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
We should view with an intelligent, critical eye the lives of the saints. The institution—the Roman Catholic Church—should stop bludgeoning the heads of intelligent people with the hammer of inquisitorial oppression. Intellectual integrity should be promoted. It should be among the holistic criteria for advancing religious truth.
DeleteGonzalinho
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 thought-stopping cliché Opus Dei wields against its critics. It is also a rhetorical fallacy—ad hominem.
ReplyDeleteGonzalinho
FREEDOM OF THE PRESS IS A NECESSARY CHECK ON THE ABUSE OF POWER IN THE ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH
ReplyDeleteProfessional journalism assigns qualities of third-party objectivity and especially of professionalism that invest an account with credibility and persuasion. Let us remember that the institution—the Roman Catholic Church—acted on reforming the policy on clerical sexual abuse, especially by taking steps against clerical impunity, cover-up, and transference, only after investigative reporting incited widespread activism. Self-regulation involves conflict of interest and is ineffective for this reason. What applies to the institution applies just as well to Opus Dei, more so in fact, which has a reputation for subterfuge and abuse.
Gonzalinho
The man in some ways is incontrovertibly horrid to contemplate. His canonization is plastered on the life of the Church like a bandaid on an incurable sore.
ReplyDeleteStill, we are happy that another soul is in heaven, and in this respect, there is absolutely nothing to regret.
Gonzalinho
OPUS DEI PRIEST COMMITS SUICIDE
ReplyDelete…the num[erary] priest who committed suicide was Fr. Danilo Eterovic. He was the first Bolivian numerary. According to a witness he jumped in front of a train in 2014 in Buenos Aires. He had a note in his pocket that read “I was told by Fr. Jorge C. that I have no duties in SG, SR, SM (I have been refused/rejected). I am very ILL. I don’t know how it got to this.”
Opus dei issued a communique that he had died as a result of an accident.
Ref[erences]:
SG = St. Gabriel (work with adults, aiming to produce supernumerary vocations and donations)
SR = St. Raphael (work with youth, aiming to produce celibate vocations to opus dei)
SM = St. Michael (apostolic work with celibate members of opus dei)
https://www.reddit.com/r/opusdeiexposed/comments/1ei9u9d/opus_dei_priest_persecuted_for_constructive/
—Individual-Cobbler25, online forum post in “Opus Dei priest persecuted for constructive criticism and sound theology,” Reddit, August 3, 2024
The man was treated very badly by an institution—not just Opus Dei but the Roman Catholic Church itself—that claims to speak and act for God. No wonder that the devil got the better of this priest.
Suicide ideation is more common in priestly and religious life than most of the faithful realize. It’s also one of the devil’s favorite temptations—not only for clergy and religious but for everyone—because committing suicide seriously endangers the eternal salvation of a soul. If we are to believe private revelations, some souls are indeed lost through suicide.
The suicide of Fr. Danilo Eterovic is mentioned in Opus Dei as Divine Revelation (2016) by E. B. E. and Opus (2024) by Gareth Gore.
Gonzalinho
Add to the singularly demented regime of the Opus Dei cult the injunction that joins encompassing mindlessness to incessantly forced cheerfulness and you have a luridly gruesome formula for inflicting damaging neurosis segueing into psychosis. It engenders deep unhappiness, chronic depression, even thoughts of suicide if not actual attempts at it.
DeleteGonzalinho
Reason why the popes have allowed this widespread abuse is because Opus Dei is a mixed bag and also because Opus Dei operates like a Masonic Mafia.
ReplyDeleteAn additional reason is an attitude widespread among clergy and religious that poorly understands and applies scientific psychology and sociology. Despite protestations to the contrary, historical philosophy and theology in the Church is at odds with the secular philosophy that permeates the social sciences. It should not be surprising therefore that some of the earliest and foremost critics of Escriva have been sociologists, among them, Albert Moncada and E. B. E., the latter the author of Opus Dei as Divine Revelation (2014). Because of their particular education and training, they saw what many in the Church do not want to see or fail to see.
Gonzalinho
MISUSE OF RELIGION
ReplyDeleteOpus Dei drumbeats an unhealthy annihilation of the self in order to facilitate the celibate member’s adoption of the cult personality—in fact, a dreadful factory image of Escriva.
