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Reading through Gore’s engrossing accounts of the wheeling and dealing of this secretive organization, one is struck by the stupefying levels of financial and material venality on one hand and the relative banality of Escriva’s program of spirituality on the other. This is not simply Gore’s assessment. The great Swiss theologian Hans Urs von Balthazar once dismissed Escriva’s The Way as the spiritual equivalent of a guidebook for senior scouts.
If Gore’s assessments are accurate, the whole point of establishing Opus Dei from the beginning seems to have been for its founder’s material and spiritual aggrandizement. And the movement’s devotion to secrecy seems to have grown out of its founder’s lifelong predilection for furtiveness, dissembling, and dishonesty—which Escriva was never shy about encouraging in his writings.
Many Catholics of various political ideologies do seek for ways to live out their faith in their everyday work and life, as Opus Dei preached they should do. If there’s a moral here for those of us looking for ways to integrate these different areas of our life, maybe it is a warning: Money and power can undermine and corrupt even the best spiritual intentions.
https://uscatholic.org/articles/202411/how-opus-dei-manipulated-its-way-into-power/
—John W. Farrell, How Opus Dei manipulated its way into power,” U.S. Catholic, November 8, 2024
“Catholic Mormons”—Kenneth L. Woodward
Possibly, the best book so far that integrates many of the principal questionable, objectionable, unethical, and morally reprehensible attributes of a global Roman Catholic institution made powerful under the reign of Saint (sainted?) John Paul II, our just recently strongly authoritarian archconservative traditionalist. Critically, Gore includes in his holistic and coherent historical account insider information kept secret and inaccessible for decades by an organization continually obsessed with screwing a tight lid over its jar of sectarian doctrines and censurable shenanigans.
What Gore lacks in theology he more than makes up for in facts. After all, theology is hardly his expertise—he is a financial journalist, reputable and competent, evidently a man of integrity besides. We have to understand that the rationalization underlying the Opus Dei cult is Roman Catholic theology, so that to obtain a fuller understanding of what is problematic—indeed, according to Opus Dei practice, intransigently occult—in its sectarian theology, or more accurately, spiritual theology, we have to access other sources. In this respect, I highly recommend Opus Dei as Divine Revelation (2016) by E. B. E.
Unfortunately, the entire problematic theology of Opus Dei has not yet been adequately investigated, the result being that the institution will continue to propagate its harmful and destructive doctrines, at least until the Roman Catholic hierarchy takes appropriate action, long overdue. In the meantime, Opus Dei will continue to spread its subtly pernicious cancer throughout the Roman Catholic Church, tares multiplying with the wheat.
***
Gore’s account insofar as it truthfully recapitulates Opus Dei’s ethos accurately reflects my nightmare experience inside Opus Dei. His story brings to life the hothouse internal culture I had to endure. In Opus Dei Escriva was worshipped like God…he still is.
To Gareth Gore I say FAN-TAS-TIC JOB.
John Allen, Jr. you can trash. Allen contributed to broadcasting “The Beautiful Lie.” It’s hard to believe anyone still pays attention to his garbage book.
At last, I said to myself, a holistic truthful account of the dark side of Opus Dei. That it took so long for someone to put it together attests to the defining secrecy of the cult besides the oppressive hangover issuing from John Paul II’s pontificate.
Now two popes removed, the saint bestowed blinding shine on Opus Dei like that of a maniacally polished hood ornament.
***
“The principal things that drive Opus Dei are the cult-like worship of the founder and its own expansion [boldface mine]. Its methods and practices have corrupted the outlook of even its own leadership, which has time and time again proven unwilling and unable to reform, even in the face of incontrovertible evidence of abuse and coercion in its ranks. Opus Dei is a danger to itself, its membership, the Church, and the world.”
—Gareth Gore, Opus: The Cult of Dark Money, Human Trafficking, and Right-Wing Conspiracy inside the Catholic Church (2024), page 12
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“The whole point of establishing Opus Dei from the beginning seems to have been for its founder’s material and spiritual aggrandizement.”
