Spiritual abuse
“‘They don’t give you time to think, to criticize and say that you don’t like it. You have to endure because you have to surrender totally to God.’”
“They claim that Opus Dei priests and other members exercised ‘coercion of conscience’ on the women to pressure them to serve and to frighten them with spiritual evils if they didn’t comply with the supposed will of God.”
“…Those women alleged spiritual and psychological abuse, of being separated from family and being told their discomfort was ‘God’s will’ and that abandoning their vocation would be tantamount to abandoning God.”
“…Beatriz Delgado, who worked for Opus Dei for 23 years in Argentina and Uruguay, said she was told ‘that I had to give my salary to the director and that everyone gave it. ... It was part of giving to God.’
“‘They convince you with the vocation, with “God calls you, God asks this of you, you cannot fail God.” ... They hooked me with that,’ she said.”
“…these Numerary Assistants comprise the least educated class within the hierarchy of the institute and hold little to no decision-making power within the ranks. Instead, they are to work in a spirit of ‘full submission,’ according to the Constitutions.”
“…not surprising to those who recognize the structural sin of sexism within Catholicism, equally reflected in the hierarchy of Opus Dei, Numerary Assistants -- those with the least power -- are only allowed to be women, most of whom were recruited when they were young.”
Commentary
The justification for practices that are on its face abusive is religious. Religious language is used to rationalize the system—“surrender,” “submission,” “will of God,” “vocation.” However, from alternate legitimate standpoints, the system isn’t inspired by God at all, since it violates human rights. How can it come from God if it perpetrates evil?
The system in fact illustrates the abuse of religion; it instantiates what has been described as “too much religion.”
Father Jake Anderson (0:09):
“Is it possible to be too religious?...Is it possible to be too Christian?...It is actually possible to be too religious. Do you remember in the gospel who Jesus reserved the harshest words for in Scripture?...Jesus reserved the harshest words of…condemnation for the Pharisees. …Interestingly, the Pharisees were the ‘most religious’ people of the time. They loved the law. They were quite meticulous at it. …they preached, talked a lot, but they did not practice. Second, and this is a little more subtle,…they elevated the importance of the petty things over and above the more weighty things.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eJqhruW5Kkw
—Gopher Catholic, “Can you be too religious?” YouTube video, 6:44 minutes, April 6, 2024
Psychological harm and damage
“They were recruited and separated from their families between the ages of 12 and 16.”
“Most of the women asked to leave as the physical and psychological demands became intolerable. …Many also said they needed psychological treatment after leaving Opus Dei.”
“Beginning at the age of 14, she was encouraged to distance herself from her family for 15 years and during that time grew progressively ill.
“In 2001, her parents intervened and helped her to recover after a doctor said she should not return to Opus Dei for the sake of her health.”
Commentary
Cultic alienation from the family which Opus Dei imposes on young people potentially results in their psychological harm and dysfunction, which can be severe.
Basically, emotional and psychological damage occurs when cults purport to substitute for the family.
Because the family is a critical source of psychological and emotional support for children and youth, the love and solicitude of the family is necessary for their healthy psychological development. Damaging or destroying family relations at such a critical point in human development can cause lasting, even lifetime harm. Categorically, cult membership and love-bombing does not substitute for a supportive and loving family.
https://oddsandendsgonzalinhodacosta.blogspot.com/2022/09/the-work-of-evil-spirit.html
Human trafficking
0:10
On March 16th 2024 at 6:31 UTC, the Financial Times, a little newspaper that you might have heard of, published an article titled The Opus Dei Diaries by Antonia Cundy, how girls around the world were coerced into decades of grueling service to a secretive Catholic group. This topic brings me no joy…it has never brought me joy…but from the moment that I first learned about assistant numeraries and about the hell that they are put through in this organization, I felt compelled to do everything that I can to amplify their experiences and shed light on the truth of what this organization is. I’ve done that through many different videos at this point over the course of several years, and so while this is not a joyful occasion, there is something curiously vindicating about the fact that the discussion around this organization’s alleged crimes is finally gaining enough momentum to attract the notice of a publication as well recognized and read as the Financial Times. That is significant, and I don’t think that it can be overstated. Change and progress and awareness are extremely slow in coming…particularly when it meets the type of opposition that an organization as well off as Opus Dei is able to put up. However, with every single story that comes out, there is a growing volume of damning evidence against what I consider to be one of the most predatory and opportunistic religious organizations in the world. For my own part, this channel has and always will be focused on exposing the truth one video at a time, and when necessary amplifying the voices of those who have been silenced for far too long.
5:31
There are many assistant numeraries across the world living lives quite similar to the one I have explained. I feel that these women’s human rights are severely breached by the attitudes and rules of Opus Dei. However, Opus Dei continues to justify and allow this type of status to exist. It can only be described as a serious exploitation of a vulnerable group of women in the name of God. It’s actually abuse, that’s what it is. It’s child abuse…it’s emotional and it’s physical as regards the actual like morning to night working…and there’s no other word for it…it’s child abuse.