“Humility” is wielded as a substitute term for brainwashing, “pride” for following the entirely legitimate judgment of one’s conscience.
See 8:19:
I always remember like a piece from it [Saint Josemaria Escriva, The Way, 731] where it says I am nothing and I’m capable of nothing and then it…went repeat after me, I am nothing and I’m capable of nothing, and that’s all I remember, I remember as a 15-year-old, you know, having to read material that told me that that I’m not only nothing but I’m capable of nothing.
See 10:07:
The whole kind of grinding every single day away at yourself, self-worth, that was kind of something you did and you got it over with, do you know what I mean, the most damaging part of the whole was the kind of chipping-at-yourself work that’s the more damaging piece.
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
Gonzalinho
“...there’s an insidious underbelly to the organization that most members know little about. Opus Dei is at its core an alleged abusive cult that preys on vulnerable individuals and even children to fill its numerary ranks — the celibate men and women charged with doing all the work, that of recruiting ordinary married Catholics as members and providing them with spiritual direction. There are hundreds of numeraries in the United States. They live highly controlled existences in gender-segregated residences across the country.
ReplyDelete“...Whatever spiritual benefits the organization brings individuals, no Christian can justify such personal gains if they are based on a system of abuse and manipulation towards others. Christmastide should be an opportunity for Americans to reassess their relationships with this abusive organization and ask whether the way that it treats its numerary and numerary assistant members has anything to do with the teachings of Jesus Christ.”
https://www.ncronline.org/opinion/guest-voices/case-against-opus-dei
—Gareth Gore, “The case against Opus Dei,” National Catholic Reporter, January 14, 2025
The Roman Catholic Church should prepare workshops and instruction on spiritual abuse for clergy, religious, and the entire faithful. It can begin with understanding human rights and how they apply to dealing with the faithful and to pastoral work. The institution is viciously wanting in this area and requires major reform. It should examine endemic clericalism and the widespread entitlement that is insidious throughout the religious culture.
Gonzalinho
Opus Dei propagates a pattern of abuse that has been ongoing for many decades now under the nominal authority of the Roman Catholic Church. We say “nominal,” because Opus Dei plays by its own rules. It is a cult that co-opts the Roman Catholic Church. The endorsement of John Paul II the saint and the clueless hierarchy abetted by the Masonic secrecy of Opus Dei are principally responsible for this continuing spiritual abuse.
ReplyDeleteGonzalinho
THE SOULS UNDER THE ALTAR
ReplyDeleteWhen he broke open the fifth seal, I saw underneath the altar the souls of those who had been slaughtered because of the witness they bore to the word of God. They cried out in a loud voice, “How long will it be, holy and true master, before you sit in judgment and avenge our blood on the inhabitants of the earth?” Each of them was given a white robe, and they were told to be patient a little while longer until the number was filled of their fellow servants and brothers who were going to be killed as they had been.—Revelation 6:9-11
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Scripture and first-century Jewish tradition both speak of the messianic woes, a period of intense suffering for the people of God that precedes the consummation of the Messiah’s reign (Dan. 7:21–22; Mark 13:19–20; Col. 1:24). God’s Word also talks about His truth going forth from Israel to the nations and the conversion of gentiles to faith in the God of Israel (e.g., Isa. 19:19–25; 43:10–12; Mic. 4:1–2; Zech. 2:11). Commentators note that John’s vision in Revelation 6:9–11 brings all these things together, making it plain that the conversion of the nations involves the suffering of God’s people as witnesses to the truth. As horrible as the death of the martyrs may be, it serves a purpose in the Lord’s eternal plan of salvation.
This does not mean that God will not hold to account the people who inflict such suffering. The martyrs in heaven cry out for vindication, and Jesus promises that it is coming, but not quite yet. First, the full number of those appointed for martyrdom must die (vv. 10–11). The Lord has not forgotten those who suffer for their faith. He takes note of every injustice visited on His children and will repay it in full. Matthew Henry writes, “When this number [of martyrs] is fulfilled, God will take a just and glorious revenge upon their cruel persecutors; he will recompense tribulation to those who trouble them, and to those that are troubled full and uninterrupted rest.”
