addition, save for a handful of achievers, the quality of students who go to public schools is not at all remarkable.
With due respect, the Philippine public educational system can perhaps be likened to a dilapidated machine churning out sub-standard merchandise. The Department of Education (DepEd) can be lauded for its continuous effort to address these technical problems. But along the way, attention to character formation –a basic building block of a healthy nation- sadly lags behind.
In this need, Kabataan found its niche. Now on its sixth year, Kabataan counts on 35 woman volunteers who positively contribute to improving the quality of students who come from public schools.
TOWARDS HIGHER ASPIRATIONS
“Dream and your dreams will fall short.”
These words of St. Josemaría Escrivá, author of The Way, a book of modern spirituality, have posed a challenge to Agnes Dayao since she first read them.
With her retirement and her husband’s demise, Agnes found herself with time in her hands. She realized that apart from taking care of her grandchildren, and getting involved in a local girls’ club among the underprivileged sector, it was time to reach greater heights.
To ensure the girls’ continuous character education, she launched the Kabataan Public High School Girls’ Club, together with Nanette Corcuera, another retired professional from Las Piñas City, and other volunteer friends.
Their pilot schools were at Verdant, Golden Acres, Equitable Talon, and EastTalon, all located in Las Pinas.
The program consists of values formation classes and a mentoring program. The vision: help mold public high school girls into women of virtue to complement their technical know-how.
Kabataan teaches the basic human virtues that are the stairwell to a person’s higher aspirations. ‘’Since half of those who attend Kabataan come from dysfunctional families, we primarily aim at forming these girls to be good mothers and good workers” says Nanette.
ONE-ON-ONE LIFE COACHING
Most of the students live in the urban poor areas of Las Piñas, where it is difficult for the most basic human virtues to thrive.
“They need to have a good dose of fortitude to stand up for what they learn in Kabataan which may clash with what they usually experience at home and in their neighborhood” says Agnes. “I know how it is to be poor... but with perseverance you can improve your situation.”
The backbone of Kabataan is the mentoring program where adult lead ers volunteer their time for one-on-one life coaching. With this, they are able to monitor the academic and personal development of the students.
Crysjoy and Eloisa, both alumnae of Kabataan are now enrolled in the twoyear Dual Training Program in the Food & Beverage Services course of Punlaan School and are both presidents of their respective classes.
When asked what inspires her in life, Crysjoy talked about the STRONG virtues (Steadfast, Trustworthy, Respectful, Open-minded, Noble, Gutsy) that she learned in a workshop sponsored by Kabataan. In fact, on a recent visit, the Australian Ambassador was impressed with the storytelling talent of Crysjoy who won first prize in a school contest.
He asked about her background and discovered its roots in Kabataan. A good number of the club’s alumnae make it to the top in their respective schools. With their training in Kabataan, they pursue higher studies better equipped and with stronger convictions.
In 2010, 80 graduates of Kabataan entered college. Eight of them are enjoying scholarships in tourism-related courses at Punlaan School in San Juan and at the Maligaya Institute for Culinary Arts and Residential Services in Manila.
read the rest at Manila Bulletin.
September 1, 2011, 4:25am
MANILA, Philippines — Values education and life-coaching are the key elements that distinguish this club that prepares public high school girls for a productive and meaningful work life…
Public education in our country does not enjoy general esteem. Lack of competent teachers, unmanageable student-teacher ratio, pathetic classroom facilities: these are but some of the culprits.
In addition, save for a handful of achievers, the quality of students who go to public schools is not at all remarkable.
With due respect, the Philippine public educational system can perhaps be likened to a dilapidated machine churning out sub-standard merchandise. The Department of Education (DepEd) can be lauded for its continuous effort to address these technical problems. But along the way, attention to character formation –a basic building block of a healthy nation- sadly lags behind.
In this need, Kabataan found its niche. Now on its sixth year, Kabataan counts on 35 woman volunteers who positively contribute to improving the quality of students who come from public schools.
TOWARDS HIGHER ASPIRATIONS
“Dream and your dreams will fall short.”
These words of St. Josemaría Escrivá, author of The Way, a book of modern spirituality, have posed a challenge to Agnes Dayao since she first read them.
With her retirement and her husband’s demise, Agnes found herself with time in her hands. She realized that apart from taking care of her grandchildren, and getting involved in a local girls’ club among the underprivileged sector, it was time to reach greater heights.
To ensure the girls’ continuous character education, she launched the Kabataan Public High School Girls’ Club, together with Nanette Corcuera, another retired professional from Las Piñas City, and other volunteer friends.
Their pilot schools were at Verdant, Golden Acres, Equitable Talon, and EastTalon, all located in Las Pinas.
The program consists of values formation classes and a mentoring program. The vision: help mold public high school girls into women of virtue to complement their technical know-how.
Kabataan teaches the basic human virtues that are the stairwell to a person’s higher aspirations. ‘’Since half of those who attend Kabataan come from dysfunctional families, we primarily aim at forming these girls to be good mothers and good workers” says Nanette.
ONE-ON-ONE LIFE COACHING
Most of the students live in the urban poor areas of Las Piñas, where it is difficult for the most basic human virtues to thrive.
“They need to have a good dose of fortitude to stand up for what they learn in Kabataan which may clash with what they usually experience at home and in their neighborhood” says Agnes. “I know how it is to be poor... but with perseverance you can improve your situation.”
The backbone of Kabataan is the mentoring program where adult lead ers volunteer their time for one-on-one life coaching. With this, they are able to monitor the academic and personal development of the students.
Crysjoy and Eloisa, both alumnae of Kabataan are now enrolled in the twoyear Dual Training Program in the Food & Beverage Services course of Punlaan School and are both presidents of their respective classes.
When asked what inspires her in life, Crysjoy talked about the STRONG virtues (Steadfast, Trustworthy, Respectful, Open-minded, Noble, Gutsy) that she learned in a workshop sponsored by Kabataan. In fact, on a recent visit, the Australian Ambassador was impressed with the storytelling talent of Crysjoy who won first prize in a school contest.
He asked about her background and discovered its roots in Kabataan. A good number of the club’s alumnae make it to the top in their respective schools. With their training in Kabataan, they pursue higher studies better equipped and with stronger convictions.
In 2010, 80 graduates of Kabataan entered college. Eight of them are enjoying scholarships in tourism-related courses at Punlaan School in San Juan and at the Maligaya Institute for Culinary Arts and Residential Services in Manila.
read the rest at Manila Bulletin.