6:25
[Universal Declaration of Human Rights: Article 4] No one shall be held in servitude.
7:08
If you were to print this article out, it would be over 30 pages long. It is lengthy and comprehensive, and after reading through it the themes that emerged for me are those of manipulation, love bombing, lying, and coercion—serious issues that need to be discussed and addressed. Because the article is so lengthy, I won’t be reading it in its entirety here, so if you have not had a chance yet to read through it yourself, there are two links down in the description of this video, along with all of my other sources. The first link will take you to the Financial Times itself with the article. It is behind a pay wall, but if you are in a position to be able to support good journalism, I would ask that you consider doing so, because this type of work is extremely important and it does come at a cost. It’s not easy to do. However, I don’t want a pay wall to be the reason why someone does not get access to this information, and so the second link [https://archive.is/KkSRU] is for an archived version of the article, and you can access that and share it as many times as you want to, and I would ask that you please do so.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QvMQq8M_3Ko&t=619s
—TheDeepDiveProject, “Opus Dei is NOT above the LAW (trafficking, exploitation, lies, and coercion) | Opus Dei Deep Dive,” YouTube video, 1:35:37 hours, May 23, 2024
Regulatory fraud founded on idolatry
1:58
I am…if you haven’t guessed it by now referring to the international ecclesiastical institutional complaint against Opus Dei for regulatory fraud against the Holy See and the members themselves. It is a 20-page document and the information contained…because it is 20 pages I cannot go over every single bit of it even though it is all significant so I will leave a link down in the description of this video…I highly encourage you to go and read it for yourself…it’s been translated into…seven or eight languages.
3:56
Let’s start with why this complaint is being levied in the first place, the authors say that it is Opus Dei’s institutional regulatory fraud which has become systematically hidden from the Church hierarchy, this situation has allowed the statutes, the legal normative document of Opus Dei, to be de facto replaced by 46 internal documents with a normative character, both external and internal. The daily government of Opus day was based on these documents where the bases are laid for the systematic violation of respect for the dignity of the person through abuses of power, conscience, and spirituality.
6:00
At the end of the day the bottom line is that because of the fact that Opus Dei sued Opuslibros for having those books on their website, [Opus Dei] essentially [was] forced to admit that they actually do exist despite everything that they have ever said to the contrary.
6:43
They say this, from the beginning [Escriva] seemed to consider himself a special and extraordinary figure with a transcendental mission. He manifests in his writings that his role is quasi-messianic, frequently above the Supreme Pontiff and the hierarchy of the Church, a…problem rooted in Opus Dei since its inception is its ideologization. Opus Dei members are…guided to consider the founder and his successors not with respect and affection but as depositories of a faith…which they call theological.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fBI0OwS6-_M
—TheDeepDiveProject, “This information could RUIN Opus Dei - International Complaint of Fraud | Opus Dei Deep Dive,” YouTube video, 1:02:11 hours, September 10, 2023
The complaint here appears to be that the ecclesiastical law that is supposed to regulate Opus Dei is its statutes publicly registered with the Vatican.
However, Opus Dei internally mandates 46 secret documents to substitute and supersede the statutes—originally registered decades ago, I am guessing in 1950 with the Congregation for Religious.
The Congregation for Religious was originally started by Pope Sixtus V in 1587 as the Sacred Congregation for Consultations About Regulars, after which it was renamed by Pope Saint Pius X in 1908. It was renamed again by Pope Saint Paul VI in 1967 as the Congregation for Religious and Secular Institutes.
Pope Saint John Paul II in 1982 promulgated the statutes of Opus Dei as the first personal prelature in the Roman Catholic Church.
Since 2022 Opus Dei has been supervised by the Dicastery for the Clergy.
Allegedly there is regulatory fraud because Opus Dei does not follow the statutes registered with the Vatican but rather enforces its own internal rules, specifically, the content of the 46 secret documents. Opus Dei plays by its own rules (no surprise here).
The underlying basis for the alleged abuse by Opus Dei is a basic and overriding assumption: Escriva is the infallible origin and source of a charism allegedly from God that has to be strictly followed by everyone in Opus Dei in all its details. It is this theology decades-old that really should be brought to the light of day and dealt with on its merits. As I have argued in the past, it is a theology that is at least partially spurious, and in this respect it is idolatrous. The pope has to weigh in and pronounce on this theology, because based on at least hundreds of testimonies it has deleterious spiritual and related effects on thousands of lives.
Description of the Complaint for Regulatory Fraud
begin
In the complaint, the “secret normative documents that Opus Dei has systematically hidden from the Holy See” are presented, which the complainants consider “fundamental evidence” of the same. In the summary with which the letter begins, the “characteristics of sectarian drift that can be seen in Opus Dei” are emphasized, among which, as a Decalogue, the following stand out:
The group is united by a doctrine that is transmitted in a ‘messianic’ way and is led by a charismatic figure who considers himself the possessor of the Absolute Truth.