…Scripture is filled with the righteous crying out to God and asking Him how long it will be until He vindicates them. When we are suffering for our faithfulness to Christ, it may seem as if the Lord is slow to set things right. However, everything is proceeding according to His plan, and our suffering for His sake plays an important part in His eternal purposes. He will certainly not overlook it.
https://learn.ligonier.org/devotionals/the-cry-of-the-martyrs
—“The Cry of the Martyrs,” Ligonier Ministries
Are you willing to face injustice now for justice later?
I want to be careful here, lest you think that we just take injustice and we don’t speak out against wrongs in the world. Think about the persistent widow who’s held up as an example because she kept pestering the judge for justice. So it’s right to seek justice, it’s right to try to change unjust laws. It’s right to call out when people are mistreating us. Yet there are times when even as we seek out that justice, we know that we might not get it here on earth and we choose to embrace injustice now believing that God will bring justice later.
We’re not good at living with injustice. It’s one of the strongest human emotions, isn’t it? It can be the smallest, like somebody cuts you off on the road. You would have thought you were one of the Oxford martyrs right there. You have to wait in customer service too long. You can’t get internet on the plane. Just little inconveniences, let alone real, truly devastating injustices. People betraying you because of your faith or because of your beliefs or because of your family, your race, or your ethnicity.
You see what the martyrs cry out – O sovereign Lord, verse 10, holy and true, how long before You will judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell on the earth?
To be continued
Gonzalinho
THE SOULS UNDER THE ALTAR
DeleteContinued
...To be fair, doesn’t verse 10 sound different than say the cry of Stephen as he’s about to be martyred? “Lord, do not hold this sin against them.” Or Jesus – “Father, forgive them for they know not what they do.” That sounds like more a Christian prayer than these souls under the altar saying, “O God, when are You going to come and avenge our blood?”
But not only is it an excusable prayer, it is actually a necessary prayer. We don’t have time, but this sort of language is frequent in the Psalms. The so-called imprecatory psalms, those psalms that call out upon God to execute justice on behalf of His name and His people.
This is a cry for vindication.
...tied up with their vindication is the honor and vindication of Christ Himself, because when they were put to death, in whatever way it happened, those who put them to death probably thought they were doing a great act of heroism.
...It is consistent with God’s character that they would cry out for justice.
https://clearlyreformed.org/sermon/souls-under-the-altar/
—“Souls Under the Altar,” Clearly Reformed, September 24, 2023
The cry for vindication and the witness to justice is part and parcel of the Christian ethos.
Gonzalinho
“The hour is coming when those who kill you will think they are offering worship to God.” (John 16:2)
DeleteGonzalinho
PSYCHOPATH?
ReplyDeleteSaint Josemaria Escriva showed psychopathic traits, particularly the absence of empathy. Decades ago, I described it as “cruelty.”
“Proactive aggression - it’s deliberate aggression aimed at achieving a goal”
“Bold, socially-dominant personality”
“They’ll lie often easily, and not really even for any reason”
Opposite of psychopathic traits—deficiencies of Saint Josemaria Escriva—include:
“First, their humility. They tend to think of themselves as just the same as anybody around them, despite the fact that they have actually done some pretty unusual things, and that seems to be a really core feature of altruism.”
“They tend to believe in the goodness of other people. They’re much less likely to believe that others can be truly evil.”
“Finally, they seem to be more sensitive to other people’s distress. They’re more likely to empathize with and recognize other people’s fear and also their pain.”
See 0:26:
ABIGAIL MARSH: …people who are highly psychopathic genuinely don’t care about other people’s welfare.
…In addition, we now know that psychopathy exists on a spectrum: so there are very psychopathic people, people in the middle, but also people who are sort of anti-psychopathic. Most of that distribution of people definitely have the capacity to care for other people, and we’ve identified regions of the brain that specifically seem to encode the value of other people’s welfare.
I think it’s really important for the reality of human nature based on the scientific literature to be better understood…I have been studying extreme populations of people who have done things in the real world that suggest they’re unusually caring or unusually uncaring.