Tuesday, April 12, 2011
‘Killing Fields’ and ‘Mission’ director makes biopic of Opus Dei founder
By Josephine Darang in Philippine Daily Inquirer
ROLAND JOFFE, the director of “The Killing Fields” and “The Mission,” is an agnostic. But he’s the director of “There be Dragons,” a movie about St. Josémaria Escriva, founder of Opus Dei which is now showing in Spain and will be released in the United States on May 7. The film is based mainly on the life of the founder during the Spanish Civil War in 1936 and shows how Father Escriva at that time chose to forgive his enemies who persecuted not only him, but also Opus Dei, which he had founded on Oct. 2, 1928. Forgiving one’s enemies was something Joffe couldn’t understand.
The film director introduced his Escriva film in Rome on March 21. He was quoted in an interview comparing Escriva to Nelson Mandela in their shared love for freedom and forgiveness. The director admitted, “This story forced me to think as much as I ever have in my life.”
‘God is found in everyday life’
In researching for the film, Joffe (as told to Zenit) was struck by Father Escriva’s teaching, “God is found in everyday life,” “How can God be found in war?” Joffe asked.
“But then,” the director added, “the same question can be asked of all the fundamental challenges in life, and how we face them: How we respond to hatred and rejection, or the desire for revenge and justice—all those dilemmas are heightened in wartime. Those dilemmas are, in a sense, the “dragons” of the film—turning points in our lives where we’re faced with potent choices.”
‘Father, I am Jewish’
A video of a Jewish girl talking to Monsignor Escriva in Chile in 1974 inspired Joffe to go ahead with the film.
During that meeting where hundreds of people were present to listen to the Opus Dei founder, the girl told Escriva: “Father, I’m Jewish but I believe in the Catholic religion, and I would like to convert to Catholicism, but I am a minor and my parents won’t let me.”
Monsignor Escriva answered: “Look, I am going to tell you something that will make you very happy. I learned this from this son of mine (referring to Don Alvaro, a fellow priest, in the background). I must tell you that the first love of my life is a Jew: Jesus, Jesus of Nazareth—a member of your race! And the second love of my life is Mary, most holy Virgin and Mother, mother of the Jewish man Jesus, and my Mother and your Mother. Do you like that?
“And then, I must tell you to be very good toward your parents, to be patient, to pray. Don’t make any gestures of rebellion. Is that clear? ”
Escriva then advised the Jewish girl to continue studying for her catechism and assured her that the Lord Jesus would move her parents to let her follow calmly and serenely the path she wanted.
Read the entire article here.
ROLAND JOFFE, the director of “The Killing Fields” and “The Mission,” is an agnostic. But he’s the director of “There be Dragons,” a movie about St. Josémaria Escriva, founder of Opus Dei which is now showing in Spain and will be released in the United States on May 7. The film is based mainly on the life of the founder during the Spanish Civil War in 1936 and shows how Father Escriva at that time chose to forgive his enemies who persecuted not only him, but also Opus Dei, which he had founded on Oct. 2, 1928. Forgiving one’s enemies was something Joffe couldn’t understand.
The film director introduced his Escriva film in Rome on March 21. He was quoted in an interview comparing Escriva to Nelson Mandela in their shared love for freedom and forgiveness. The director admitted, “This story forced me to think as much as I ever have in my life.”
‘God is found in everyday life’
In researching for the film, Joffe (as told to Zenit) was struck by Father Escriva’s teaching, “God is found in everyday life,” “How can God be found in war?” Joffe asked.
“But then,” the director added, “the same question can be asked of all the fundamental challenges in life, and how we face them: How we respond to hatred and rejection, or the desire for revenge and justice—all those dilemmas are heightened in wartime. Those dilemmas are, in a sense, the “dragons” of the film—turning points in our lives where we’re faced with potent choices.”
‘Father, I am Jewish’
A video of a Jewish girl talking to Monsignor Escriva in Chile in 1974 inspired Joffe to go ahead with the film.
During that meeting where hundreds of people were present to listen to the Opus Dei founder, the girl told Escriva: “Father, I’m Jewish but I believe in the Catholic religion, and I would like to convert to Catholicism, but I am a minor and my parents won’t let me.”
Monsignor Escriva answered: “Look, I am going to tell you something that will make you very happy. I learned this from this son of mine (referring to Don Alvaro, a fellow priest, in the background). I must tell you that the first love of my life is a Jew: Jesus, Jesus of Nazareth—a member of your race! And the second love of my life is Mary, most holy Virgin and Mother, mother of the Jewish man Jesus, and my Mother and your Mother. Do you like that?
“And then, I must tell you to be very good toward your parents, to be patient, to pray. Don’t make any gestures of rebellion. Is that clear? ”
Escriva then advised the Jewish girl to continue studying for her catechism and assured her that the Lord Jesus would move her parents to let her follow calmly and serenely the path she wanted.
Read the entire article here.
Thursday, April 7, 2011
There Be Dragons: A film that shows that forgiveness can change the future
By Diane Thunder Schlosser in Enerpub
Joffe deftly explains that There Be Dragons is about “bringing love to the world --- the absence of love and what that does. When loves goes it leaves a vacuum – and that vacuum can fill with very many unpleasant things: fear, hatred, despair….This movie is made for all human beings with the sure knowledge that all human beings count – all human beings have value -- and all human beings, as St. Josemaria would say, are capable of being saints…”
Although this is not strictly about recently canonized St. Josemaria Escriva per se, he does figure prominently, and we see vignettes of his life as a young priest and a glimpse of the early days of Opus Dei -- his vision of the Universal Call to Holiness 30 years before Vatican II. In the aftermath and angst over the priest scandals, There Be Dragons sets before us a model of the priesthood that needs to be re-embraced. When was the last time Hollywood produced a movie about a priest – a real priest?
Not a vampire-chasing vengeful priest. Not a sensationalized exorcist. Not a fictitious albino ‘monk’ or even a crooning Bing Crosby priest, but a real priest! This generation is privileged to know of a priest who lived in our lifetime and has been canonized in our lifetime, yet St. Josemaria is not just a saint for members of Opus Dei. He is not just a saint for the people of Spain. He has been raised to the high altars of the Church and canonized a saint for all of us as a model of heroic virtue for the 21st century. As Joffe explains,
“Here is a man who, in a time of civil strife, civil war – when God appeared to be silent – was an example of someone going through a spiritual crisis who never lost the sense that each human being is a saint, that every human being is deserving of love, and he lived that. That is saintliness. Those subjects are worthy of honest storytelling. Josemaria also claimed that ordinary people were quite capable of being saints – and I think this kind of heroic forgiveness is what he was talking about….(it is) what offers room for hope. But the price is high: It takes a deep sense of what it is to be fully human…and, yes, heroic resolve not to be caught up in prevailing hatreds, but to fight them with unremitting love.” (www.mercatornet.com/sheila_liaugminas/view/8815/)
Read the entire article here.