The structure of the group is theocratic, vertical and totalitarian.
Total adherence to the group is required, which implies distancing from social relationships, affective ties and previous activities.
Members live in a closed community or in total psychological dependence on the group.
Individual liberties and the privacy of the followers are suppressed.
The information that reaches the members of the group is controlled.
A set of manipulation and coercive persuasion techniques is used, such as meditation or spiritual rebirth.
A more or less strong rejection of the rest of society is encouraged, considering them enemies or at least suspects.
The main activities of the group are proselytizing and collecting money.
Under duress or psychological pressure, [from the] followers are obtained the delivery of their personal assets and considerable sums of money.
Seven consequences [derive] from regulatory fraud…:
Abuse of conscience, spiritual and power abuse
Fraud [with respect to] the concept of “spiritual family” [resulting in] depression, suicides, psychiatric issues
Ideologization of the figure of the founder
Fraud to the Church
Fraud to the state and civil society
Distortion of the Christian vocation, aggressive proselytism
Auxiliary numeraries [spiritual abuse and human trafficking]
end
—Antonio Moya Somolinos and Other Signatories, “International Ecclesiastical Institutional Complaint Against Opus Dei for Regulatory Fraud Against the Holy See and the Members Themselves,” June 27, 2023
https://oddsandendsgonzalinhodacosta.blogspot.com/2021/02/authenticum-charismatis.html
Better late than never
[Parmadale Children’s Village of St. Vincent de Paul, Parma, Ohio]
5:45
“I want my life back.”
6:52
“The [Roman Catholic] Church claims to be, purportedly, the most moral institution in the world, and it acts usually the most [immorally] when it comes to this issue.”
8:06
“The women were also told by the Sisters of Charity that they shouldn’t have gone [public] with the abuse claims.”
“The one lady said I should have never [gone] to the news.”
“Would you be where you are had you not spoken publicly…?”
“Probably not, probably not.”
https://youtu.be/Wc6q6wPZAII?si=3gD3NpeL2ViLsArC
—News 5 Cleveland, “Courageous survivors speak about abuse of children by nuns at orphanage,” YouTube video, 19:20 minutes, December 21, 2022
Religious abuse—
It’s a fact.
Victims are damaged for life.
Fortunately, the scientific community is coming around to acknowledging, recognizing, and understanding it.
Better late than never is the saying.
“What Is Spiritual Abuse?
“Any attempt to exert power and control over someone using religion, faith, or beliefs can be spiritual abuse. Spiritual abuse can happen within a religious organization or a personal relationship.
“Spiritual abuse is not limited to one religion, denomination, or group of people. It can happen in any religious group, as an element of child abuse, elder abuse, or domestic violence. Domestic violence [is] also called intimate partner violence...
“Abuse is a pattern in which one individual (whether an intimate partner or person with authority) uses fear, intimidation, violence, or other harm to control another. Abuse can cause serious trauma….”
https://www.webmd.com/mental-health/signs-spiritual-abuse
—WebMD Editorial Contributors, medically reviewed by Jennifer Casarella, MD, “Signs of Spiritual Abuse,” WebMD, December 18, 2022
It’s long overdue for the Roman Catholic Church to incorporate the social sciences into their understanding of psychologically healthy spirituality.
Depending only on religion isn’t going be adequate to address the spiritual needs of the faithful.
“Religion only” is “too much religion.”
“Too much religion”
https://youtu.be/pTg7U-6ykbs?si=yokgcGtgmRCH2FJR
—RTÉ News, “The unveiling of Opus Dei | Upfront with Katie Hannon,” YouTube video, 20:42 minutes, April 29, 2024
The institution of the Church seriously lacks an understanding of healthy psychological development. The institution is trapped in a religious box—it’s an instance of “too much religion.” Religion definitely doesn’t have all the answers, and the institution has much that is valuable to learn from the world outside it.
15:32
Katie Hannon (KH): Looking back, how would you characterize your time with them?
Margaret Joyce (MJ): They took away my childhood. …developmental stages of your life, like emotionally, mentally…they took all of that, they took away my self-worth, I find it difficult to accept affection, love…I don’t know how to manage that, I have self-critical, very, very [critical] of myself…it’s actually abuse, that’s what it is, it’s child abuse…it’s emotional and it’s actually physical as regards to morning to night working, and there’s no other word for it, really, it’s child abuse.
18:39
MJ: There’s no acknowledgement by Opus Dei of the hurt they’ve caused, not only to me but to other ex-members who have come out since, and at the end of the day, it’s still my fault here. It’s not about, they’re basically saying, any of their practices or behavior, it’s about how that experience impacted me, and it’s unique to me, and they don’t accept that, and then they’re saying, reach out, basically, to them, for support—so go back to the perpetrators of the abuse for healing, just so that I can be re-traumatized again.
