SHOW: NPR WEEKEND SATURDAY (NPR 12:00 am ET)
JULY 25, 1998, SATURDAY
Transcript # 98072507-214
TYPE: PACKAGE
SECTION: News; International
LENGTH: 2643 words
HEADLINE: Opus Dei
BYLINE: Lynn Neary, Washington, DC; Robert Siegel, Washington, DC

HIGHLIGHT:
One of the most controversial organizations in the Roman Catholic Church is called Opus Dei. Followers call the group's founder a saint who has elevated the status of lay people -- but critics call the organization cult- like. NPR's Lynn Neary has more from Opus Dei's headquarters in Rome.

BODY:
ROBERT SIEGEL, HOST: This is WEEKEND EDITION. I'm Robert Siegel.

One of the most controversial organizations within the Roman catholic church is as group known as Opus Dei, which means "The Work of God.

Followers of Opus Dei believe their founder is a saint who has helped elevate the statute of lay people within church.

But some critics of Opus Dei say it is a secretive, cult-like organization that exerts undue influence on the Vatican.

NPR's Lynn Neary recently visited Opus Dei's headquarters in Rome and she has this report.

LYNN NEARY, NPR REPORTER:
The idea behind Opus Dei seems simple. Work, any kind of work, is sacred, a way to honor God. The founder, Monsignor Josemaria Escriva de Balagere wanted to create an organization that elevated the status of lay people in a church that had always emphasized the importance of clergy.

But almost from the start Opus Dei was viewed with suspicion by many within the church.

Founded in Spain in 1928, Opus Dei came of age during the Franco regime and a number of Opus Dei members became powerful within the Franco government.

Michael Walsh, a Catholic scholar who has written a book about Opus Dei, says that early association with a fascist government gave Opus Dei a reputation as a reactionary movement, a reputation which continues today.

MICHAEL WALSH, CATHOLIC SCHOLAR: In a way one of the oddities about Opus Dei is the way in which it has got stuck in the past in a world which is much more liberal and open, it has been -- and in a church which has since the Second Vatican Council, was expected to be much more liberal and open -- it has been very much a conservative force.

NEARY: In addition to its conservative reputation Walsh says Opus Dei has also been known for its secrecy.

WALSH: Discretion they called it in their manuals, but nonetheless, it sounds very much like secrecy to an outsider. They don't want anybody to know you're a member of Opus Dei. They didn't want the Opus Dei constitutions to be read by anybody else except members of Opus Dei. Indeed even some members of Opus Dei haven't actually seen them.

NEARY: Opus Dei differs from other organizations within the church in a number of ways. Although it was founded as an organization for lay people, religious play an important role. It is lead by a bishop who has a unique status within the church.

In 1982, Pope John Paul II made Opus Dei a personal prelature, meaning the prelate of Opus Dei and not the local bishop has authority over its members. No other leader of a lay organization has that kind of power. And critics see Opus Dei's unique status as an indication of its influence within the Vatican.

Also, single members of Opus Dei, known as "numeraries" often live together in Opus Dei residences and make a commitment to celibacy, a life style that seems to mimic religious life.

But not all members of Opus Dei are single.

MARTA MANZI (PH), MEMBER OF OPUS DEI, ROME: My name is Marta Manzi. I am married. I have seven children. And I belong to Opus Dei

NEARY: Marta Manzi is a spokeswoman for Opus Dei in Rome. As a married member of the organization, she is known as "supernumerary." Manzi says only a small percentage of members have joined the priesthood. Most are still lay people like herself. Whether married or single, they still live full lives says Manzi, pursuing careers and raising families just like everyone else.

Manzi says that's what attracted her to Opus Dei.

MANZI: I didn't want to be a nun because I didn't want to live the word. I like to go to the cinema, to have a family, to have a husband and children and so on. And to find out that that is also a way to find Christ, that is what I liked.

NEARY: At Opus Dei's headquarters in Rome, one of the first things you notice is the sense of order that prevails. Every piece of furniture has its place and is carefully replaced after being used.