Joffe deftly explains that There Be Dragons is about “bringing love to the world --- the absence of love and what that does. When loves goes it leaves a vacuum – and that vacuum can fill with very many unpleasant things: fear, hatred, despair….This movie is made for all human beings with the sure knowledge that all human beings count – all human beings have value -- and all human beings, as St. Josemaria would say, are capable of being saints…”
Although this is not strictly about recently canonized St. Josemaria Escriva per se, he does figure prominently, and we see vignettes of his life as a young priest and a glimpse of the early days of Opus Dei -- his vision of the Universal Call to Holiness 30 years before Vatican II. In the aftermath and angst over the priest scandals, There Be Dragons sets before us a model of the priesthood that needs to be re-embraced. When was the last time Hollywood produced a movie about a priest – a real priest?
Not a vampire-chasing vengeful priest. Not a sensationalized exorcist. Not a fictitious albino ‘monk’ or even a crooning Bing Crosby priest, but a real priest! This generation is privileged to know of a priest who lived in our lifetime and has been canonized in our lifetime, yet St. Josemaria is not just a saint for members of Opus Dei. He is not just a saint for the people of Spain. He has been raised to the high altars of the Church and canonized a saint for all of us as a model of heroic virtue for the 21st century. As Joffe explains,
“Here is a man who, in a time of civil strife, civil war – when God appeared to be silent – was an example of someone going through a spiritual crisis who never lost the sense that each human being is a saint, that every human being is deserving of love, and he lived that. That is saintliness. Those subjects are worthy of honest storytelling. Josemaria also claimed that ordinary people were quite capable of being saints – and I think this kind of heroic forgiveness is what he was talking about….(it is) what offers room for hope. But the price is high: It takes a deep sense of what it is to be fully human…and, yes, heroic resolve not to be caught up in prevailing hatreds, but to fight them with unremitting love.” (www.mercatornet.com/sheila_liaugminas/view/8815/)
Read the entire article here.
Roland Joffé: There isn’t an Opus Dei party line
By Stephen Greynadu in National Catholic Register
Roland Joffé, director of The Mission and There Be Dragons, calls himself an agnostic, but he seems to be a remarkably God-haunted one.
At a recent press event in Spain, the British writer-director reflected on what drew him to There Be Dragons — a film set during the Spanish Civil War that has predictably elicited media controversy for its positive treatment of St. Josemaria Escrivá, played by Charlie Cox, and Opus Dei, the personal prelature he founded. There Be Dragons recently opened in Spain; the film comes to the United States in May.
“I have no idea whether there’s a God or not, and it seemed to be a fascinating thing to think about,” Joffé explained to a roomful of sometimes skeptical journalists at Madrid’s Villa Magna Hotel. “I’m not a very spiritual person, unfortunately, being a Brit. We tend to go for humor over religion.”
The self-fulfilling humor of the self-deprecating line notwithstanding, the filmmaker easily uses the language of sainthood, spirituality and grace. His British penchant for humor resurfaced as he recounted the reactions of some of his friends to the news that he was doing a film dealing with Opus Dei. “Oh my God, that’s a fascist organization!” was one horrified response he related. “I mean, they slaughtered hundreds of people!”
Joffé’s deadpan rejoinder — “They have? Really? How do you know that?” — was followed by a litany of similarly preposterous charges: that Opus Dei “controls” the Church; that “hundreds” of cardinals and “thousands” of bishops are members; that their membership is kept secret, and so on.
Provocatively tweaking dubious members of his audience, Joffé continued, “The fact is: Opus Dei itself doesn’t really exist. I hate to break this to you, but there isn’t really such a thing as Opus Dei — in the sense of some kind of society with an opinion about something.
“I investigated Opus Dei, and I began to find a very important thing: Opus Dei is a group of people who come together to work on their spiritual life, to work on their relationship to God. But Opus Dei does not have a point of view, other than to say that what you believe you must stand up for — and you must take responsibility for your choices.”
“Beyond that, Opus Dei does not tell people what to think,” he said. “And, in some sense, that’s very beautiful. It’s also shocking to a culture that’s used to large political and ideological groups. Here you have a group that shares some things, but not everything. It’s very difficult to understand. We know that when you belong to a party, most of the time, you’re being told to toe the party line, in one way or another. There isn’t an Opus Dei party line.”
“That means that some people will not like the conservative members of Opus Dei that they meet, or they may not like the liberal members of Opus Dei that they meet,” Joffé said. “But I can assure you that all those sorts of opinions do exist inside Opus Dei.”
Read rest of the article here.
Roland Joffé, director of The Mission and There Be Dragons, calls himself an agnostic, but he seems to be a remarkably God-haunted one.
At a recent press event in Spain, the British writer-director reflected on what drew him to There Be Dragons — a film set during the Spanish Civil War that has predictably elicited media controversy for its positive treatment of St. Josemaria Escrivá, played by Charlie Cox, and Opus Dei, the personal prelature he founded. There Be Dragons recently opened in Spain; the film comes to the United States in May.
“I have no idea whether there’s a God or not, and it seemed to be a fascinating thing to think about,” Joffé explained to a roomful of sometimes skeptical journalists at Madrid’s Villa Magna Hotel. “I’m not a very spiritual person, unfortunately, being a Brit. We tend to go for humor over religion.”
The self-fulfilling humor of the self-deprecating line notwithstanding, the filmmaker easily uses the language of sainthood, spirituality and grace. His British penchant for humor resurfaced as he recounted the reactions of some of his friends to the news that he was doing a film dealing with Opus Dei. “Oh my God, that’s a fascist organization!” was one horrified response he related. “I mean, they slaughtered hundreds of people!”
Joffé’s deadpan rejoinder — “They have? Really? How do you know that?” — was followed by a litany of similarly preposterous charges: that Opus Dei “controls” the Church; that “hundreds” of cardinals and “thousands” of bishops are members; that their membership is kept secret, and so on.
Provocatively tweaking dubious members of his audience, Joffé continued, “The fact is: Opus Dei itself doesn’t really exist. I hate to break this to you, but there isn’t really such a thing as Opus Dei — in the sense of some kind of society with an opinion about something.
