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Opus Dei

Opus Dei [The Work of God], a conservative Catholic lay organization, is a personal Prelature of the Catholic Church that helps ordinary lay people seek holiness in their work and everyday activities. It provides an emphasis on getting closer to God through normal daily activities.

On 2 August 1928, on the initiative of a young Spanish priest, Jose-Maria Escriva-de-Balaguer-i-Albas, an organization for secular Catholics, Opus Dei, was established. The 26-year old Escriva experienced - as he put it - the "schizophrenic split" of the average Catholic, who on Sunday goes to church, prays and confesses, but from Monday to Saturday, he hangs his best suit, together with his faith and love for his neighbor in the closet. Escriva dreamed of Catholic masses which in their everyday life would performa Christian apostolic service at work, in the family, among friends and acquaintance and in society; so that through their action the world would be transformed into an "Opus Dei" - a work of God.

On October 2nd, 1928 there was founded in Spain "The Sacerdotal Society of the Holy Cross and the Work of God", since known as Opus Dei, by a priest, who since became a bishop, Jose-Maria Escriva. After founding this organization, which was joined by several of Escriva'sfriends and supporters, he devoted several years to "spiritual meditations," the result of which was a book entitled "The Way" (El Camino) containing 999 maxims and expressing the views of the author on important philosophic, spiritual, political, moral and psychological questions of contemporary life. So far, the book has gone through 36 editions with a total number of copies printed in excess of 3 million.

One of these maxims, expressed in a more than conservative spirit (No 16) states: "And must you be one of many? And must you belong to the crowd? - No. You were born to command." The spirit of Nietzschean elitism, will for power, contempt of the masses, that is, of "ordinary people," reactionary 'leaderism' permeated every word of this work. The Church hierarchy mistrusted this secular Catholic organization, the membership of which included influential representatives of the political, cultural and financial spheres. All the more so, since Opus Dei operated from the very beginning with semi-conspiratorial methods and displayed such expansionism that it aroused misgivings in the leadership of the Church, which had no intention of sharing its power and influence with whoever it might be.

The Society's, members reunited after the civil war, and in 1943 received the approval of the Vatican, numbering among its members 12 cardinals, two patriarchs, 26 archbishops and 110 bishops. This papal approval was reinforced by a series of pontifical decrees, and was placed under the protection of Cardinal Teschini, one of the most powerful and reactionary of ecclesiastical potentates.

In 1947, Pope Pius XII isued the decree "Próvida Mater Ecclesiae," which recognized the legality of this organization. In the face of the growing communist movement, the Church saw its salvation in strengthening such organizations as Opus Dei, capable, in its opinion, of successfully withstanding communism's expansion. Beginning with 1950, the movement Opus Dei began to grow quickly and to increasingly activate its work in thepolitical, social, cultural and religious spheres. People from Opus Dei were ministers of the fascist government of General Franco in Spain, founded secondary schools and universities in different countries and occupied influential posts in the press, banking and even in the Vatican. Although attention has been drawn primarily to its activities in Spain, it is an international body with members and associates throughout the world. Members take a vow to dedicate their professional talents to the service of God and to seek to win converts through their missionary zeal. The organization in Spain emphasized professional excellence, and it expected its members to serve in important government positions.

The controversial Opus Dei was the most influential Catholic lay group during the Franco period was. This group did not fit conveniently into any political category. Although it denied any political aims, its members played pivotal roles in the modernization of the economy under Franco and in the subsequent liberalization of politics and government. At the same time, they were theologically conservative, and their desire for modernization was far from radical. They believed that economic reforms would improve society to the extent that thorough going political reforms would be unnecessary.

During the late 1950s and the 1960s, Opus Dei members came to control the economic ministries, and they occupied other important cabinet posts as well. This was in keeping with the organization's aim of influencing the development of society indirectly. Opus Dei recruited its members from among the brightest students, which encouraged a sense of elitism and clannishness. Because of this clannishness and the secrecy that surrounded the organization, some critics termed it the "Holy Mafia." The international press exposed the hidden ties of Opus Dei with the CIA, with South-American dictators and with international monoplies. In the '50s, the press called this organization the White Masons, Holy Mafia, God's Octopus, Papist Secret service, God's Fifth Column, and so on.

The Opus Dei technocrats were largely responsible for devising, introducing, and later administering the economic stabilization program that formed the basis of Spain's economic development. They encouraged competition as a means of achieving rapid economic growth, and they favored economic integration with Europe. Although these policies implied eventual political as well as economic liberalization, this was not Opus Dei's avowed goal; the group remained socially conservative, stressing personal piety and orthodox theology. With the advent of democracy, Opus Dei lost much of its influence, and it was condemned by the more progressive forces in both the Catholic hierarchy and Spanish society for having propped up a repressive regime.

During the time of John XXIII, Opus Dei underwent hard times. The request of one of the leaders of the organization to convert it into an official institution of the Vatican was declined by the Pope in 1962, who explained his refusal in the following manner: "This request cannot be accepted since its fulfillment would run into insurmountable difficulties." Primitive anticommunism was not an attribute of John XXIII or Paul VI, which was so typical of all of the work of Escriva-de-Balaguer's organization. In 1964, Paul VI declared that "as yet no possibility exists for executing the request of Opus Dei". Since then, acute polemics and secret opposition continued for 15 subsequent years between Opus Dei and the Roman Curia.