KH: When they say that they have made mistakes and they ask for forgiveness?
MJ: I don’t accept it because what they’re saying there is that…the reason you were hurt or you felt hurt is because…of the way…you experienced it, but…that’s not an apology, it’s saying it’s nothing to do with their practices, it’s just my experience of it. Yet there [are] loads of ex-members that have come forward with all the same stories of hurt and trauma.
https://oddsandendsgonzalinhodacosta.blogspot.com/2022/09/the-work-of-evil-spirit.html
The press is the hero
Why, it has been asked, should we be so publicly critical of the institution? The passivity and cover-up that some Catholics advocate is precisely what propagated the clerical sexual abuse that persisted in the institution for many decades. I don’t believe in the clericalism of the past. Today’s reform requires transparency and accountability from the institution.
https://oddsandendsgonzalinhodacosta.blogspot.com/2023/05/opus-dei-is-cult.html
Opus Dei is a secret society. The Church should not allow this license to continue. Secret societies violate principles of good governance. They lack transparency and avoid accountability. They violate basic rights. They cause psychological and spiritual damage and harm people. They abuse conscience and operate in contravention of the right to religious freedom.
https://oddsandendsgonzalinhodacosta.blogspot.com/2021/02/authenticum-charismatis.html
Among other systemic deficiencies in the Roman Catholic Church, the lack of capacity or outright incapacity to deal justly and effectively with abuse—not only sexual but other forms of abuse as well—occurring within the institution arises from the following attributes of cultural clericalism:
- Absence of due process inside the institution itself
- Absence of adjudicative processes within the institution that deal fairly with all parties in the dispute—clerical reputation is given priority and importance over victim welfare.
It appears that in key instances the actions of the secular police and judicial institutions together with those of the secular press—if they are sufficiently motivated and they exercise the ethics proper to their respective professions—turn out to be necessary in order to obtain justice and fair treatment for the victims. It is only too obvious that you cannot rely on the institution—the Roman Catholic Church—to act against its own interest. Conflict of interest in cases of sexual and other forms of abuse is unmistakable, overriding, and prevalent.
https://oddsandendsgonzalinhodacosta.blogspot.com/2021/03/placeholder-1-of-4.html
If the Church really cares for the victims—it doesn’t, apparently—it should put together a public acknowledgment of the abuses and broadcast the systematic steps it will take to address the dysfunction. It hasn’t. Because the Church’s first priority is its reputation. Unfortunately, the victims are secondary casualties, to be locked up in the closet, if at all possible.
If we review how the clerical sexual abuse crisis in the U.S. was managed, it was the ethical press that was the hero in this sordid decades-long affair. The institution was, bluntly, the oppressor.
https://oddsandendsgonzalinhodacosta.blogspot.com/2023/02/on-spiritual-abuse.html
Photo, cropped, courtesy of Rafael Rinaldi
ReplyDeletehttps://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:S%C3%A3o_Josemaria_Escriv%C3%A1.jpg
Gonzalinho
A NURSERY FOR RELIGIOUS CULTS?
ReplyDeleteThe Roman Catholic Church has a long history of religious authoritarianism that in the medieval period was allied to political power. The authoritarian exercise of power and its abuse has deep roots in the institution. It shouldn’t surprise us that this institutional ethos like a hereditary gene is passed down through the centuries, persisting into the modern period.
Gonzalinho
Recent videos about Opus Dei abuse that are worth watching.
ReplyDeleteSee 3:34
[Gareth Gore] So Opus Dei was founded in 1928 by a Spanish priest called Josemaria Escriva who basically told everybody that he had received this vision from God for a new organization aimed at ordinary Catholics which would help them to basically live out their faith more seriously without the need to become priests or nuns. And you know in the face of it, it was really a quite laudable and benign philosophy, I mean the essential message was that here was a doctor or a politician or a journalist or whatever, you can serve God by just striving for perfection in everything that you do, I mean, who could possibly object to that philosophy, I mean telling people that they should just do their best…I’m sure that’s something we could all agree with. But the organization started to change very dramatically in the early years. …We’ve got to go back in history for this. This is Spain, the early 1930s, a society that’s deeply divided, a country that’s on the brink of civil war. The workers are rising up, they’ve thrown out the monarchy, they’re demanding new rights, they’re turning their backs on the Church…so Escriva is a priest, sees what’s happening around him, and he’s horrified. And so this organization that he’s founded just a few years earlier with this quite benign, laudable philosophy, he starts to change it, and he starts to write all these documents—and this is where the conspiracy comes into it. He starts to envisage his [recruits] as what he calls a hidden militia that will infiltrate every element of society and basically collect information on what he calls the enemies of Christ and plot to carry out the orders of Christ, which of course will be channeled through Escriva himself.