“I investigated Opus Dei, and I began to find a very important thing: Opus Dei is a group of people who come together to work on their spiritual life, to work on their relationship to God. But Opus Dei does not have a point of view, other than to say that what you believe you must stand up for — and you must take responsibility for your choices.”
“Beyond that, Opus Dei does not tell people what to think,” he said. “And, in some sense, that’s very beautiful. It’s also shocking to a culture that’s used to large political and ideological groups. Here you have a group that shares some things, but not everything. It’s very difficult to understand. We know that when you belong to a party, most of the time, you’re being told to toe the party line, in one way or another. There isn’t an Opus Dei party line.”
“That means that some people will not like the conservative members of Opus Dei that they meet, or they may not like the liberal members of Opus Dei that they meet,” Joffé said. “But I can assure you that all those sorts of opinions do exist inside Opus Dei.”
Read rest of the article here.
Friday, March 25, 2011
There Be Dragons: Joffe confirms his greatness as an intense and profound director of the highest quality
By Austen Ivereigh
In an era of ideological conformity the founder of Opus Dei had the courage to tell people to think for themselves, and like Nelson Mandela in South Africa brought healing to Spain, the British film director Roland Joffé told an audience at the Vatican last night.
Presenting There Be Dragons at a private screening of 150 Vatican officials, he said St Josemaría Escrivá – one of the central characters in the movie, which opens Friday in Spain – “answered the question that his time gave him, which is that when politics was industrialising and the world was splitting into rigid opposing camps a young priest stood up in Spain and refused to condemn.”
The movie is set against the background of the Spanish Civil War (1936-39) which left half a million dead and continues to divide Spain. In it the young Fr Escrivá tells his followers in the newly-created Opus Dei that they must forgive and not take sides – even against those who are wrong.
In this way, said Joffé, “Josemaría extended what I would call the warm embrace of the Church to people who weren’t Christian as well … We are all in this world together. That was an extraordinary thing to do, and the power of that message I think is extraordinary and relevant to us.”
Among the audience at the Pontifical North-American College were 11 cardinals, eight bishops, 14 monsignori, and 24 ambassadors, as well as representatives from movements such as Focolare and Sant’Egidio with Jesuits, Franciscans and Dominicans.
Also in the audience were the writer and director Susanna Tamaro and the film composer Ennio Morricone, who composed the theme to one of Joffé’s 1980s epics, The Mission.
After the screening, Morricone said: “With this film Roland Joffe confirms his greatness as an intense and profound director of the highest quality".
Tamaro described the film as “powerful, very well filmed, and dramatically very effective”. By choosing to tell the story of opposing paths taken by two childhood friends, Joffé “brings out the importance of freedom which God gave us to try to reduce the power of evil in the world”.
Tamaro added that the film had the power “to do great good for the new generations deprived of great figures to admire and emulate”.
Joffé told them “it would be wonderful” if There Be Dragons, which premieres tomorrow evening in Madrid and goes on release in Spain Friday, helped the 21st century to be seen as “the century of reconciliation”, in which “we began once again to discover our innate humanity that exists in all of us” and to heal the wounds of the 20th century wars.
He added: “It’s wonderful that President Mandela was capable of doing that in South
Africa, and it’s wonderful to me that Josemaría Escrivá as a young man fought for the importance of that, and carried the Christian message in such a remarkable way that I who am, I confess, a rather wishy-washy agnostic, found myself standing in total admiration and driven to want to do my best for this movie.”
Read the rest of the article here.
In an era of ideological conformity the founder of Opus Dei had the courage to tell people to think for themselves, and like Nelson Mandela in South Africa brought healing to Spain, the British film director Roland Joffé told an audience at the Vatican last night.
Presenting There Be Dragons at a private screening of 150 Vatican officials, he said St Josemaría Escrivá – one of the central characters in the movie, which opens Friday in Spain – “answered the question that his time gave him, which is that when politics was industrialising and the world was splitting into rigid opposing camps a young priest stood up in Spain and refused to condemn.”
The movie is set against the background of the Spanish Civil War (1936-39) which left half a million dead and continues to divide Spain. In it the young Fr Escrivá tells his followers in the newly-created Opus Dei that they must forgive and not take sides – even against those who are wrong.
In this way, said Joffé, “Josemaría extended what I would call the warm embrace of the Church to people who weren’t Christian as well … We are all in this world together. That was an extraordinary thing to do, and the power of that message I think is extraordinary and relevant to us.”
Among the audience at the Pontifical North-American College were 11 cardinals, eight bishops, 14 monsignori, and 24 ambassadors, as well as representatives from movements such as Focolare and Sant’Egidio with Jesuits, Franciscans and Dominicans.
Also in the audience were the writer and director Susanna Tamaro and the film composer Ennio Morricone, who composed the theme to one of Joffé’s 1980s epics, The Mission.
After the screening, Morricone said: “With this film Roland Joffe confirms his greatness as an intense and profound director of the highest quality".
Tamaro described the film as “powerful, very well filmed, and dramatically very effective”. By choosing to tell the story of opposing paths taken by two childhood friends, Joffé “brings out the importance of freedom which God gave us to try to reduce the power of evil in the world”.
Tamaro added that the film had the power “to do great good for the new generations deprived of great figures to admire and emulate”.
Joffé told them “it would be wonderful” if There Be Dragons, which premieres tomorrow evening in Madrid and goes on release in Spain Friday, helped the 21st century to be seen as “the century of reconciliation”, in which “we began once again to discover our innate humanity that exists in all of us” and to heal the wounds of the 20th century wars.
He added: “It’s wonderful that President Mandela was capable of doing that in South
Africa, and it’s wonderful to me that Josemaría Escrivá as a young man fought for the importance of that, and carried the Christian message in such a remarkable way that I who am, I confess, a rather wishy-washy agnostic, found myself standing in total admiration and driven to want to do my best for this movie.”
Read the rest of the article here.
Sunday, March 6, 2011
Numerary: regular member of working staff
An article in Wikipedia which I contributed.
Numerary is a civil designation for persons who are incorporated in a fixed or permanent way to a society or group: regular member of the working staff, permanent staff, or member, distinguished from a supernumerary.
The term "numerary" and its counterpart, "supernumerary," originated in Spanish and Latin American academy and government; it is now also used in countries all over the world, such as France, the U.S., England, Italy, etc.
Contents
[hide]
* 1 Characteristics of numeraries in different societies
* 2 Examples of numeraries of different types
* 3 References
* 4 Footnotes
Characteristics of numeraries in different societies
There are numerary members of surgical organizations, of universities, of gastronomical associations, etc.