ReplyDeletehttps://uscatholic.org/articles/202411/how-opus-dei-manipulated-its-way-into-power/
—John W. Farrell, How Opus Dei manipulated its way into power,” U.S. Catholic, November 8, 2024
One of the most damaging outcomes of Opus Dei indoctrination is that it separates you from God. It replaces the person of Jesus with that of Escriva, whom you are taught to worship as God. Opus Dei centers its life on Escriva and literally talks more about Escriva than Jesus. I would hear about Escriva everyday and Opus Dei directors—laymen and priests—would spend more time teaching and preaching (the latter, priests only) about Escriva than about Jesus. You end up not knowing the true face of Jesus and loving him because of who he is. The genuine saint should like John the Baptist point to Jesus, not substitute him. In this respect, Opus Dei was like a bad dream. Read the gospels and get to know and love Jesus. He who is…not him who isn’t…who is an idolatrous substitute.
https://oddsandendsgonzalinhodacosta.blogspot.com/2024/11/nopus-dei.html
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.
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
Opus Dei destroys lives.
Gonzalinho
5:45
Delete“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
https://oddsandendsgonzalinhodacosta.blogspot.com/2023/02/on-spiritual-abuse.html
Gonzalinho
WORK OF THE DEVIL
ReplyDelete…financial reporter Gareth Gore’s nonfiction history, “Opus: The Cult of Dark Money, Human Trafficking, and Right-Wing Conspiracy Inside the Catholic Church,” offers a sober, fact-based indictment of the organization…Gore’s book is a well-told, gripping story, offering a succinct and damning account of a sprawling organization whose actions have been often entirely at odds with its stated mission.
Gore’s book offers the “previously untold story” of how Opus Dei took over a major bank in Spain as part of a complicated strategy to fund unprecedented growth, “targeting children and vulnerable teenagers” for recruitment and “creating a beachhead in the world of U.S. politics.”
…Gore traces Opus Dei from its founding by Escrivá during the Spanish revolution through its rise to global prominence, casting its founder as a narcissist devoted less to doctrine than to ensuring his own place in history. …Escrivá grew the organization through deception, using tactics akin to Scientology’s: welcoming students in to study basic subjects like design and architecture, only to separate them from their families and slowly condition them to a cultlike existence in which they would pledge all of their wages and inheritance to Opus Dei.
When those personal donations turned out not to be enough to fuel Escrivá’s ambitions, Opus Dei turned to fraud and money laundering. …As Gore alleges, the growth of Opus Dei and the glory of its founder were all that mattered; members “were encouraged [to] do whatever was necessary to further the work of God — even if it involved abusing their positions at work, betraying their friends and family, or acting against their own conscience.”
Through it all, Opus Dei sought the protection of powerful men. Not long after Franco’s death in 1975 (the same year Escrivá died), it was a new pope, John Paul II, who provided the organization with a legitimacy it had long been denied.
…Most damning, though, is the degree to which Opus Dei recruited young women into a life of indentured servitude. Lower-class women, in particular, were lured with the promise that they would be trained to work in the hospitality industry, before being shuttled around to various Opus Dei sites, forced to sign their wages over to the organization while working interminable hours as servants.
…in a well-documented and substantiated history covering almost a century, [Gore’s] central point comes through: that Opus Dei’s true mission, judged by its actions, has very little to do with holiness and everything to do with the enrichment and self-aggrandizement of Escrivá and the leaders who have followed.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/books/2024/10/23/opus-dei-book-gore-review/
—Colin Dickey, “A history of Opus Dei—and the conspiracy theories around it,” The Washington Post (October 23, 2024)
Child abuse
Cultic maltreatment
Idolatry of the founder
Destruction of psychologically healthy social relations, including family ties
Unethical deception and betrayal
Psychological coercion and underhanded manipulation
Unconscionable exploitation of recruits
Embezzlement, fraud, and money laundering
Criminal activity
Denial or obstruction of the legitimate exercise of religious freedom
Indefensible violation of the right of conscience
Power mongering
Corporate avarice
Indentured slavery
Human trafficking
Notably, it was all co-opted by Saint John Paul II.
