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

Thank you for the short article on Opus Dei. It is accurate in pointing out some salient abuses of Opus Dei, among which I would highlight the lying, brainwashing, and zero financial accountability.

Joseph I. B. Gonzales, Ph.D.
Former numerary, six years

Thank you for the feedback Joseph. I was first approached by the Opus Dei in Zaragoza, Spain when I was studying there and I have been wary, and intrigued, ever since.

How does one leave the Opus Dei, I found that a little sketchy to research and I would love to add it to the entry.

Well, that's a pretty quick reply.

To leave Opus Dei, you're supposed to write a letter to the Prelate asking to leave. I understand that action on the matter is quick, as fast as one month, but it may indeed be longer.

Some numeraries never write the letter requesting separation and just bolt. There is an effort to confirm verbally that the numerary is not returning. In any case, the director has to inform the Prelate that the numerary does not intend to return and to make this report in writing and that ends it.

I had to sneak out of the Opus Dei residence--I had said about one month earlier that I wanted to leave but the director would not discuss it--and when they came back for me, I ended up in the residence again, and my relatives came to the residence to pull me out.

ODAN has a good discussion of the mechanics involved in leaving in one of their earlier newsletters, not on the Net.

Adjusting to normality was difficult afterward. The Opus Dei numerary lifestyle is abnormal. It is not lay but modeled on the pattern of religious life. I was severely affected by the brainwashing...some are not so severely affected. Maybe it's my own psyche. I've been told I am a genius, whatever that means. But I do think I remember everything intensely.

Joseph G.

You should probably note this, too.--Joseph G.

Controversy Over Opus Dei
Some Criticize Group's Methods

ABC News/June 18, 2001
By David Ruppe
New York -- When teenage "Julie" told her spiritual director she was thinking about leaving Opus Dei, she says she was told she would never be happy and would go to the devil if she did.

Tammy DiNicola, as a college student, says she was told she would go to hell if she left Opus Dei. The two women, now in their 30s, are among an undercurrent of critics of what they say are aggressive recruiting practices toward young people and a culture of control at Opus Dei, a small but growing conservative organization within the Roman Catholic Church.

…Numeraries contacted say they lead fulfilled, happy lives. Opus Dei's national spokesman, Brian Finnerty, a numerary member himself, says the group respects the freedom of its members and potential members.

He says members are free to choose whether or not to join and remain in Opus Dei, and to submit to its practices, such as having their mail read by superiors and signing over their salaries.

"The whole process involves a recognition of the fact that there's a respect for the freedom of everybody who comes into contact with Opus Dei," he says. But the group's critics say ONCE A PERSON BEGINS TO PARTICIPATE AND THE RESTRICTIONS ARE IN PLACE, IT CAN BECOME DIFFICULT FOR HIM TO EXERCISE HIS FREE WILL AND LEAVE. [caps mine]

This is a very interesting web-site on Opus Dei:

http://www.mond.at/opus.dei/

I live in Spain and have come across many Opus members over the past ten years or so. Most are quite upstanding citizens and all that, but somehow this organization gives me the creeps.

az

This body is nothing more than a cult of the worst kind. As with all other cultish sub organisations (both political and religious) Opus Dei believes its self to be the only grouping which can save defend or return the main organisation to the 'true path', whilst actually driving it in the opposite negative direction (see the history of Millitant in the British Labour Party during the nineteen-eighties).

There is always a lot of brow-beating and heavy indoctrination (to the point of brainwashing) and fixation around a historical figure. The extortion of large sums of money is essential - huge office buildings printing presses and staff don't come free.

As with much else in the Roman Catholic church, there is no biblical support for secret societies. They are organisations who exist solely to attain power for their own views, and usually use (abuse) the young,the elderly and the stupid to forward their aims.