In medical societies, numerary doctors are those who:
* have a right to vote
* can be a member of the governing body
* can join the activities which the society organizes.
In a graphology society (handwriting analysts), here are the rights of numerary members:[1]
* to get technical advise to face the difficulties that the members might come across in the preparation of their professional reports.
* to be judicially protected in case of any judicial matter that might occur in the practice of their profession.
* to have a Professional License that proves their professionalism and their membership of an association of reliable professionals, in the field of the graphological investigation as well as in the practice of their profession.
* to receive an extensive Bulletin with news of maximum interest.
* to have access to the Association's Library and to technical reports from investigations made by members.
* to be a voting member in Social Meetings, Seminars and Lectures organized by the Association.
* to own the authorized Diploma of Graphoanalyst.
In a university setting, a numerary professor is an ordinary professor.
Toni Zweifel, Swiss engineer, a numerary of Opus Dei.
In the personal prelature of Opus Dei, numeraries are lay people who are available for any apostolic work undertaken by the prelature. Like any other member of Opus Dei, numeraries have the same vocation to sanctify themselves in the middle of the world. Most work in normal, secular jobs (bankers, professors, doctors, lawyers, accountants, businessmen). A few numeraries work full-time or part-time in the work of formation of the prelature. Numerary members of Opus Dei are required to be celibate but are neither monks nor friars (see also clerical celibacy). A number of them work as faculty at Opus Dei sponsored schools.
Examples of numeraries of different types
Jose Ortega y Gasset was named numerary professor of Psychology, Logic and Ethics at the Escuela Superior del Magisterio de Madrid in 1909.
Harvard professor Rafael Moneo, a multi-awarded architect, became Academic Numerary in the Royal Academy of Fine Arts of San Fernando in Madrid in May 1997.
An extension to the Atocha Railway Station designed by Harvard Professor Rafael Moneo, Academic Numerary of the Royal Academy of Fine Arts of San Fernando in Madrid
Joaquin Navarro Valls, Vatican spokesman, a professional psychiatrist before he became a prominent journalist working for European newspapers, is a numerary member of the Opus Dei prelature.
Ángel Martin Municio, who was Vice-Rector for Investigation and International Relations of the Universidad Complutense(1982-1986), President of the of Real Academia de Ciencias de España and since 1985 up to the present, President of the Real Academia Española is an Academic Numerary of the Academy since 1969. He was also the Vice-president of the European Academy of Science and Arts (1998)
Cardinal Rodolfo Quezada Toruño of Guatemala is Academic numerary of the Academy of Geography and History of Guatemala starting 1967.
Carlos Pazos Beceiro, born in Havana, Cuba, Recipient of the Albert Schweitzer Peace Award, Vice-President of IPPNW for Latin America, is a Numerary Member of the Cuban Society of Hygiene and Epidemiology.
Antonio Garrido, Director of Instituto Cervantes of New York, is Academic Numerary of the Academia Norteamericana de la Lengua Española, the corresponding academy to the Real Academia Española.[2]
Pedro Laín Entralgo is an outstanding Spanish medical researcher and humanist of the 20th century. He won the Prince of Asturias award in 1989 for Communication and Humanities. He has been a numerary member of the Royal National Academy of Medicine since 1946.
José Gorostiza is a renowned Mexican poet, educator and diplomat. He was a numerary of the Mexican Language Academy.
Enrique Zuazua is a multi-awarded researcher and a Director of the Basque Center for Applied Mathematics. He is a numerary of the "Jakiunde," Basque Academy of Sciences, Arts and Humanities.
Américo Ghioldi is an Argentine educator. He was honored with a numerary membership in the prestigious Argentine Educational Academy.
References
* Entry in Dictionary.com
* Entry in Freedictionary.com
* Messori, Vittorio. Opus Dei: Leadership and Vision in the Catholic Church. 1997.
Numerary is a civil designation for persons who are incorporated in a fixed or permanent way to a society or group: regular member of the working staff, permanent staff, or member, distinguished from a supernumerary.
The term "numerary" and its counterpart, "supernumerary," originated in Spanish and Latin American academy and government; it is now also used in countries all over the world, such as France, the U.S., England, Italy, etc.
Contents
[hide]
* 1 Characteristics of numeraries in different societies
* 2 Examples of numeraries of different types
* 3 References
* 4 Footnotes
Characteristics of numeraries in different societies
There are numerary members of surgical organizations, of universities, of gastronomical associations, etc.
In medical societies, numerary doctors are those who:
* have a right to vote
* can be a member of the governing body
* can join the activities which the society organizes.
In a graphology society (handwriting analysts), here are the rights of numerary members:[1]
* to get technical advise to face the difficulties that the members might come across in the preparation of their professional reports.
* to be judicially protected in case of any judicial matter that might occur in the practice of their profession.
* to have a Professional License that proves their professionalism and their membership of an association of reliable professionals, in the field of the graphological investigation as well as in the practice of their profession.
* to receive an extensive Bulletin with news of maximum interest.
* to have access to the Association's Library and to technical reports from investigations made by members.
* to be a voting member in Social Meetings, Seminars and Lectures organized by the Association.
* to own the authorized Diploma of Graphoanalyst.
In a university setting, a numerary professor is an ordinary professor.
Toni Zweifel, Swiss engineer, a numerary of Opus Dei.
In the personal prelature of Opus Dei, numeraries are lay people who are available for any apostolic work undertaken by the prelature. Like any other member of Opus Dei, numeraries have the same vocation to sanctify themselves in the middle of the world. Most work in normal, secular jobs (bankers, professors, doctors, lawyers, accountants, businessmen). A few numeraries work full-time or part-time in the work of formation of the prelature. Numerary members of Opus Dei are required to be celibate but are neither monks nor friars (see also clerical celibacy). A number of them work as faculty at Opus Dei sponsored schools.
Examples of numeraries of different types
Jose Ortega y Gasset was named numerary professor of Psychology, Logic and Ethics at the Escuela Superior del Magisterio de Madrid in 1909.
Harvard professor Rafael Moneo, a multi-awarded architect, became Academic Numerary in the Royal Academy of Fine Arts of San Fernando in Madrid in May 1997.
An extension to the Atocha Railway Station designed by Harvard Professor Rafael Moneo, Academic Numerary of the Royal Academy of Fine Arts of San Fernando in Madrid
Joaquin Navarro Valls, Vatican spokesman, a professional psychiatrist before he became a prominent journalist working for European newspapers, is a numerary member of the Opus Dei prelature.