The fact is that Opus Dei in practice came out against the policy of Vatican II, against the Church opening up to the world, against democratization of its doctrines and politics. The official Church delicately supported those Spanish priests who were against the fascist dictatorship in Spain. The influence of Opus Dei had constantly grown. The people of this organization, numbering by the 1980s about 75,000 persons, had been operating in 500 dioceses in different countries, teaching in universities and collegies, occupying executive posts in editorial offices of newspapers and journals, in television and radio broadcasting networks, in advertising agencies and in motion-picture enterprises. In the sphere of science, technology, finance, economics and culture, the influence of Opus Dei was and continued to be appreciable.

Whereas John XXIII and Paul VI were quite cool to this anticommunist organization, Karol Wojtyla entertained most warm feelings for it. Incidentally, Opus Dei very early noted the Polish cardinal, who evoked the sympathy of Escriva-de-Balaguer and other leaders of this organization of secular Catholics. Back in 1970, one of the activists of Opus Dei - Flavio Capucci - interviewed Wojtyla for the journal STUDI CATTOLICI. Four years later, Wojtyla made aspeech at the International Residence of Universities; his ideas to a large extent were similar to the ideology of Opus Dei, particularly with referenceto increasing the activity of the work of secular Catholics aimed at intensifying and disseminating the Christian viewpoint among the broad working masses. Opus Dei had been engaged for 15 years in intensifying the dissemination of the ideas of Karol Wojtyla. On the initiative of this organization, the Polish cardinal presented a series of lectures to Italian audiences which were then issued as a single book with the title "The Power of Faith."

On 8 February 1981, John Paul II expressed his agreement to initiate theprocess of beatification of Escriva-de-Balaguer, the founder of Opus Dei, who was dead by that time. And on 23 August 1982, the Vatican press center reported: "The Pope has decided to elevate Opus Dei to the rank of a special prelature." On 27 November 1982, a special decree was issued; the dream of the conservatives of Opus Dei was realized - they had become members of the official Catholic Church and now act in its name.

On 2 January 1984, the present head of Opus Dei, Alvaro del Portillo, was received at an official audience of John Paul II and two weeks later the head of the Vatican himself paid a reciprocal visit to the residence of this semi-secret clerical organization where he was enthusiastically greeted by it smembers. The fact that Opus Dei has actually become a superdiocese, a special prelature, directly subordinated to the Roman Pope, cannot help but influence the policy and ideology of the Vatican. It is no secret that Opus Dei wss calling for a "crusade" against communism and is for the imposition of militant Catholicism among the broad working masses throughout the entireworld. The aims of Opus Dei and the aims of the "itinerant Pope" fully coincided in this regard. The fact of "legalization" of Opus Dei showed the desire of John Paul II to rally the camp of Catholicism, to bring together all its forces into one powerful force for the purpose of utilizing it in the future for the realization of plans of energetic expansion in the international arena.

Opus Dei is constituted on the lines of the Jesuits. Its central office is in Rome and its Director for life was its founder, Monsignor Escriva. It differs from the Society of Jesus, however, in being largely secular in membership; and is divided into two sections, one for men, the other for women, independent save that both are responsible to the Director. According to the American weekly Life of March 18th, 1957, Opus Dei then had nearly 100,000 members in four grades, distributed in Spain, Germany. Ireland, Latin America, and Canada, and, then recently, in France. The first mentioned grade was the "numerarios", drawn from university intellectuals; the second the "oblates" from all classes of society; the third the "supernumerarios": and the last and most numerous - from whom is expected little more than regular pecuniary contributions - the "co-operadpres". It is claimed that many non-Catholics belong to this last group.

All members are bound to secrecy, as required by the decree of the Sacred Congregation of July 24th, 1947. From the rank of the "numerarios" a certain number are received each year into the priesthood, e.g. in 1955, 36 intellectuals from six different countries-doctors, lawyers, engineers, chemists etc. took orders. Most of these continue to exercise their profession. A somewhat similar organisation is the Jesuit "Templars".

New members are sought with the greatest care and secrecy; and the main aim is to infiltrate into positions of influence in the universities, the liberal professions, particularly the civil service and education, as well as the armed forces and the police. Nor is finance forgotten. Radio-Luxemburg revealed that in 1926 two key posts in the Bank of Spain were held by members of Opus Dei, who also control banks such as Banco Popular (People's Bank) of Madrid and the Credito Andorra. Opus Dei also owns wholly or in part several newspapers, and controls more than one publishing house.

Branches of Opus Dei are to be found in other countries than Spain. In France the society has been very active since 1952 especially in the universities and there particularly among the students; then in the army, in the publishing world and lastly in politics, e.g. Robert Schumann and others. Although its central offices are in Rome, the organisation is not so widely developed in Italy as in Spain. In Germany the centre is at the monastery of St. Maria Lach, which was also the centre of Adenauer's support. Among the thirty other countries in which this organisation is active we may note that centres have been established in the universities of London and Oxford. Although Opus Dei may be monarchist fascist in Spain, it may take other aspects in other lands.