Opus Dei

Cover Story, Religion & Ethics Newsweekly/July 2, 2001
By Kim Lawton

Kim Lawton:

It's six a.m. Mary Beth Burger is deep in prayer on her deck in suburban Virginia. Her husband has left for work; her two children are still asleep. This is the time Mary Beth has set aside for a half-hour of prayer and 15 minutes of spiritual reading. She does this every day, part of her commitment as a member of Opus Dei.

Mary Beth Burger, Opus Dei Member:

Opus Dei is a wonderful way to help you put meaning into your life, to everything that you do, to every ordinary activity that you do, to help sanctify yourself and to bring you closer to our Lord Jesus Christ.

Lawton:

In Western Massachusetts, Dianne DiNicola and her daughter Tammy, also devout Catholics, have a radically different view. Based on their family's experience, they say Opus Dei is secretive and controlling, with cult-like tendencies.

Dianne Dinicola, Opus Dei Awareness Network:

I still to this day am feeling the disbelief that this was something from our own faith, and it was so harmful. Because Opus Dei harms people.

Lawton:

Few, if any, other groups within the Roman Catholic Church generate so many passions, both positive and negative. Opus Dei, Latin for the "Work of God," was founded in Spain, in 1928, by Monsignor Josemaria Escriva. Escriva was beatified by Pope John Paul II in 1992. He preached that lay people had a special vocation, or calling from God, to live out their faith in their everyday lives.

Rev. Thomas Bohlin, Chancellor, Prelature of Opus Dei:

Many people shunt aside the challenges of ordinary life and they dream about doing great things, great penances, great missionary work, and they miss the point that right there, in their family, in their work, people need them. They can serve. And right there is where God wants them to serve.

Lawton:

That's what Mary Beth Burger tries to do, both as a mother, and as a part-time physical therapist.

Burger:

You know, when I go in to see a patient, I say a prayer for that patient, but I also look at them as I'm serving God by doing the best I can by helping that person with their pain. You know, ideally, we're all struggling to become saints.

Lawton:

In 1982, Pope John Paul II granted Opus Dei a special status, what is known as a "personal prelature," within the Church. While most church jurisdictions are organized geographically, Opus Dei is overseen by its own prelate, a bishop, who reports directly to the pope.

Rev. James Martin, S.J. America Magazine:

Opus Dei is the only personal prelature in the church, and it's difficult to say if that was set-up for Opus Dei, but they are the only ones with that status in the church right now.

Lawton:

Opus Dei has its own priests as well, but the majority of its more than 80,000 members worldwide are lay people, who participate in varying ways. Seventy percent of Opus Dei members, like Mary Beth Burger, are known as "supernumeraries." They are married, or hope to be, and have made personal and financial commitments to Opus Dei while they raise their families and pursue their careers.

Mary Beth has been an Opus Dei member for more than ten years. As part of her lay vocation, she observes what are called "the norms": in addition to meeting the needs of her children, she prays in the morning, at noontime, and in the evening; she attends Mass daily, goes to weekly confession to an Opus Dei priest, and also meets weekly with her Opus Dei spiritual director; she attends regular study meetings and retreats and makes a "sacrificial" donation to the group.

Burger:

The beauty of it all is that it enables me to have everything that I do, moment to moment, it brings it all to our Lord to give him glory. Having the norms throughout the day helps; it brings everything back to him -- and I need that.

Lawton:

Nearly 30 percent of Opus Dei members give an even more rigorous commitment to what they call "The Work." They are known as numeraries. They are celibate, give Opus Dei their entire salaries, and typically live in group homes.

Elizabeth Heil, Opus Dei Information Office, Rome:

A numerary has complete and total availability for The Work, or for Opus Dei. Really, to do anything, really, at anytime, of course, barring your health.

Martin:

They are in fact like a religious order in that their full members take what they call commitments, which are very close to vows: poverty, chastity, and obedience. So it's very much like a religious order, although they stress that they are not a religious order, that they are a lay institution.

Lawton:

Tens of thousands, or perhaps hundreds of thousands more are not members, but are known as cooperators. They support the work with money and prayers. Despite Opus Dei's expanding membership and growing acceptance within Church structures, criticism persists.

Some critics target the founder himself, accusing him of having close ties to the fascist Franco regime in Spain and allege that Opus Dei continues to support right-wing governments around the world. Opus Dei denies that.

There are also allegations that Opus Dei is secretive. Even at the Opus Dei international headquarters in Rome and its adjacent cathedral, there are no large identifying signs.

Martin:

The way that they go about recruiting, what goes on inside their houses, they are fairly secretive about. And they are very secretive about their finances. And I think a lot of the sponsorship of some of the organizations that they run, schools, and whatnot, it's rarely identified as an Opus Dei school.

Bohlin:

People can read in conspiracy because they don't see the Opus Dei name, the Opus Dei name on the building, and the fact is, it's the kind of organization that we are. Our job is to disappear so that the ordinary Christian, he or she, takes her responsibility seriously and lives it. The founder said that his motto was to hide and disappear so that only God would be seen.

Lawton:

But Tammy DiNicola says she left Opus Dei feeling deceived. She's now married with two kids, but more than ten years ago, while she was in college, she joined Opus Dei as a numerary. At that point, she says, she was shocked to learn what was required of her, including having to whip herself when she prayed, an ancient Catholic practice known as corporal mortification.

Dinicola, Former Opus Dei Member:

Handing over your salaries, using the corporal mortifications, it's the whole picture together. None of that is known when people make their initial commitment to Opus Dei, or almost none of those details, because they don't want to scare people away.

Lawton:

Tammy's parents say they became alarmed by the changes they saw in her.

Dinicola:

It was almost like she had died, and yet she was still walking around in her body. I was desperately praying for God to show me that I was wrong. I wanted to be wrong. But as time went by, that feeling intensified, it didn't go away.

Lawton:

With the help of an outside counselor, the family staged an intervention, and convinced Tammy to leave Opus Dei. Today, from her den, Dianne runs the Opus Dei Awareness Network. She says they have heard from people from all over the world who have had similar experiences.

An Opus Dei official denied any control or coercion of members. He said, quote: "Respect for personal freedom is an integral part of what we are trying to do." Tammy isn't convinced.

Dinicola:

Typically, what the Opus Dei new recruits are told is that if they decided to leave, that they are turning their backs on God, that they could be damned if they leave Opus Dei, and they are going to live their whole lives without God's grace. And so, they say it's freedom, but is that really freedom?

Lawton:

Mary Beth Burger says she has never felt coerced or controlled.

Burger:

OD has never told me, you know, you need to do this. Sometimes, I'm like, "tell me what to do." And they won't because they want you to pray about it and they'll give you guidance, but they never tell you what to do.

Lawton:

Opus Dei officials believe they are often misunderstood because they don't neatly fit into traditional church categories. They say all new Catholic orders and movements generated controversy in their early days.

Bohlin:

We're just a small part of the church. We don't have all the answers for the church. We don't profess to be the thing that's going to help everybody. The church is like a big garden and there are many different kinds of flowers and everyone chooses what they want.

Lawton:

Some observers believe there is controversy because the Opus Dei picture is indeed a mixed one.

Martin:

I would say 95 percent of the stuff that Opus Dei does is great. I mean, lay spirituality and helping people understand God in their work. I think that's terrific. There is a part of Opus Dei, however, their recruiting techniques, their penchant for secrecy, some of the ways in which they operate in the church, that really needs to be looked at.

Lawton:

The ultimate picture of Opus Dei depends on the eye -- and the point of view -- of the beholder.