Ángel Martin Municio, who was Vice-Rector for Investigation and International Relations of the Universidad Complutense(1982-1986), President of the of Real Academia de Ciencias de España and since 1985 up to the present, President of the Real Academia Española is an Academic Numerary of the Academy since 1969. He was also the Vice-president of the European Academy of Science and Arts (1998)
Cardinal Rodolfo Quezada Toruño of Guatemala is Academic numerary of the Academy of Geography and History of Guatemala starting 1967.
Carlos Pazos Beceiro, born in Havana, Cuba, Recipient of the Albert Schweitzer Peace Award, Vice-President of IPPNW for Latin America, is a Numerary Member of the Cuban Society of Hygiene and Epidemiology.
Antonio Garrido, Director of Instituto Cervantes of New York, is Academic Numerary of the Academia Norteamericana de la Lengua Española, the corresponding academy to the Real Academia Española.[2]
Pedro Laín Entralgo is an outstanding Spanish medical researcher and humanist of the 20th century. He won the Prince of Asturias award in 1989 for Communication and Humanities. He has been a numerary member of the Royal National Academy of Medicine since 1946.
José Gorostiza is a renowned Mexican poet, educator and diplomat. He was a numerary of the Mexican Language Academy.
Enrique Zuazua is a multi-awarded researcher and a Director of the Basque Center for Applied Mathematics. He is a numerary of the "Jakiunde," Basque Academy of Sciences, Arts and Humanities.
Américo Ghioldi is an Argentine educator. He was honored with a numerary membership in the prestigious Argentine Educational Academy.
References
* Entry in Dictionary.com
* Entry in Freedictionary.com
* Messori, Vittorio. Opus Dei: Leadership and Vision in the Catholic Church. 1997.
Tuesday, January 18, 2011
When Thinking Of Opus Dei Forget The Rich Attack
By Robert Steven Duncan in Spero News
One of the most outrageous claims repeated against Opus Dei is that its members are rich - or that it's an organization for the wealthy.
I suppose that claim is based on what some people have noted: That many people who are "members" of Opus Dei are professionals. With that observation then there is the somewhat logical assumption that since these people are professionals (read: supposedly high-paying jobs), then that must mean they are rich.
But there is a major fallacy in using any such argument, especially when talking about Supernumeraries: Most of the people who are assuming that Opus Dei members - and here I am really writing about Supernumaries - are rolling in dough forget the simple fact that many of these people have large families. This means that realistically they are scrimping and trying to figure out how to make ends meet. In other words, they are just like many other Catholics who have large families - or for that matter any other large family parents.
Secondly, if a person is offering their all, their skills, their education, to God, there is a pretty good chance that person will rise in whatever profession they practice. Think about this. If you believe that you have something to offer God, are you going to want to offer Him second best? If you want, go ahead and call this - as some people mistakenly claim - a "Calvinist effect."
But the fact is that if you are offering your all to God, you will be concerned about the little things and doing a job well-done. In a general sense, it doesn't matter the occupation, as all can be offered to God, and could be running a laundry, or being a taxi driver, or a journalist, or even an attorney.
And this often leads to a secondary effect: A person that does a job well-done tends to rise in the business world. It's not the reason, nor the drive, but it's the effect of doing a job well-done. And mind you, if that doesn't happen (the social or economic recognition) that is fine - after all this is about offering your work as a means of Sanctification, and this is where an Opus Dei "work ethic" differs from Calvinism and predestination-economic theories.
In this sense, it's a private affair between a person and God. If the recognition comes, well then that is thanks to God, and glory to Him. And if it doesn't, then all the Glory to God too! God in his greatness sees all. This isn't about the individual. This is about what can be offered.
Thirdly, there is a generational effect happening. If parents are Supernumeraries, there is a pretty good chance that they are instilling in their children the belief of doing a job well-done. That doesn't mean all the children will become Opus Dei automatons as some would argue - or members - but it does mean that members may have learned from a young age the importance of studies. At the risk of sounding heretical here, or at least politically incorrect, it reminds me of some studies in the US on second generation Asians that excelled in studies. It was found that this was due to the importance that the parents placed on studies.
And there is something else about having large families, that despite what people think, and Hollywood seems to tell us - most normal families don't have maids, but are struggling to just make it to the end of the month. I don't know how many times I have been asked if we could "loan" our maid for a weekend. I have to explain that we don't have that luxury, and that we don't even make it financially to the end of the month - just like most other large families. Of course, the people asking me this favor are usually parents and colleagues with only one child.
All of this is related to what Saint Josemaria taught. That no matter what wealth a person has, they should use those funds as if they were the parent of a large family. It's about responsibility. It's not yours - it's Gods. The reason St Josemaria said this should be quite obvious - because parents of large families know how to make the money stretch, they know what is important, and what isn't. They become masters of finance, knowing the ins-and-outs of bridge financing, and paying the bills.
Besides, money isn't everything anyway. Somethings are worth much more, no matter how trite that sounds. If somebody asks me "are Supernumeraries rich," the answer is would have to be a guarded "yes," but in the sense that they realize that their families are the Domestic Church.
To explain further. Yesterday was Valentines. On my way home I realized that I didn't have anything for my wife. I checked my pockets and could only find 30 cents. Nothing more - and no, I wasn´t going to break out the VISA card for a gift. Instead, I went to a local candy store and asked if they could sell me three pieces of hard chocolate candy. The number is significant, as I know my wife.
On arriving home, I apologized to my wife that I didn't have anything more for her, but I told her that I loved her, that she was all to me. And gave her the three chocolates and a big hug.
My wife in turn hugged me back, and gave me a kiss, told me that she loved me and that I had made her day. And then she gave the three chocolates to our three oldest children for a dessert (the baby cannot have dessert yet).
Now that is a powerful message that our children learned. It's about love, sharing and being family.
Robert Steven Duncan is a consultant and a widely published foreign correspondent who lives in Spain. Besides having articles appearing in WSJ, Barron's, Smart Money, Newsweek, the National Catholic Register and many other places, he has held various leadership posts in the communication sector. He publishes the "RSD Report" at http://www.robertstevenduncan.com
One of the most outrageous claims repeated against Opus Dei is that its members are rich - or that it's an organization for the wealthy.
I suppose that claim is based on what some people have noted: That many people who are "members" of Opus Dei are professionals. With that observation then there is the somewhat logical assumption that since these people are professionals (read: supposedly high-paying jobs), then that must mean they are rich.
But there is a major fallacy in using any such argument, especially when talking about Supernumeraries: Most of the people who are assuming that Opus Dei members - and here I am really writing about Supernumaries - are rolling in dough forget the simple fact that many of these people have large families. This means that realistically they are scrimping and trying to figure out how to make ends meet. In other words, they are just like many other Catholics who have large families - or for that matter any other large family parents.