[Michael Shermer] That’s amazing. Yes, it helps to have [a] direct line to God. People then can’t fact check you. Well, I talked to the man upstairs, that’s what he told me!
See 9:59:
[Gareth Gore] He [Escriva] basically developed this methodology for targeting vulnerable young men and enticing them into the movement, coercing them to become members effectively. He drew up this kind of step-by-step plan and all of these rules about how you shouldn’t target anyone over the age of 25 because they ask too many questions and how you should basically split people off from the pack and kind of go after them individually because you make things easier. How you should tell them not to talk about the conversations you were having, with their family or friends. You know, these are standard cult-like practices that are used by many, many organizations today like Scientology and the rest of it. …you know this was a guy who was ahead of his time and coming up with these ideas all by himself. And these are techniques that the organization still uses today…they go after children.
https://youtu.be/NUhexmGPzVE?si=QiarNVnn_aNvj6MN
—Skeptic, “Opus Dei: From Vatican Secrets to Washington Influence,” YouTube video, 58:21 minutes, December 4, 2024
Gonzalinho
See 44:39:
Delete[Eileen Johnson] Opus Dei generates a great amount of fear. It is said that fear is mentioned more often in the Bible than any other word. Fear is a limiting and negative human emotion. According to Christian scripture, perfect love casts out fear. There should be no problem about speaking out one’s opinion, offering constructive criticism. In fact, such criticism is a responsible, helpful attitude, though difficult to express and often not well accepted. In Opus Dei, to criticize the perfect Work of God was deemed to be down to pride. The day I left I spoke to the Prelate of Opus Dei in Britain in the confessional. I told him that I thought my depressive illness had been wrongly handled by members of Opus Dei prescribing me drugs and Opus Dei psychiatrists becoming involved, and my spiritual directors going along with the process. Again, he said I was proud to criticize the Work. With hindsight, I see I was right! In fact, I knew at the time that I was right, though I was too broken to state my case. It took me some twenty years to be able to speak out. First, I needed to recover and live as normal a life as possible. There is something wrong when so many individuals need to remain anonymous and are afraid to speak out. Not that I am saying that wounded former members should speak out; the big priority is recovery, and to make available whatever caring support each one may need. However, Opus Dei generates a great deal of fear. The Prelature should be obliged to acknowledge serious damage done to many people, so often as a result of irresponsible proselytism that fails to consider the good of the individual. Their tactics are systematic, described by Josemaria Escriva in The Way and in many internal documents and in his various talks to members.
https://youtu.be/8ctyLhmVpIk?si=HbyncMT-WiTpVLsi
—TheDeepDiveProject, “Opus Dei has a MASSIVE drug abuse crisis brewing | Opus Dei Deep Dive,” YouTube video, 1:14:10 hours, December 5, 2024
Gonzalinho
See 35:01:
Delete[Gareth Gore] I think the pope…I think it comes down to power and money, really, I think…and also a concern for the Church, so I think Pope Francis doesn’t want to create a schism, he knows that Opus Dei has many powerful allies, especially in the U.S….the U.S. Catholic Church has almost been taken over by conservatives forces, partly because of money but also partly because of the number of bishops that John Paul II promoted during his papacy…I think he’s quite aware that if he were to take down Opus Dei or if he were to intervene in a very aggressive way, that would create quite a bit of…there would be a reaction to that which could be…very damaging for the Church, so he’s quite conscious of that. But I think he’s also aware of the financial damage that the sexual abuse scandals wreaked on the Church…in the U.S….similar situation in other parts of the world. I think there’s an acute awareness that…admitting to these abuses and potentially opening Opus Dei and the wider Church up to huge compensation claims from thousands and thousands of former numeraries and numerary assistants could well be financially crippling, not just for Opus Dei but for the wider Church. I think all of those things are in play and at the forefront of Francis’ mind…but…he’s the head of an organization that’s supposed to be promoting Christian values. I would argue that all of those things should be secondary. …He should be standing up for what is moral…I think it’s a major failing on his part that he has not yet taken decisive action against this clearly abusive group.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-d7d2hyEWbo
—TheDeepDiveProject, “Opus Dei: the CULT of dark money - a conversation with author Gareth Gore | Opus Dei Deep Dive,” YouTube video, 1:59:08 hours, December 27, 2024
Gonzalinho
The evils in Opus Dei are well-documented and the reasons for the harm are robustly expounded. The evils, which are systemic, continue to this day. Pointing to what is good in Opus Dei does not negate what is evil. The moral thing to do is to reform.
DeleteGonzalinho
Effective transformation requires transparency. Opus Dei shows no intention of reforming in this direction.
DeleteThere are valuable principles and practices to learn from secular governance. Shoddy governance is secretive and oppressive. It is as true for the government as it is for corporate governance wherein double-dealing managers bilk the shareholders and other important stakeholders. Good governance is transparent all around.
Opus Dei practices Masonic secrecy. Dissimulation belongs to its foundation.
