h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

I was a founding member of an Opus Dei school in Australia, which was formed in 1982. I'd like to add my two cents worth into what an insidious, hypocritical and secretive society Opus Dei is.

I saw first hand how parents (not very well off) of children were bullied or pressured into making donation after donation. The result for a fledgling school with crap lab equipment and a computer room with no computers as well as a very under-resourced arts, science and maths department? Gold candlestick holders and emrbroidered linen for the chapel and chaplain.

I saw girls who were not baptised into the Catholic faith bullied and taunted by other students (we're talking 5 and 6 year olds). The taunters had obviously been coached by parents and teachers on dogmas of the Catholic faith (that those who are not baptised cannot get to heaven - what a ridiculous thought!). The result, the non-Catholics felt very disciminated against and very isolated in what was meant to be a non-denominational school (for funding and tax reasons).

I also saw first hand, when the school got quite popular, the selective process whereby children were accepted to this elistest institution. If their parents had dough, and subscribed to the very narrow and rigid mores of the Opus Dei philosophy, they were accepted. If not, see you later! My own cousin whose older sister had earlier been accepted to the school found she was not welcome and my aunt and uncle had to look elsewhere!

In my class, towards the end of my school life, some of us discovered evidence that showed a couple of girls who were right into the social activities of Opus Dei were spying on us, tallying up our "sins" and obviously reporting these back to the numeries and supernumeries who ran the school. Nothing was private, those in charge seemed to know what went on in people's private lives, and judged them for it.

There was also a system of "tutorials" whereby a girl was assigned to a numerary, also a teacher at the school, for what was meant to be academic and personal couselling. I can tell you now these sessions were used only to find out more of what happened in our parents marriages, how often we went to Church, etc, etc.

In all, many girls that went to this school were quite scarred by the experience.

Me? I consider myself lucky that I was given such a great opportunity to discover first hand the hypocracy and lies the Church is founded on, and gave me the tools quite early in my life to question any institution that puported to be "doing me good". These tools have held me in good stead.

It is because of this I no longer hold any bitterness towards the school (although this was a problem early on). I am just sad that such an institution continues to exist to pollute the minds of impressionable girls and boys (my brothers went to the male equivalent) with such a narrow view of the world.

I would like to say that the article 'Seen in from inside' is a load of crap. I am a student of Redfield College and my sister goes to Tangara School for Girls. Tangara School for girls is the school that this lady went to which was founded back in 1982.

St Josemaria de Balaguer (founding member of Opus Dei) describes the role of Opus Dei as an organization that 'serves the Church the way the Church wants to be served.' Opus Dei does not have a separate 'Opus Dei philosophy.' The philosophy and the faith that Opus Dei is based on is the Catholic faith. It is part of the Catholic Church and follows no other faith of its own accord. Therefore in essence, to accuse Opus Dei of being 'hypocritical' is to accuse the Catholic Church of being hypocritical. I am catholic myself and NEVER have I heard that the Catholic Church preach that 'girls who were not baptised into the Catholic faith [should be] bullied and taunted by other students.' Remember that Opus Dei preaches and follows the same dogma as the Catholic faith and it does not alter the dogma to suit its purposes. Therefore in general, I have also NEVER seen in my life these practices done in any Catholic school in Australia. Seriously, I don’t know what sort of religion this lady is part of but I can tell you that this so-called religion dubbed as Catholic definitely does not sound like the Catholic religion.

In the beginning of her article, this lady must have forgotten to mention one important detail about Tangara. As a person who she claims that she was a 'founding member of an Opus Dei school in Australia' she obviously understands fully what this school was going through during its foundation years because this school only started with 15 students! I am not sure how anyone can pull enough resources from 15 students to buy land and fund the construction of this school. In general, regardless of what religion any school is based on, they are entitled to spend an adequate amount of their funds on the equipment and building of their place of worship. I must confess that, we place a high importance for the construction of the chapel in both Redfield and Tangara because we try to build a place that is fit for a Our Lord. Since there were only 15 students in the school I am guessing that the funds came from donations. However, I am not too sure if she knew where the embroidered linen came from or these candlesticks because these accessories might have been donated. Anyways, the chapel was no bigger than a classroom back in 1982 so money was not splurged on for the construction of this chapel.

This now brings in the issue of 'donations.' Well to give a bit of background information on the financial difficulties that Tangara has. Yes, the school is just managing its bills and without the donations, Tangara would never have existed. The school receives a puny subsidy from the government and being an independent school, it gives no advantages over public schools when it comes to taxes. In fact, independent schools are taxed by the government specifically to fund the public education system. So I am not too sure where this lady got the idea that being a 'non-denominational' school or independent school can receive subsidies from the government or tax deductions. Also as you are clearly aware, the school relied heavily on donations in the foundation years because of the small number of students. Furthermore, the lady reckons that this school accepted people with 'dough.' This is ridiculous because the parents’ occupations range from domestic employment to trade skills, from accountants to businessmen. If you do not believe me, see for yourself, I gave you the name of our schools and check out the 'elite institution' on one of our Open Days. I hope the education this school provides can only be comparable to other elite institutions because if I am a parent I would be worried about my children's academic performance and character development. There are other parents who cannot afford to pay the full fee in our school but are determined to send their children to Redfield or Tangara. So these parents are accepted into these schools and they pay only the amount that they can afford.