My name is Abigail Marsh. I’m a professor of psychology and neuroscience at Georgetown University, and I study the neural and cognitive basis of empathy, altruism, and aggression. The way we think about psychopathy now derives from the work of a psychiatrist named Hervey Cleckley, who was a really legendary clinician who spent many, many years studying people with psychopathy.
He wrote a book called “The Mask of Sanity,” and I think that title perfectly captures what it is that makes people with psychopathy unique, which is that they outwardly appear completely normal, even super normal. They seem just like anybody else, but that really is a mask that’s concealing inner profound deficits in emotion and the way that they engage with other people.
In its extreme form, psychopathy can drive some of the most serious antisocial behavior and violence that we see.
To be continued
Gonzalinho
PSYCHOPATH?
DeleteContinued
…So what we know about psychopathy is it’s a neurodevelopmental disorder, in its extreme form affects probably 1% of people, maybe 2%. And it’s pretty clear that people who go on to develop psychopathy are different from a very early age because their brain is developing differently. Psychopathy is best thought of as a constellation of personality traits, and the three key traits that compose psychopathy include, most importantly, a mean, callous disposition.
They really don’t care about other people’s welfare, and they’ll do things that hurt other people to benefit themselves. They’re certainly more likely to engage in various forms of aggression, especially when that aggression is aimed at achieving a goal. So aggression can be divided into two broad categories: Reactive aggression, which is the kind of aggression you show when somebody has made you mad, when you’ve been threatened, when you’re frustrated, and then there’s proactive aggression - it’s deliberate aggression aimed at achieving a goal. So you threaten to hurt somebody in order to take their money or to take something that belongs to them. You threaten to reveal somebody’s secrets so that they do what you want them to do. That kind of aggression is really uniquely psychopathic.
Second is a bold, socially-dominant personality. That boldness really reflects a fearless core. They don’t seem to understand why other people feel fear. They’re not good at recognizing when they’re afraid, and if you have that problem, you’re much more likely to do things that cause other people to feel fear without really understanding what the big deal is, and they just don’t respond to risk and threat and punishment the way that other people do. That happens to be one of the reasons that the polygraph doesn’t work, because that’s one of the things the polygraph is picking up on is fear responses when people are lying; people with psychopathy don’t have those responses, not nearly as strongly, at least.
And third is being disinhibited or impulsive. They’ll steal things from people, they’ll steal things from stores. They’ll lie often easily, and not really even for any reason. It’s not really your fault if you have these traits. That’s not to say that you don’t deserve consequences. If you hurt somebody and you’re psychopathic, I would never argue that- but I think it’s really important that we balance our desire, that they experience some consequences from what they’ve done with our understanding that they didn’t choose to be this way.
…Although extraordinary altruism is not a clinical condition, obviously, it is typified by traits that set altruists apart from other people. So first, their humility. They tend to think of themselves as just the same as anybody around them, despite the fact that they have actually done some pretty unusual things, and that seems to be a really core feature of altruism. If you think that everybody is equally special, helping others makes more sense. They tend to believe in the goodness of other people. They’re much less likely to believe that others can be truly evil.
Finally, they seem to be more sensitive to other people’s distress. They’re more likely to empathize with and recognize other people’s fear and also their pain. What’s really unusual about extraordinary altruists is that even when it comes to people who were very distant from them, people who were only acquaintances or even strangers, they still seem to value their welfare. We’re supposed to help people who are close to us if they’re in trouble, but if it’s a perfect stranger, most of us don’t see it as an obligation in the same way. And yet extraordinary altruists, I don’t think really see it that way. They really do think, “Well, this is a human being whose, you know, welfare is fundamentally important.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kyow7KAHDks
—Big Think, “She studied extreme psychopaths. Here’s what it taught her about human nature | Abigail Marsh,” YouTube video, 10:54 minutes, June 21, 2024
To be continued 2
Gonzalinho
PSYCHOPATH?
DeleteContinued 2
Excerpts are from Beyond the Threshold (1998) by Maria del Carmen Tapia:
Pages 270-71
He picked up a half sheet of paper that he had in front of him and adjusting his eyeglasses said to me, “They tell me that you write Ana Maria Gibert, that woman, that wicked woman! And that you have a post office box here in Rome.”