Secondly, if a person is offering their all, their skills, their education, to God, there is a pretty good chance that person will rise in whatever profession they practice. Think about this. If you believe that you have something to offer God, are you going to want to offer Him second best? If you want, go ahead and call this - as some people mistakenly claim - a "Calvinist effect."
But the fact is that if you are offering your all to God, you will be concerned about the little things and doing a job well-done. In a general sense, it doesn't matter the occupation, as all can be offered to God, and could be running a laundry, or being a taxi driver, or a journalist, or even an attorney.
And this often leads to a secondary effect: A person that does a job well-done tends to rise in the business world. It's not the reason, nor the drive, but it's the effect of doing a job well-done. And mind you, if that doesn't happen (the social or economic recognition) that is fine - after all this is about offering your work as a means of Sanctification, and this is where an Opus Dei "work ethic" differs from Calvinism and predestination-economic theories.
In this sense, it's a private affair between a person and God. If the recognition comes, well then that is thanks to God, and glory to Him. And if it doesn't, then all the Glory to God too! God in his greatness sees all. This isn't about the individual. This is about what can be offered.
Thirdly, there is a generational effect happening. If parents are Supernumeraries, there is a pretty good chance that they are instilling in their children the belief of doing a job well-done. That doesn't mean all the children will become Opus Dei automatons as some would argue - or members - but it does mean that members may have learned from a young age the importance of studies. At the risk of sounding heretical here, or at least politically incorrect, it reminds me of some studies in the US on second generation Asians that excelled in studies. It was found that this was due to the importance that the parents placed on studies.
And there is something else about having large families, that despite what people think, and Hollywood seems to tell us - most normal families don't have maids, but are struggling to just make it to the end of the month. I don't know how many times I have been asked if we could "loan" our maid for a weekend. I have to explain that we don't have that luxury, and that we don't even make it financially to the end of the month - just like most other large families. Of course, the people asking me this favor are usually parents and colleagues with only one child.
All of this is related to what Saint Josemaria taught. That no matter what wealth a person has, they should use those funds as if they were the parent of a large family. It's about responsibility. It's not yours - it's Gods. The reason St Josemaria said this should be quite obvious - because parents of large families know how to make the money stretch, they know what is important, and what isn't. They become masters of finance, knowing the ins-and-outs of bridge financing, and paying the bills.
Besides, money isn't everything anyway. Somethings are worth much more, no matter how trite that sounds. If somebody asks me "are Supernumeraries rich," the answer is would have to be a guarded "yes," but in the sense that they realize that their families are the Domestic Church.
To explain further. Yesterday was Valentines. On my way home I realized that I didn't have anything for my wife. I checked my pockets and could only find 30 cents. Nothing more - and no, I wasn´t going to break out the VISA card for a gift. Instead, I went to a local candy store and asked if they could sell me three pieces of hard chocolate candy. The number is significant, as I know my wife.
On arriving home, I apologized to my wife that I didn't have anything more for her, but I told her that I loved her, that she was all to me. And gave her the three chocolates and a big hug.
My wife in turn hugged me back, and gave me a kiss, told me that she loved me and that I had made her day. And then she gave the three chocolates to our three oldest children for a dessert (the baby cannot have dessert yet).
Now that is a powerful message that our children learned. It's about love, sharing and being family.
Robert Steven Duncan is a consultant and a widely published foreign correspondent who lives in Spain. Besides having articles appearing in WSJ, Barron's, Smart Money, Newsweek, the National Catholic Register and many other places, he has held various leadership posts in the communication sector. He publishes the "RSD Report" at http://www.robertstevenduncan.com
Thursday, January 6, 2011
125 Years of Catholicism in Eastern Nigeria
By Mr. Chike MADUEKWE, a lawyer in Poten and Partners.
SINCE the day Reverend Father Lutz from France stepped his feet on the soil of the ancient city of Onitsha in 1885, the history of the people of Eastern Nigeria has not been the same.
Our history changed for the better. I do reflect, from time to time, on the heroism of European missionaries who left the relative comforts of their homes to come to Igboland and the rest of Eastern Nigeria from the 19th Century in order to bring the Good News to our people. Some died on the high seas. Some died of diseases like malaria endemic in the tropics.
Some were killed by our people who innocently thought that they were strange and dangerous beings because the Europeans looked totally different from them. Yet, the Christian missionaries persisted because of their immense love of God and humanity.
Father Lutz, Bishop Joseph Shannahan, Bishop Joseph Heery and other early missionaries are a perfect example of what the Bible calls agape love, or sacrificial love. May their souls rest in the bosom of the Lord.
These authentic men of God did not just bring us the Gospel. They spearheaded the abolition of improper cultural practices like the killing of twins and the"osu" and "ohu" caste system. They brought us modern healthcare. The impressive hospitals they established in places like Onitsha, Ihiala and Adazi, all in Anambra State, several decades ago still provide our people with quality services.
The Holy Rosary Hospital at Emekuku, Imo State, and St Luke's Hospital, Anua, Akwa Ibom State, are among the numerous medical facilities established by the Church in Eastern Nigeria which have been of immense benefit to our people. Many people abandoned by their families and communities because they were afflicted by diseases like leprosy were treated in hospitals like these ones free of charge.
I hesitate to imagine what Eastern Nigeria would have been without the Church. If not for Caritas, the Catholic charity, millions of our people would have perished during the civil war due to acute hunger. The Federal Government imposed an economic and food blockade against Eastern Nigeria because, as it argued, "starvation is a legitimate instrument of war".
Caritas cargo planes were strafed relentlessly, day and night. I personally benefitted greatly from the tones of dried milk, corned beef, salt, egg yoke, dried milk and other critical things made available by Caritas.
The contribution of the Church to the educational development of Eastern Nigeria remain unparalleled. The missionaries used their limited resources to build schools all over the place, and products of these schools were competing favourably with their counterparts anywhere in the world. Generations of our best teachers, professors, lawyers, medical doctors and other professionals were trained in places like Christ the King College, Onitsha. I am a proud Old Boy of the great CKC.
Up to 1970, many of the schools in various places in the Southeast were either established or managed by the Church. Like in other parts of the world, it has always been a thing of pride to associate with a Catholic Church owned or run school.
Without the Church, there is no way Eastern Nigeria could have made the stupendous progress it has recorded in education, especially from 1945 when the Second World War came to an end.