The selective process sounds interesting because I would like to know what this 'Opus Dei philosophy' is about. She assumes that students are accepted into the school if they conform to this 'philosophy' but since Opus Dei has no other philosophy of its own apart from the Catholic philosophy, I am not too sure where this lady is coming from. Also when you are visiting the school, take note of how many different religions there are in the school. However, even then if this 'narrow and rigid... philosophy' is able to accept different religions into the school then I fail to understand where she is coming from (again).

The discrimination about the activities in Opus Dei is quite absurd. I have never seen in my life people who spy on others and 'tally up "sins"'. Even the very thought sounds absurd because why would anyone tally up 'sins.' She fails to give an adequate explanation of this practice suggesting that it was made up. Furthermore, I repeat that the practices Opus Dei carries out all conform to the Catholic Church's teaching. This practice of 'tally up...sins' goes against the Catholic Church's teaching. In addition, the Catholic Church does not judge people by their actions.

The next part is the one I like the most in her article. There is a practice in our schools where each student is assigned a tutor. Students are assigned a numerary and a supernumerary or a member of the teaching staff. Basically, a numerary and a supernumery are members of Opus Dei where a numerary takes up a life of celibacy and a supernumerary is a person who is married. The school would want to have tutors who have a good solid spiritual formation in Catholicism which explains why the students are assigned to a numerary or supernumerary or a member of the teaching staff. Just to give a brief overview of the tutorial system in the school, I extracted a part of an article from the Tangara's website written by the principle.

"Tangara's tutorial system establishes a close and constant link between the School and the parents. Every student is allocated a personal tutor from the teaching staff of the school.
Parents’ are expected to book and interview with the tutor each term. The tutor meets regularly with each student. Character development is the ultimate focus. The success of the tutorial system depends upon the effective teamwork between the parents, the tutor and the teachers. It is the key to the School's personalised education."

Just too clear a few things up, never in my whole life in Redfield have I been inquired by my tutor to explain matters concerning about my parents. They encourage students to live out their Catholic faith well but they respect other people's 'free will'. It is against the Catholic Church's teaching to force students or anyone for that matter to accept their teaching. However, their main focus is 'character development' and not religion. To say that 'in all, many girls that went to this school were quite scarred by the experience,' is a joke. I would like to know what happened in her tutorials because as far as I can remember, they have never physically or verbally abused me in my life. Still not convinced, as I have said before, come over for an Open Day and see for yourself.

Everybody is welcome to Redfield or Tangara.... however according to the lady she believes that not everybody is welcome. She says that her aunt and uncle were ‘not welcome’ in the school. The lady again fails to explain the reason or the grounds for which her aunt and uncle left the school suggesting it was made up.

I hope my article gave an adequate explanation of the issues raised in the lady’s article. The issues that the lady based her argument on, I can assure you, are false. If you are still not convinced, as I have said before, you are cordially invited to any Open Day that Redfield and Tangara holds and see for yourself.

Sorry I have made a mistake with my article. Private independent schools dont get taxed by government to fund the public education system, however, they still get taxed. I am not an accountant so I can not tell any further details than what i know. Also Redfield and Tangara are located in Sydney if anyone wants to know.

1. I was a founding member of Tangara. There were actually 17 girls at the time. I was not talking about the donations being encouraged at that time, but as time went on there was an increasing burden of all families to donate money towards building the places and fixtures of worship and not (to my viewpoint) nearly the same emphasis on building basic equiment for our science and computer labs which at that time were sadly woeful. Times change, and I'm sure there is a lot of equipment now set up. You posted in 2006, saying you were a current student of Redfield. You obviously have a lot more resources that we had at the time. I wish you well with that.
2. I was not aware of the financial inputs that my parents made (or others) as I was merely 8 at the time. My overall impressions of the school and their philosophy and ways of going about things were a cumulative effect of being enrolled in this school from year 3 to year 12.
3. The spying by peers that I refer to actually happened in my class. Call it made up if that makes you feel better, but it did happen.
4. I am Catholic as is my family. The school was always positioned as non-denominational. I do accuse the Catholic Institution of being hypocritical. This is not to say there are not good people of Catholic faith.
5. My cousin was told she was not welcome to join the school after her sister and her cousins were already enrolled. To accuse me of making this up must mean you know something about our family that I don't...

You have a right to your opinion, based on your experience of the school. I have a right to mine. It is based in fact and my experience of having lived it from 1982 through to 1991.

What is interesting about your comments (and profile page) is that you have only logged on to respond to this comment on an article written back in 2002....

I can see no other evidence of a profile or any activity on this site, which to me suggests quite an emotional response to something you have obviously stumbled over in a Google search on the internet.

Secrecy is one of the main criticisms levelled at Opus Dei. This kind of anonymous posting would be considered a hallmark feature of this.

I have given you enough information to work out who I am, and in fact my profile itself has enough information for you to research through the annals of your history on the school and know who I am. Who are you?