Gonzalinho
THE HOLY MAFIA
DeleteOpaque governance via interleaving corporations controlled by secret society members operating jointly in the manner of a global Masonic conspiracy of Russian dolls
Gonzalinho
OPUS DEI’S LAME RESPONSE TO GORE’S FACTUAL INVESTIGATION
ReplyDelete…The first thing to note about Opus is the tremendous amount of research that went into the project. This involved serious attention to many published works on the prelature, personal interviews with present and former members of Opus Dei (including significant leadership figures), and archival research materials.
…When Gore began his research, he meant for the resulting project to be a deep dive into the Spanish bank Banco Popular, which collapsed in 2017. Through his investigation, Gore discovered a group known as “The Syndicate” that was responsible for funding Banco Popular. The dissolution of the companies that comprised The Syndicate was simultaneous with the bank’s collapse, and this concurrence of events brought Gore into greater touch with the secretive world of Opus Dei. The religious organization was involved because many of the major players in Opus Dei were also major players in the bank, none more so than the Spanish financier and influential Opus Dei member Luis Valls-Taberner.
Gore structures his book around three complementary narratives: one financial, one political and one ecclesial. While there is also some history involved in this study, it almost always serves to advance one of Gore’s three main trajectories. The financial account is where Gore is obviously most at home. Valls-Taberner’s illness and death, the role his membership in Opus Dei played in the sidelining of his brother Javier from his role in the bank, and the details of infighting to take over the reins of the bank are all fascinating aspects of this account.
This is all new material that Gore has uncovered through painstaking research and careful tracing of otherwise vague and disjointed lines. He is to be commended for making these links, particularly between The Syndicate and Banco Popular before the bank’s collapse. Gore did his homework: “Tracing the flow of money through the various layers of companies, it seemed the beneficiaries [of the bank] were charitable foundations with one thing in common—links to Opus Dei.”
Gore does a fine job of discovering where the money came from, where it went and how Opus Dei was involved, always doing its part to be dissociated from the bank; though there was no paper trail that led back to Opus Dei as an organization at any point, Gore clearly shows the connections. This is the greatest achievement of the book….
To be continued
Gonzalinho
OPUS DEI’S LAME RESPONSE TO GORE’S FACTUAL INVESTIGATION
DeleteContinued
…This review would not be complete without acknowledging that Opus Dei has responded to the book with a press release listing disputed facts and clarifications. They claim that Gore gained access to various members of Opus Dei under the false pretenses of writing a book about Luis Valls-Taberner. However, Gore himself has stated that the subject of the book changed as he was researching it.
As for Opus Dei’s other concerns expressed in the press release, most of their explanations do not disprove Gore’s findings. Opus Dei says that the prelature had “no role” in the events surrounding the collapse of Banco Popular. That is exactly what we would expect from the prelature after reading Gore’s argument on this point. Opus Dei as an organization goes to great pains to remove itself from direct involvement in financial, political and ecclesial scandals. And yet, as Gore painstakingly shows, Opus Dei’s influence is never far from such controversies and, in some cases, serious crimes.
Opus Dei members, for example, have contended that women and children haven’t been abused by their organization or by influential members within the group. Yet simply saying that Gore’s allegations are false does not disprove the voluminous interviews and other evidence Gore uncovered—and Opus Dei has not provided evidence for its claim.
This is not a perfect book. At times, it would have been improved had a theologian or Vatican analyst edited some of Gore’s writings on the church. This misgiving notwithstanding, Opus has certainly become required reading on the subject of Opus Dei.
https://www.americamagazine.org/arts-culture/2025/01/16/review-opus-dei-gore-cosacchi-249672
—Daniel Cosacchi, “Review: Opus Dei, inside and out,” America, January 16, 2025
Gore casts exceptional light on the financial subterfuge underlying Opus Dei operations and bolsters with facts longstanding allegations of ideologically driven politics, power mongering, indentured slavery, and human trafficking.
Typically, Opus Dei has responded with hackneyed denials, hurt claims of secularly motivated (anti-clerical) religious persecution, and thought-stopping clichés.
Until Opus Dei humbly owns up to its seriously harmful and damaging abuses and failings, it will remain a pestilent cancer in the Church.
Gonzalinho