The Yoruba people of Western Nigeria, for instance, have a historical head start over the Igbo in education principally because major Yoruba towns and cities like Lagos are located on the coast; the white people who brought formal education to Nigeria came through the sea. Yet, within only two decades, the Igbo, to use Professor Chinua Achebe's language, "had wiped out their educational handicap in one fantastic burst of energy". By 1965, the Igbo were competing favourably with the Yoruba. In fact, there were more Igbo PhD holders among the Igbo than among the Yoruba, though the Yoruba had more professors.
It is regrettable that the government took over Church schools in Nigeria, beginning with, of all places, East Central State (today's Southeast). The forcible acquisition practically sounded the death knell of sound and solid education throughout the country. Hitherto, we received a kind of education which combined high academic standards with high morals and discipline.
This was in line with the tradition of Catholic education everywhere in the world. It is, therefore, with joy that we note that some state governments have begun to return some of these schools to their proprietors. We look forward to having schools like CKC, Onitsha, and College of Immaculate Conception, Enugu, as well as St Patrick's College, Calabar, return to their days of glory.
We also note with delight that the Catholic Church has demonstrated great keenness on the development of higher education, particularly since the liberalisation of the ownership and management of tertiary institutions in Nigeria. It has far more private universities than any organisation.
Some of the higher institutions it owns directly or indirectly are Madonna University which is the first private university in the country, Catholic University of Nigeria, Tansian University, St Augustine University, Renaissance University, Bishop Godfrey Okoye University, etc.
It does, indeed, gladden the heart that the Catholic Archdiocese of Abuja, which in the mid 1990s established Loyola Jesuit College in Abuja, the most competitive secondary school in Nigeria, is working hard on building a Jesuit university in the Federal Capital Territory. The role of Opus Dei, a prelature of the Church, in the establishment and management of such famous new institutions as The Lagoon Secondary School in Lagos and The White Sands Secondary School, also in Lekki, Lagos, as well as the Pan African University in Lagos, is well appreciated.
Read the entire article here.
SINCE the day Reverend Father Lutz from France stepped his feet on the soil of the ancient city of Onitsha in 1885, the history of the people of Eastern Nigeria has not been the same.
Our history changed for the better. I do reflect, from time to time, on the heroism of European missionaries who left the relative comforts of their homes to come to Igboland and the rest of Eastern Nigeria from the 19th Century in order to bring the Good News to our people. Some died on the high seas. Some died of diseases like malaria endemic in the tropics.
Some were killed by our people who innocently thought that they were strange and dangerous beings because the Europeans looked totally different from them. Yet, the Christian missionaries persisted because of their immense love of God and humanity.
Father Lutz, Bishop Joseph Shannahan, Bishop Joseph Heery and other early missionaries are a perfect example of what the Bible calls agape love, or sacrificial love. May their souls rest in the bosom of the Lord.
These authentic men of God did not just bring us the Gospel. They spearheaded the abolition of improper cultural practices like the killing of twins and the"osu" and "ohu" caste system. They brought us modern healthcare. The impressive hospitals they established in places like Onitsha, Ihiala and Adazi, all in Anambra State, several decades ago still provide our people with quality services.
The Holy Rosary Hospital at Emekuku, Imo State, and St Luke's Hospital, Anua, Akwa Ibom State, are among the numerous medical facilities established by the Church in Eastern Nigeria which have been of immense benefit to our people. Many people abandoned by their families and communities because they were afflicted by diseases like leprosy were treated in hospitals like these ones free of charge.
I hesitate to imagine what Eastern Nigeria would have been without the Church. If not for Caritas, the Catholic charity, millions of our people would have perished during the civil war due to acute hunger. The Federal Government imposed an economic and food blockade against Eastern Nigeria because, as it argued, "starvation is a legitimate instrument of war".
Caritas cargo planes were strafed relentlessly, day and night. I personally benefitted greatly from the tones of dried milk, corned beef, salt, egg yoke, dried milk and other critical things made available by Caritas.
The contribution of the Church to the educational development of Eastern Nigeria remain unparalleled. The missionaries used their limited resources to build schools all over the place, and products of these schools were competing favourably with their counterparts anywhere in the world. Generations of our best teachers, professors, lawyers, medical doctors and other professionals were trained in places like Christ the King College, Onitsha. I am a proud Old Boy of the great CKC.
Up to 1970, many of the schools in various places in the Southeast were either established or managed by the Church. Like in other parts of the world, it has always been a thing of pride to associate with a Catholic Church owned or run school.
Without the Church, there is no way Eastern Nigeria could have made the stupendous progress it has recorded in education, especially from 1945 when the Second World War came to an end.
The Yoruba people of Western Nigeria, for instance, have a historical head start over the Igbo in education principally because major Yoruba towns and cities like Lagos are located on the coast; the white people who brought formal education to Nigeria came through the sea. Yet, within only two decades, the Igbo, to use Professor Chinua Achebe's language, "had wiped out their educational handicap in one fantastic burst of energy". By 1965, the Igbo were competing favourably with the Yoruba. In fact, there were more Igbo PhD holders among the Igbo than among the Yoruba, though the Yoruba had more professors.
It is regrettable that the government took over Church schools in Nigeria, beginning with, of all places, East Central State (today's Southeast). The forcible acquisition practically sounded the death knell of sound and solid education throughout the country. Hitherto, we received a kind of education which combined high academic standards with high morals and discipline.
This was in line with the tradition of Catholic education everywhere in the world. It is, therefore, with joy that we note that some state governments have begun to return some of these schools to their proprietors. We look forward to having schools like CKC, Onitsha, and College of Immaculate Conception, Enugu, as well as St Patrick's College, Calabar, return to their days of glory.
We also note with delight that the Catholic Church has demonstrated great keenness on the development of higher education, particularly since the liberalisation of the ownership and management of tertiary institutions in Nigeria. It has far more private universities than any organisation.
Some of the higher institutions it owns directly or indirectly are Madonna University which is the first private university in the country, Catholic University of Nigeria, Tansian University, St Augustine University, Renaissance University, Bishop Godfrey Okoye University, etc.
It does, indeed, gladden the heart that the Catholic Archdiocese of Abuja, which in the mid 1990s established Loyola Jesuit College in Abuja, the most competitive secondary school in Nigeria, is working hard on building a Jesuit university in the Federal Capital Territory. The role of Opus Dei, a prelature of the Church, in the establishment and management of such famous new institutions as The Lagoon Secondary School in Lagos and The White Sands Secondary School, also in Lekki, Lagos, as well as the Pan African University in Lagos, is well appreciated.
Read the entire article here.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)