Gonzalinho
A LIFETIME OF SLANDER
ReplyDelete“‘They don’t give you time to think, to criticize and say that you don’t like it. You have to endure because you have to surrender totally to God.’”
Opus Dei does not promote spiritual reflection but rather religious brainwashing, that is, indoctrination.
It violates the right of conscience by invading the spiritual space of individual faithful in order to violate it and deform it according to the cult agenda.
The right of privacy is also violated as a result. Opus Dei uses information given in confidence to manipulate and control members according to the cult agenda.
Should members who leave the organization decide to criticize Opus Dei, they are slandered for life. Deploying unchecked malice, Opus Dei maligns individuals with information given in private but now purposively distorted and mutated for the worse.
Gonzalinho
Miguel Fisac, 78, a respected Spanish architect also tried but failed to give testimony about Escriva, whom he knew for 20 years. “He is not the figure they presented to the public,” says Fisac, whose family helped Escriva flee Spain during the civil war. He remembers Escriva as a “man who spoke badly about everyone.”
Deletehttps://www.newsweek.com/questionable-saint-197568
—Kenneth L. Woodward, “A Questionable Saint,” Newsweek (January 12, 1992)
Gonzalinho
“TOO MUCH RELIGION”
ReplyDeleteIn a statement on its website, Opus Dei has said the schools were approved by the Argentinian authorities and that allegations that the girls were coerced into joining the organisation on promises of education are “false and misleading”.
It said the “spiritual vocation” of numerary assistant was “freely chosen”, that there was “no barrier to leaving” and that “numerary auxiliaries” must reaffirm their desire to be a member multiple times over several years. It also claims that the women received remuneration for their work.
The women have criticised the Catholic organisation’s response. They are demanding financial compensation, an acknowledgment of their suffering and a formal apology. “We want Opus Dei to accept what they have done and recognise its impact,” says Martínez.
https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2025/apr/14/argentina-human-rights-women-opus-dei-catholic-church-exploitation-abuse-celibacy-trafficking-allegations
—Harriet Barber, “‘I became like a slave’: why 43 women are suing the secretive Opus Dei Catholic group in Argentina,” The Guardian, April 14, 2025
Comment
Anyone familiar with how Opus Dei operates would immediately recognize the characteristic dissimulation and disingenuousness in the official response. Opus Dei deceives recruits into joining, gradually implements a totalitarian regime of brainwashing and behavioral control—all under the umbrella of the Roman Catholic Church, targeting vulnerable youth and the poor, who, drawn by the elaborately interpreted piety, submit in goodwill to the controlling regime—and then threatens anyone who departs from the organization with eternal damnation. The entire system, implemented under the rubric of the will of God, divine inspiration, or “charism,” is unconscionably manipulative by design.
To be continued
Gonzalinho
“TOO MUCH RELIGION”
DeleteContinued
Although the schools may have been approved by civil authorities, their licenses were obtained under the usual Opus Dei pretexts of professional training and education, and cultural advancement.
It should be acknowledged that it is the rich, powerful members of Opus Dei and their collaborators who are behind the certification, promotion, and management of the schools. Victims are consequently dealing with a formidable adversary, and they will have to fight a difficult battle for their rights.
Opus Dei’s justification for practices that are on its face abusive is religious. Opus Dei’s official response demonstrates that religious language is used to rationalize the system—the life of the numerary assistant has been “freely chosen” and that there is “no barrier to leaving.” They are following a “spiritual vocation.”
At the same time the official response fails to acknowledge the use of religious language to psychologically coerce the victims—the member who leaves is “Judas Iscariot,” Jesus’ betrayer, it is a “mortal sin” for the assistant numerary to leave Opus Dei, and so on.
Opus Dei’s reflexive rationalization displays their deep-rooted incapacity to evaluate reality by stepping outside the religious box. Delusional or almost so, in effect, the system-wide imposition by the organization of a tightly controlled ideological framework illustrates the debilitating constraint of “too much religion.”
Alternative frameworks, such as that of human rights ethics or healthy psychological development, immediately yield a more sensible, sane, grounded, balanced, and principled assessment of the victims’ plight.
It is apparent that the assistant numerary’s rights had been ignored and abused in the name of religion. Victims were deceived, subjected to a debilitating regime of censorship and exploitation, and not afforded the opportunity to give their fully free consent…no doubt at least some were threatened by Opus Dei with eternal damnation.
Scientific psychology tells us that when children are as young as 12 or 13 years old—or even 16 or 17—they are not in position to make a lifetime commitment to a religiously controlling regime. Healthy psychological development beginning in childhood requires the love, care, and attention of a genuine family—not the religious family of Opus Dei, which in critical respects is artificial and capricious—besides undergoing the regular social development teenagers normally experience as they advance into adulthood and beyond.
The Opus Dei system illustrates the abuse of religion; it instantiates what has been described as “too much religion.”
