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Opus Dei Opus Dei Opus Dei Opus Dei Opus Dei

Opus Dei ("The Work of God", "The Work", "God's Work") is a Roman Catholic organization founded on October 2, 1928, by St. Josemar&iacute;a Escriv&aacute;, a Spanish priest. It has approximately 85,000 members in 60 countries, and is based in Rome. Pope John Paul II made Opus Dei a personal prelature in 1982, and canonized its founder on October 6, 2002.

The aim of Opus Dei is to "contribute to [the] evangelizing mission of the Church"; it "encourages Christians of all social classes to live consistently with their faith, in the middle of the ordinary circumstances of their lives, especially through the sanctification of their work."

Activities
Its activities consist of "offer[ing] spiritual formation and pastoral care to its members, as well as to many others," via religious retreats, classes in Catholic doctrine, etc... This is the main activity of the insititution.

Some of its members undertake social and/or educational initiatives: Opus Dei operates several hospitals, clinics, schools, and inner-city tutoring programs. For example, in the United States, it operates one college and five secondary schools, and tutoring programs in Chicago, New York City, St. Louis and Washington, DC. In Spain, Opus Dei founded Universidad de Navarra and many lower schools.

Membership and practices
The Vatican Yearbook indicates that Opus Dei includes about 1,800 priests. The remainder of the 85,000 members are laypersons. There are three types of members in the men's branch: Numeraries, associates and supernumeraries. The distinction is in their availability to direct and assist in the apostolic activities of the prelature.

Approximately a quarter of Opus Dei's members are "numeraries," who have committed themselves to celibacy in order to be more available for the organization's activities. The majority of the lay members are "supernumeraries," who are involved in Opus Dei's activities -mainly receiving spiritual formation and help in order to reach holiness- but do not make a commitment of celibacy. Opus Dei additionally has many "cooperators," who assist its activities through prayer, donations, or other means. These do not belong to the institution, and can be non-Catholic, non-Christian and even non-religious people.

Numeraries are the most available. They live in celibacy and devote all their free time and money to Opus Dei. As a general rule, they live in centers of Opus Dei. They receive an intense formation in the philosophy and theology of the Church. Most of them hold regular secular jobs, but for some their professional work is to direct the apostolic activities of Opus Dei or to hold an internal position in the governance of the prelature. For most of those who hold internal positions, this is a temporary situation. The numeraries are the primary givers of spiritual direction to the rest of the membership. They are at the disposal of the prelature and are ready to move wherever the prelature needs them.

In addition to the practice of celibacy, the numerary members follow practices of mortification of the flesh.

Associates are the next type of member, in order of availability. They live celibacy, but they typically do not live in centers of Opus Dei. The fact that they are less available is due to personal (usually familiar, business-related... circumstances). Associates also are involved in giving spiritual direction to other members of the prelature and to non-members, too.

Supernumeraries (which are most of the members) are the least available (in time, ability to dedicate effort...) to Opus Dei. These may be married or unmarried. They assist with the apostolic aims of the prelature as their personal circumstances permit. They form the 'coal-face' of Opus Dei in that they epitomize fully the life of the Christian struggling to live sanctity in daily life be it in the family, the workplace or both. Their formation, though less intensive than that of numeraries and associates is nevertheless substantial.

While the women numeraries can't be ordained (as with the Roman Catholic priesthood), they receive the same philosophical and theological formation the male numeraries receive. There is another type of member in the women's branch called "numerary assistant". Numerary assistants attend to the domestic needs of the centers of Opus Dei, both for the men and for the women. They run Opus Dei's conference centers. They do the cooking and cleaning. Their job was usually called "apostolate of apostolates" by the Founder.

Criticisms of Opus Dei
Opus Dei has been criticized, by both secular and some Roman Catholic groups, for promoting an overly conservative vision of the Roman Catholic faith and allegedly engaging in questionable practices. Some critics have gone even further, alleging that it is an elitist, secretive cult, and that it attempts to infiltrate other organs of the Catholic Church, supports South American dictatorships, and is influenced by fascist ideas. Opus Dei has also been accused of focusing on recruiting students from prestigious universities, who can then enter professions where they could influence public policy from an Opus Dei perspective. Others point to the humanitarian and spiritual relief missions that it has undertaken, such as the one located in the Mountains of Yauyos, Peru. Critics in Ireland, including some ex-Opus Dei members, accused the organisation of 'sexist exploitation' of women, whom they claimed were restricted in Opus Dei run hostels to doing manual work such as cooking and cleaning and denied any role in leadership. Others state that Opus Dei is divided into two branches, men and women. both have parallel hierarchical structures, which meet at the top, in the person of the prelate.