He left the eyeglasses on the table and began shouting at me: “What is this, you great hypocrite, you deceiver, wicked woman!”
I answered him: “Yes, Father, I have written Ana Maria Gibert, but she is not a wicked woman.”
Monsignor Escriva went on reading from the sheet: “And that procuress Gladys, that sow, let her come in!”
Gladys was the Venezuelan numerary who helped me with the mail. She entered the sessions chamber completely pale. Without any preamble, Monsignor Escriva began to shout at her: “Do you take letters to the post office for her, for this wicked woman? Do you comprehend the gravity of what you have done?”
Gladys remained silent. But Monsignor Escriva insisted: “Answer! ANSWER!”
Gladys[,] unimpressed, remained silent, so I intervened. “Yes, Gladys, say you have taken some letters for me.”
After that Gladys said: “Yes, Father,” and she fell silent. Monsignor Escriva breathed deeply before going on. “You will no longer work for the central advisory. You will not set foot upstairs, on the advisory office floor. Let them find you some other job in the house. And now, go to your room and don’t leave it for any reason! Do you hear? For any reason!
When Gladys left the sessions chamber, Monsignor Escriva told the central directress and Marlies Kücking in the presence of the priests already mentioned: “After this, take that one,” he said, referring to Gladys, “lift up her skirt, take down her panties, and whack her on the behind until she talks. MAKE HER TALK!”
Addressing me, Monsignor Escriva shouted: “I give you the second admonition, hypocrite. You write me a letter on my saint’s day telling me you want to begin again, and this is what you do to me! Tell these people everything, everything. You’re a bad piece of work! I warn you that I’m waiting for some affidavits from Venezuela, and you’ll find out what’s trouble! You’re a wicked woman, sleazy, scum! That’s what you are! Now go! I don’t want to see you!”
It is impossible to explain my state of mind. I was terrified. Leaving the sessions chamber, I had no idea of what they might do to me, and they gave me no time to think coherently.
To be continued 3
Gonzalinho
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Pages 274-75
…gathered in the central advisory sessions chamber with Monsignor Escriva were Alvaro del Portillo, Javier Echevarria, Mercedes Morado, and Marlies Kücking. Monsignor Escriva went directly to the point: “Carmen, there is no solution for you other than to get out of the Work. Choose to leave by requesting your release, and say in the letter that you have been happy, because you have! Say that for some time you have realized that you don’t have the strength to fulfill the obligations to the Work and that you want to be released from them. If you don’t ask for it that way, I will take everything to the Holy See, with documents, letters, affidavits, the names of all parties, and everyone will be dishonored—including you yourself. Your name, and the names of others, will remain marked in the Holy See. I give you from now till tomorrow noon to choose. With great irritation he added: “Don’t put ‘Dear Father’ in the letter, only ‘Father.’”
“You’re still young,” he continued, “and you can find a good husband out there and satisfy all your instincts.” Saying this, he made gestures with his hands, like someone stroking another’s body. “Besides, you’re capable of taking charge of an office and managing it well.”
Here he changed his tone, his demeanor, and his manners and added, shouting at me: “But let it be stated for the record. Third admonition: Out! OUT! Leave us in peace.” Pointing at Javier Echevarria, he added with the same irritation and ill manners: “Write it down for the records! This should be kept on record!”
Monsignor Escriva continued to bellow: “So, think it over! Either you request your release or bring dishonor to everyone, including yourself. There is no other solution for you but the street! OUT!”
I went to my room shattered. Truly, I could not even pray. Chaos reigned in my mind.
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Pages 276-77
…Monsignor Escriva began to pace from one side of the room to the other, very agitated, irritated, red, furious, while he declared: “And don’t talk with anybody about the Work nor about Rome. Don’t set your parents against us, because, if I find out that you are saying anything negative about the Work to anybody, I, Jose Maria Escriva de Balaguer, hold the world press in my hands,” and as he said this he made a gesture with his hands confirming the notion. “I will publicly dishonor you. Your name will appear on the front page of every newspaper, because I will personally see to it. It would bring dishonor on you before men and on your own family! Woe to you if you try to alienate your family from the good name of the Work or tell them anything about this!”