Gonzalinho
Illustrates the principle of congruence, viz.—the Opus Dei claim of a “spiritual vocation,” grounded in their assertion of a divinely inspired “charism” received from Saint Josemaria Escriva is inconsistent with unmistakable evidence of spiritual abuse—indentured slavery and human trafficking, and child abuse, unpersuasively rationalized using religious language.
DeleteThe inconsistency is incongruence. It is desolation, indicating the action of the evil spirit.
“The principle of congruence [is] the principle of consistency, logical and moral, between claims based on the spirits—conveyed, for example, through visions, locutions, and the like—and the beliefs and actions indicated thereby, and external circumstances. External circumstances include the favorable judgment of legitimate and appropriate religious or spiritual authority, and the support of reason and demonstration. Inconsistency points towards repudiation.”
https://oddsandendsgonzalinhodacosta.blogspot.com/2023/05/incongruence-is-type-of-desolation.html
Gonzalinho
WHAT IS THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN SEXUAL ABUSE AND SPIRITUAL ABUSE?
ReplyDeleteAre they the same in any way? How are they different?
Both sexual abuse and spiritual abuse are types of psychological abuse. Sexual abuse involves sexual contact and therefore includes physical abuse, while spiritual abuse does not entail physical abuse unless it occurs together with sexual abuse or some other way of inflicting physical harm.
Because both are types of psychological abuse, they produce similar effects but not exactly the same. Given the intimate character of sexual contact, the harmful psychological effects of sexual abuse are more severe. Notwithstanding, spiritual abuse can also cause serious psychological harm.
Discussion below.
Definition of Abuse
n. interactions in which one person behaves in a cruel, violent, demeaning, or invasive manner toward another person or an animal. The term most commonly implies physical mistreatment but also encompasses sexual and psychological (emotional) mistreatment.
https://dictionary.apa.org/abuse
—“abuse,” APA Dictionary of Psychology, updated April 19, 2018
Concise, it serves well as an umbrella definition.
Definition of Sexual Abuse
any nonconsensual or exploitive sexual behavior or activity imposed on an individual without their consent. Although the term typically is used with reference to any sexual contact between adults and children, sexual abuse can also occur in any relationship of trust.
https://dictionary.apa.org/sexual-abuse
—“sexual abuse,” APA Dictionary of Psychology, updated November 15, 2023
Notable in this definition is that it indicates power asymmetry, which is exploited by the abuser to victimize the weaker party.
This selfsame dynamic occurs in spiritual abuse, whether or not the abuse entails sexual contact.
To be continued
Gonzalinho
WHAT IS THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN SEXUAL ABUSE AND SPIRITUAL ABUSE?
DeleteContinued
Definition of Spiritual Abuse
Spiritual abuse is a form of emotional and psychological abuse. It is characterised by a systematic pattern of coercive and controlling behavior in a religious context. Spiritual abuse can have a deeply damaging impact on those who experience it. However, holding a theological position is not in itself inherently spiritually abusive, but misuse of scripture, applied theology and doctrine is often a component of spiritually abusive behaviour.
https://thirtyoneeight.org/media/4upcux21/spiritual-abuse-position-statement.pdf
—Church’s Child Protection Advisory Service (CCPAS), “Spiritual Abuse: A Position Paper,” February 2018
The above definition indicates power asymmetry and its abuse by the perpetrator. The abuser is motivated to coerce, i.e., exercise power over the weaker party. They use religiously based words, i.e. theology, principally but not solely.
Theology insofar as it is conceived, understood, or implemented, in this manner becomes the instrument of the abuse of power in an asymmetrical relationship.
Effects of Psychological Abuse
The impact and effect of psychological abuse
Psychological abuse can result in serious, and long-lasting, harm. It can impact on someone’s ability to parent, work, socialise and generally function day-to-day.
Survivors may feel:
confused, anxious or under pressure
low self-esteem or self-worth
exhausted, worn down, a lack of motivation
emotionally withdrawn or shut down
lonely or isolated.
Ongoing effects include issues with confidence, trust, relationships finances and employment problems.
Victims may also experience anxiety, depression, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) or they may think about or attempt suicide or self-harm.
https://safelives.org.uk/about-domestic-abuse/what-is-domestic-abuse/psychological-abuse/
—“Psychological abuse,” SafeLives: Ending domestic abuse
The effects described are common to all types of psychological abuse. In this respect, sexual abuse and spiritual abuse are very similar.
To be continued 2
Gonzalinho
WHAT IS THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN SEXUAL ABUSE AND SPIRITUAL ABUSE?