Some conservative critics focus on its support for the Second Vatican Council's teachings on ecumenism and the role of the laity in the Church. Others have alleged that Opus Dei was looked upon with suspicion by Pope John XXIII and Paul VI, though supporters claim that, in fact, those popes supported the organization. In fact, there is documentary evidence that both Paul VI and John Paul I looked fondly on Opus Dei.

John Paul I wrote just before the start of his brief papacy:


 * "Msgr. Escriva, with Gospel in hand, constantly taught: 'Christ does not want us simply to be good, he wants us to be saints through and through. However, he wants us to attain that sanctity not by doing extraordinary things, but rather, through ordinary common activities. It is the way that they are done which must be uncommon'. There, nel bel mezzo della strada (in the middle of the street), in the office, in the factory, we can be holy provided we do our job competently, for love of God, and cheerfully, so that everyday work does not become a daily tragedy, but rather a daily smile". (Article in Il Gazzettino, Venice, 25-VII-1978)

Paul VI also wrote to the founder:


 * "We have seen in your words the vibration of the generous and enlightened spirit of the whole Institution, born in our times as an expression of the perennial youth of the Church... We consider with paternal satisfaction all that Opus Dei has done and continues to do for the kingdom of God: the desire to do good that guides it, the ardent love for the Church and its visible head  which characterizes it, the ardent zeal for souls which leads it along the  difficult and arduous paths of the apostolate of presence and of witness in all sectors of contemporary life." (Handwritten letter to Msgr. Josemaria Escriva de Balaguer, October 1,  1964)

The late Cardinal Basil Hume, Archbishop of Westminster and head of the Catholic Church in England and Wales, was a vocal critic of Opus Dei and criticised what was termed unacceptable behaviour and its infiltration of organisations, both secular and religious, within his archdiocese. Cardinal Hume issued "Guidelines for Opus Dei within the Diocese of Westminster" in December, 1981. Some Irish bishops also privately are critical of Opus Dei and its behaviour within their dioceses, with a number of bishops indicating that they do not wish Opus Dei to operate in their diocese, though because it operates as a personal prelature to the pope, bishops cannot enforce such a wish.

Opus Dei and Catholic politics
Critics and supporters alike agree that Pope John Paul II has been a strong supporter of Opus Dei. John Paul II's press spokesman, Joaquin Navarro-Valls, is perhaps the most famous member of the organization.

In 1960s Spain, Francisco Franco appointed as ministers several members of Opus Dei. These ministers are viewed as bringing a Capitalist technocrat ideology, contrasting with previous Falangist, Carlist or military ministers. At the same time, some other notorious members of Opus Dei were exiled because of their political ideas, like the founder of Diario Madrid who lived in Paris and had a leading role in the Spanish transition into democracy.

In current Spain, members of Opus Dei have been appointed as ministers by Partido Popular leader Jose Maria Aznar. Members of Opus Dei (alongside other religious or political organisations) have for decades been required to declare their membership, if asked to serve in Irish governments. In modern Irish history Opus Dei members have generally been refused appointment to cabinet posts.

Opus Dei has also been criticised by former members for its alleged treatment of women within the organisation.

Opus Dei states that its members are completely free in their personal, professional and political lives, and that the organization plays no role in the professional decisions made by members, including those who work in politics, and therefore cannot be held responsible for them.

Reading list

 * Josemar&iacute;a Escriv&aacute;: Furrow, Scepter Publications, 1992. ISBN 0933932553
 * Josemar&iacute;a Escriv&aacute;: The Way, Scepter Publications, 1992. ISBN 0933932545
 * Josemar&iacute;a Escriv&aacute; De Balaguer: Conversations with Monsignor Josemar&iacute;a Escriv&aacute;, Scepter Publications, 2003. ISBN 1889334588
 * Francis Fernandez: In Conversation with God, Scepter Publications, 1993. ISBN 0906138191 (7 volume set)
 * María del Carmen Tapia: Beyond the Threshold, Continuum, 1998. ISBN 0826410960