He went on: “And don’t return to Venezuela! Don’t even think of writing to anybody there! Because if you even think of going to Venezuela, I will assume the responsibility of telling the Cardinal what you are. And it would dishonor you!” Pacing the room he continued shouting at me: “I was thinking all night about whether to tell you this or not, but I believe it is better that I should tell you.” Looking directly at me, with a dreadful rage, moving his arms toward me as if he was going to hit me, he added at the top of his voice: “You are a wicked woman! A lost woman! Mary Magdalen was a sinner, but you? You are a seductress! I know everything. EVERYTHING! EVEN ABOUT THE VENEZUELAN NEGRO! You are abominable. YOU HAVE A WEAKNESS FOR BLACKS! First with one and then with the other. LEAVE MY PRIESTS ALONE! DO YOU HEAR? LEAVE THEM ALONE! In peace. Don’t meddle with them! You’re wicked! Wicked! Indecent! Come on, look at the business of the Negro! And don’t ask for my blessing because I don’t intend to give it to you!”
Monsignor Escriva went away toward the Relics Chapel. From there he turned around to shout a final insult: “Hear me well! WHORE! SOW!”
I stood stock still, frozen to the spot. I saw and heard everything as if in a nightmare. I did not cry. I did not blink. Within me, while Monsignor Escriva shouted his insults, I had only two thoughts: one that Christ remained silent in the face of accusations; the other that God had liberated me.
Pages 299-300
Doubtless, Opus Dei feared that we who knew Monsignor Escriva so very well might tell the truth and that the likelihood of his beatification and eventual canonization would thereby be less likely. To prevent us from testifying in the cause, Opus Dei’s approach was to allege deeds which would make us unacceptable witnesses beyond a shadow of a doubt. Since these declarations were secret, and they were convinced that the interested parties would never discover them, they did not hesitate to attack with low, disgraceful slander about sexual conduct. This is demonstrated by the declarations made regarding me by Monsignor Javier Echevarria, then general secretary of Opus Dei and now prelate. They appear on pages 610 and 611 of the “Summary of the Roman Process for the Cause of Beatification of Monsignor Jose Maria Escriva.”
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[begin block quote] 2347. Unfortunately, it was not to be, because years later, she attempted to pervert several women with the worst aberrations. As soon as the Servant of God knew certain facts, he called Carmen Tapia—who was in Venezuela—to Rome. Here he announced to her that she would not return to that country, and from her reaction deduced that there were more important matters than those already known, in which several persons were involved. In the face of such horrendous depravity, which cost Servant of God many tears on account of the most serious offenses to the Lord, and for which he tried to make reparation with constant prayer and penance, he told this woman that she had two solutions: to seek a dispensation which would be immediately granted, or to not seek it, and then it would be necessary that she be subjected to a process, which would be sent to the Holy See, leaving her—as she deserved—completely dishonored on account of her wayward life. That woman sought the dispensation. As the Servant of God understood that she was a person without conscience, he warned her that if she slandered the work with her corruption, there would be no choice but to inform about who was the slanderer. We have found out, unfortunately, that this woman has continued on this disastrous path. [end block quote]
The complete lack of charity toward a fellow human being is striking. If this alleged “horrendous depravity” had been real, Monsignor Escriva’s task in charity would have been to be silent about it. But it is not Christian to employ slander and defamation to keep a person from testifying in Monsignor Escriva’s process.
Pages 309-11
Within the Women’s Branch, Don Alvaro del Portillo enjoyed respect and affection. He was invariably polite to us and knew how to say “please,” “thank you,” and “excuse me.” Monsignor Escriva very seldom said “please,” and instead of “thank you” he would say, “May God pay you.”
Monsignor Escriva did not have natural good manners. He was rough, brusque, and rude. When he was angry and had someone to reproach, he had no measure of charity in his language. His offensive, violent words profoundly wounded persons. I remember vividly when I went to the Vatican in 1973 and visited His Eminence Cardinal Arturo Tavera, then prefect of the Sacred Congregation of Religious and Secular Institutes, he asked how many years I had spent in Opus Dei, and when I told him eighteen, he commented: “And you needed eighteen years to realize how rude Jose Maria Escriva is?”