DeleteContinued 2
Effects of Child Sexual Abuse
Possible short-term effects of child sexual abuse
Increased illness, body aches or other physical complaints
Poor attendance or performance at school
Difficulty concentrating or memory loss
Mood changes
Regressive behaviours
Sleeping and eating disorders
Lack of self-esteem
Nightmares
Self-harm or suicidal thoughts
Self-hatred or reduced self-esteem
Disinhibited behaviour
Zoning out or not listening
Possible long-term effects of child sexual abuse
Suicidal ideation
Post-traumatic stress
Sexual difficulties
Inability to form lasting relationships
Identity difficulties
Relationship problems
Parenting difficulties
Alcohol and substance misuse
The development of violent behaviour
The development of criminal behavior
https://bravehearts.org.au/about-child-sexual-abuse/what-are-the-effects-of-child-sexual-abuse/
—“What are the Effects of Child Sexual Abuse?” Bravehearts: Educate Empower Protect
We cite the effects of specifically child sexual abuse, which, because they occur during critical stages of a person’s psychological development, are notably severe.
Child sexual abuse, which has been studied extensively, is well understood. It results in victim dysfunction and maladjustment, rendering them dangerously vulnerable to censure (victim blaming) and to further victimization as a result. Gaslighting is a type of victim blaming.
To be continued 3
Gonzalinho
WHAT IS THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN SEXUAL ABUSE AND SPIRITUAL ABUSE?
DeleteContinued 3
Effects of Spiritual Abuse
What are the consequences of spiritual abuse for a person?
That depends on his or her personality, and the duration, type and intensity of the abuse. Symptoms and consequences can appear immediately, or only in the medium or long term. I distinguish six levels.
On the physical level, there is often diffuse pain: severe tension, headaches or back pain. The person may struggle with tremors, sweat profusely or generally feel weak and drained.
On the psychological level, the consequences are low self-esteem, insecurity and a negative self-image. Those affected find it difficult to be happy without worries. In the medium and long term, it can lead to anxiety disorders, sleep disorders, depression, addictions and even attempted suicide.
On a psycho-social level, loss of trust, distrust, isolation and relationship problems can show up.
On the emotional level, feelings of guilt or shame are common, as well as a sense of powerlessness and hopelessness. Anxiety, sadness, loneliness, but also anger or rage can spread.
At the cognitive level—mind and intellect—those affected may have problems with thinking critically and questioning, making decisions or making plans for the future.
And finally there is the spiritual level, the most important in this context. Spiritual abuse can wreak havoc on and even destroy faith, the image of the Church, the image of God and the relationship with God.
Victims could ask themselves: What kind of God is this? Why didn’t he intervene? Why could I be used on his behalf?
https://www.focolaremedia.com/magazine/content/devastating-effects-spiritual-abuse?srsltid=AfmBOooBjK3JCkn_SD_4Op0T0SQ_3RcGWBBCdLy2APyvUq9Jy2ILprMY
—Clemens Behr, “The devastating effects of spiritual abuse,” Focolare Media, May 31, 2022
Notable in this description is the severity of the effects. Although spiritual abuse—in contrast to child sexual abuse—does not always result in significant psychological damage, the harm caused by spiritual abuse, which can be lasting, cannot be trivialized or ruled out.
Damage can indeed be severe, e.g., suicidality, which is defined by the APA as “the risk of suicide, usually indicated by suicidal ideation or intent.”
Clergy or religious who have suffered from spiritual abuse, who are afterwards promoted to positions of authority in the Roman Catholic Church, are potentially a source of grave harm and damage to the faithful.
Gonzalinho
It’s worth noting that the expertise of Katharina Anna Fuchs is featured in Focolare Media, given that Focolare has been faulted in the past for being cult-like.
DeleteGonzalinho
I suspect that being forced through obedience for years to adore a man for whom I felt revulsion just left its lifetime mark on me. In the religious prison of Opus Dei, praying to Escriva amounted to incessant mortification.
ReplyDeleteGonzalinho
In many important respects, Opus Dei is a cancer in the Church—those who defend it do so out of ignorance (supernumeraries and non-members), or self-interest or delusion or both (numeraries and the clergy).
ReplyDeleteGonzalinho
See 3:23:
ReplyDelete“We need to go and help individual victims, but there must also be institutional and structural reform. While there are structures of sin that prevents us from doing what is good and even enhances our capacity for evil, there are also structures of grace, which we must promote, because structures of grace enhances our capacity for doing good and even allows God’s Spirit to fill up what we need in doing what is good and fighting what is evil.”
https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=1230636264969991
—Social Justice and Ecology Secretariat (Father Albert Alejo, S.J.), “Beyond Kindness: The Call for Structural Change,” Facebook video, 4:05 minutes, June 3, 2025
Very good but guess what?—Pareng Bert missed something important.
The Levite and the priest did not help the victim because of fear of incurring ritual uncleanness.
There is indeed need for political and social reform, but there is also need for religious reform, the reform of religious institutions.
Exactly what Jesus came to do and why he told the parable.
Gonzalinho
The dismissive response, “Why do you always have to be right?” is a cliché Opus Dei wields against its critics. It is also a rhetorical fallacy—ad hominem.
ReplyDeleteGonzalinho