Opus Dei and the Da Vinci Code
First shown on Channel 4 in December 2005
Is there any truth in Dan Brown's sinister portrait of this secretive organisation? Katie Streten reports
In
Channel 4's documentary on Opus
Dei, Mark Dowd explores an organisation that, despite being hidden from
public view, became notorious as the organ of the Catholic Church’s
control in the controversial thriller The Da Vinci Code. It is
clear that Dan Brown's portrayal is far from the truth revealed by Dowd's
investigations, yet Opus Dei still causes unease in people inside and outside
the Catholic Church.
The facts
The facts about the group are laid out by the documentary. Opus Dei was founded in 1928 after a young Spanish priest, Josemaria Escriva received a vision of an organisation as 'a mobilisation of Christians disposed to sacrifice themselves with joy for others, to render divine all the ways of man on earth, sanctifying every upright work, every honest labour, every earthly occupation'.
It is unusual, in that its 85,000-strong membership combines both priests and everyday church-going Catholics, men and women in a single organisation – different vocations moving in one direction. Members may live in their own homes with their families or in special centres, living celibate lives of great discipline. The central thread is that most members follow their own vocation in the world, whether they are serving in the centre as Numerary Assistants (essentially housekeepers for the celibates) or as high-ranking employees of multinational corporations.
As Dowd explains, none of this is unusual in the context of Catholic spirituality or Christian theology. Christians are intended to be in the world but not of it, the salt that flavours society. And yet the approach of Opus Dei is one that disconcerts. Why? There are various reasons why it is viewed with caution but there are four key issues of concern.
Attitude to women
The most obvious problem for many people is the apparent attitude of Opus Dei towards women. This is personified in the role of the Numerary Assistants – housekeepers who serve for high-ranking celibates, both male and female, but who themselves may only be female. Feminists argue that this indicates an outdated attitude to woman’s role; Opus Dei responds with the claim that it is patronising to criticise the vocation of these women.
The fact that women are serving is not what causes the unease, but the rule that only women may take on this role. There is a clearly stated belief that women are better at being servants (something Paul Burrell would probably disagree with!). This an outmoded understanding of what women are – and are capable of – and it's interesting to note that there is no equivalent role, say, of handyman, which is open only to men.
A brainwashing sect?
In 1981, allegations of brainwashing and concern about the secrecy of their affairs led Cardinal Basil Hume, then head of the Catholic Church in England, to forbid Opus Dei from recruiting members under the age of 18. And in 1986 the Italian parliament demanded a government inquiry into the group's operations. A support group, the Opus Dei Awareness Network (ODAN) has been set up in the States to counsel and campaign for those who feel damaged by their involvement with the organisation.
ODAN claims that members are recruited aggressively, put under pressure to join, encouraged to give large proportions of their earnings to Opus Dei and accepted into the organisation without being told what levels of commitment will be required of them. For instance, new members are usually 'guilt-tripped' into the use of the cilice (a spiked chain worn around the upper thigh for two hours every day) after they have joined the organisation; the practice is not made clear before they join.
Often, prospective members are encouraged to hide the fact that they are joining Opus Dei from their families, in case they are dissuaded. In fact, established members of the organisation are often reticent about their involvement with the group, and its centres not named but are referred to just by their addresses – such as 243 Lexington Avenue, which is, in fact, the US headquarters.
This lack of transparency does not reflect the generally open attitude of Christianity to proclaiming its presence across the world. Indeed, where other branches of Christianity are concerned you can hardly miss their churches and other institutions, and Christians are rarely shy of coming forward in Western society.
Christians in the world
It is no secret, though, that there are members of Opus Dei in some very powerful positions across the world. In Britain, Education Secretary, Ruth Kelly, is a member, though this information only came out as a result of investigation by the media. The combination of secrecy and power networks inevitably provokes fear and distrust, particularly from those who feel strongly that Church and State should be distinct.
Add powerful and influential people like Kelly to all the universities and high schools, 52 radio and television stations, 694 publications, 38 news and publicity agencies and 12 film and distribution companies owned by Opus Dei, and fears of propaganda and malign influence become harder to discount.
Dubious approach
Perhaps most worrying aspect for Christians in approaching Opus Dei is its attempt to appear neutral. The attitude seems to be not to fight openly against the status quo; instead the survival of the movement depends on 'fitting in'. St Josemaria Escriva himself was a friend of Franco and was disposed against Communism in a way that made him write: 'Hitler against the Jews, Hitler against the Slavs, this means Hitler against Communism'.'
This is not the attitude one would expect from a saint – it's a stark contrast, for instance, to the attitude of Br Roger of the Taize community, whose unassuming life of faith centred around providing a safe place for Jews during the war, and afterwards fostering a pilgrimage of faith in young people of all denominations and nationalities. The drive for neutrality in the secular world seems different from the example of Jesus, who attacked authority openly and directl,y and was killed for his trouble.
Conclusions
Worries about Opus Dei's purported wealth should be set against the immense wealth of the Catholic Church. Claims that it has more money than General Motors are actually untrue, as Mark Dowd discovers. Similarly, worries about the number of people involved in the secret organisation need to be set in the context of the world population: 85,000 people as against 6.5 billion, of whom 1 billion are Catholics.
Equally, a drive to live a sacred life in a secular world is not unusual. But Opus Dei's recruiting zeal seems at odds with the fact that the organisation is incredibly self-contained, almost secretive, highly conservative yet with a strange secularist streak. This doesn’t sit well in a post-modern society that values openness and tolerance and fears the power of organised religion to destroy the simple directness of a revolutionary faith.