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His language was frequently crude.
…A former Opus Dei male numerary recalls [an] incident that took place in Pamplona, Spain, in the presence of at least fifty male numeraries. Seated in front of the group, Monsignor Escriva unbuttoned his cassock to take off a sweater (the day was warm) and remarked: “Well, I already have the behind of an abbess.” Then he dressed himself again in public.
What wounded me most deeply during the last months in Rome leading up to my dismissal were not Monsignor Escriva’s scoldings and violent insults but his lack of charity. He put his rank of president general and his prestige as Founder ahead of his priestly role. There was never a shadow of a doubt that I might be innocent; he passed judgment and sentence without hearing me, based on assessments of other people.
…The Father’s scoldings were famous throughout the Work. He was saintly before the multitudes, frequently calling himself a sinner, but he was capable of the most terrible insults for the slightest reason. For instance, if a fried egg was not done to his taste, he would abuse the director of the house. If an altar cloth did not hang exactly at the stipulated number of centimeters above the floor, he was capable of scolding the director; similarly, he would go into a rage if there was noise in the kitchen when the pots and pans were scrubbed. However you could not write in the house diary, “The Father was angry or caused a row,” but had to say: “The Father taught us this or that today.”
One of the best descriptions of Monsignor Escriva’s character was given by Alberto Moncada, who wrote that the Father “is charming, pleasant, and persuasive when one is on his side. He is intolerant, intractable, and crude when his standards are not accepted.”
…Power and high office attracted Monsignor Escriva. He claimed, “I am a descendant of a princess from Aragon,” and claimed that the famous sixteenth-century Aragonese physician and heretic, Miguel Servet, was an ancestor. By his express order, shields of his seven noble surnames were engraved near the main altar of the Basilica of Torreciudad in the vicinity of Barbastro, his birthplace.
…He took care that we were frequently reminded that he was “the Founder.” “In my life I have known several popes,” he would say, “many cardinals, a pile of bishops, but only one Founder—me.” Then he often added: “God will demand much of you for having known me.”
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Page 311
…all heard him express pejorative opinions about supreme pontiffs and even about Vatican II: “Pray for the next pope, who will have to mend many things.” Or again, he referred to the Jesuits either as “the little ones” (los pequeñitos) or “the usual ones” (los de siempre). …those around Escriva could see his lack of affection, to put it mildly, for the Theresians, despite having been their chaplain in Salamanca during the Spanish Civil War. Escriva never judged them to be a legitimate secular institute; one suspects that he may have been uncomfortable that their founder, Father Pedro Poveda (assassinated early in the Civil War by leftist militiamen), conceived of an apostolate suspiciously like that of Escriva’s but twenty years before Escriva.
Commentary
What stands out in Maria del Carmen Tapia’s account is the injustice, egregiously so, of the entire procedure as described. There is a pronounced asymmetry between Saint Josemaria Escriva and the accused—he holds an inordinate amount of power—he is the prosecutor, judge, and executioner. He exercises his power abusively, without due process.
I want to focus on the cruelty by which the entire expulsion was done.
Saint Josemaria Escriva was not a kind person. He was not kind toward others, because he often enough spoke and acted cruelly toward them, screaming sometimes. If he demonstrated compassion—I don’t recall any reports of it—the instances ostensibly had been few and far between. He was not pictured to the members as a compassionate man.
Opus Dei’s overriding agenda is to implement Saint Josemaria Escriva’s vision. His brainchild is aggressively promoted as the very reason for the existence of the organization. In pursuit of Escriva’s agenda, the organization runs roughshod over many both within the organization and outside it. Because the very purpose of the organization is to realize and maintain Saint Josemaria Escriva’s conception, emotions are not only subordinated to its clinical construction but also considered illegitimate if they appear to be at variance. Emotions, according to Escriva’s religio-ascetical regime, are supposed to be ignored, as a rule.
Not surprisingly, Opus Dei treats its celibate members’ familial and sundry social bonds with characteristic inhumanity. Opus Dei numeraries are required by the organization to sever or at least severely curtail their emotional connections with their family members and friends, replacing what are often healthy psychological relationships with manufactured ties, those of the cult. The result is emotional trauma, sometimes lifelong. The practice may be appropriately described as cruel.
Cruelty is the opposite of kindness. It is hypocritical therefore whenever Opus Dei exhorts kindness, whether by its priests or whoever.
Saint Josemaria Escriva in this respect is hardly to be considered exemplary, and besides, corporate conduct follows his example almost mindlessly, according to the members’ resolute belief in his divine inspiration.
Gonzalinho
INTELLECTUAL ENTITLEMENT
ReplyDeleteOpus Dei propounds a clericalism that privileges the religious opinion, and sometimes the opinion in general, of clergy and sometimes of religious. It is an insupportable type of entitlement.
“When—contrary to what those who have a special grace to counsel you, tell you—you think you are right, you must know that you are completely wrong.”
—J. M. Escriva, “De Nuestro Padre,” 1982, 72
…Opus Dei’s prelates are convinced that they possess the divine truth and by the same measure they are the ‘inheritors’ of the Templars.
‘They feel assured that Opus Dei is no ordinary religious organization, and therefore not subject to the hierarchy of the Church. That same arrogance characterized the Templars – Christian warriors full of zeal, celibate and virile – and their determination to remain outside all control pushed them towards material ends. They acquired wealth in spite of their desire to remain poor. Their monastic zeal and obedience slowly transformed them, for extremely complex reasons, into a powerful economic and political force,’ affirmed Father [Vladimir] Felzmann.
‘The Second Psalm was the Templar hymn. Why do the nations conspire, and the peoples plot in vain? Each celibate member of Opus Dei, man or woman, must recite the Second Psalm upon rising every Tuesday. “We are the children of God and we sing the Second Psalm.” The Templars and Opus Dei sing the same psalm.
‘In Opus Dei you find the same elitism as with the Templars, and this comes, I suppose, from that warrior mentality, from the idea that there is an enemy outside, and from a highly focused esprit de corps. In the long run, those who remain too long in that sort of atmosphere become paranoid. They have delusions of grandeur. They feel superior. They are the best, unique, and, at the same time, they believe there is an enemy stalking them. And so, because they are suspicious, they are reticent to be open and frank with the rest of the world.
‘Deus le volt! We are God’s chosen. These are not the words of the Founder. They are the words of the current Opus Dei leaders in Rome. I lived with them for four years. They told me with utter conviction, “We have been chosen by God to save the Church.” Some of them openly state that in twenty or thirty years Opus Dei will be all that remains of the Church. The whole Church will become Opus Dei because “We have an orthodox vision that is pure, certain, solid, assured of everything. The Founder was chosen by God to save the Church. Therefore God is with us.”
‘Gott mit uns! Think about it. That was the cry of the German Crusaders.’
—Robert Hutchison, Their Kingdom Come (1996), pages 439-40
...If a member feels that he or she is not being comprehended by the organization, there is no chance that Opus Dei could have something to do with that situation. The only two possible causes are blamed on the member who feels that way: the lack of intelligence or the lack of humility.
—E. B. E., Opus Dei as Divine Revelation (2016), pages 232-35
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See 44:51:
[Eileen Johnson] 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. ...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
“Intellectual control is so complete,” said a Spanish priest and former Opus Dei member, “that members accept a life without discussion of anything.” A former Colombian member agreed that the lack of intellectual freedom contributed to a tendency among members to be imperceptive about themselves and to attribute all criticism to ignorance.
—Penny Lernoux, People of God: The Struggle for World Catholicism (1989), page 311
“Spiritual childhood demands submission of the mind, which is harder than submission of the will. In order to subject our mind we need not only God’s grace, but a continual exercise of our will as well, denying the intellect over and over again, just as it says ‘no’ to the flesh.”
—Josemaria Escriva, The Way, 856
This attitude—it is a type of spiritual abuse—errs in failing to make important distinctions between religious truths that the faithful are required to profess, in varying degrees, and those they are not.
It also fails to demarcate and acknowledge the proper area of competence of the clergy, in particular, their general lack of education and training in science proper. Understanding what science is and how it is created and maintained, which requires at least some practical experience as a scientist, is generally not within the competence of the clergy.
Gonzalinho