Bishop Javier Echevarria, the current prelate of Opus Dei, says order is an important element of Opus Dei's spirituality.

JAVIER ECHEVARRIA, BISHOP OF OPUS DEI, ROME(VIA TRANSLATOR): To love one has to live order in all things, even material things because that makes it easier to live with other people. To love truly, one's soul must be in order. We believe that we are created by God and are called to return to God so in order to love God, one must deal with him and the more one deals with God, the more one wants to put one's heart and soul in order.

NEARY: Opus Dei believes its critics have misunderstood the organization because it is different. But it's reputation for secrecy combined with its unusual membership structure have prompted charges that it is a cult within the church. Other practices such as spiritual exercises that include the wearing of sharp chain around the thigh and self flagellation have enhanced that image.

And many see overtones of a cult in the way Opus Dei recruits its members.

SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC

NEARY: A few weeks ago on a perfect summer evening, an amateur band lead a small procession of people through a neighborhood on the outskirts of Rome to mark the feast day of St. John the Baptist, the patron saint of the local parish.

SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC

NEARY: The parish church, run by Opus Dei priests, sits next to a vocational school, also run by Opus Dei. Thirty years ago this was extremely poor neighborhood so Opus Dei started the school to help the young people who lived there. Now students from poor areas all over Italy come to Chintroelis (ph) to learn a trade.

But Tomas Bacha (ph) a graduate of Chintroelis, says he learned more than he expected.

TOMAS BACHA, A GRADUATE OF OPUS DEI SCHOOL (VIA TRANSLATOR): A part from learning the trade, the fact that this was an Opus Dei school, it taught me away of living. They teach that work is important. But it's not just about making money. The end of goal is spiritual. The end goal is to dedicate your work to God.

NEARY: Bacha, who now volunteers as a teacher at the school is not a member of Opus Dei and says he has never been pressured to join. But some other young people who have come into contact with Opus Dei tell a different story.

James Martin has written about Opus Dei in the United States for the Jesuit magazine "America." He says Opus Dei often recruits members though student centers or residences near schools, especially colleges and universities. Students who are already Opus Dei members are encouraged to make friends with others on campus who are then invited to the Opus Dei centers for special events.

JAMES MARTIN, AUTHOR, WRITING ABOUT OPUS DEI: Now frequently the people I've spoken to have told me that the events are not identified as Opus Dei events, they're not quite sure what kind of house they're being asked into. And they will go not understanding what's going on. They will have mass and a meeting and gradually within a few weeks they're told this is Opus Dei. And frequently they're told they have to make a commitment. This is God's call to them. And it's very heavy-handed. It's very high pressure.

NEARY: Opus Dei says it does not recruit it members but simply lets people know what Opus Dei is and anyone is free to chose or reject the lifestyle. Dr. Flavio Keller (ph) says he first encountered Opus Dei in 1972 when he entered medical school in Switzerland and stayed at a student residence which was run by Opus Dei.

FLAVIO KELLER, DOCTOR, PROFESSOR, RESEARCHER, ROME; I was not even especially practicing my faith. Actually I was much, much more interested in science and literature and piano.

NEARY: Dr. Keller says the members of Opus Dei he met at the residence shared his intellectual and artistic interests. And gradually he began to understand that he did not have to give up his intellectual or professional pursuits in order to have a spiritual life.

Dr. Keller says he was aware of some of the criticism of Opus Dei, but that didn't bother him.

KELLER: It simply clashed with what I was experiencing within Opus Dei so that it could not be true because for example about the secrecy. I knew from the very beginning about exactly our -- the commitment were, and that we were actually were encouraged to talk about faith and about being in a position of friends.

And so, there was really no orders that we should be -- should keep any secrets.

NEARY: Now a numerary in Opus Dei, Dr. Keller is a researcher in neuroscience and a professor of physiology at a medical school in Rome which is run by Opus Dei.

Dr. Keller says the only regret he has about his involvement with Opus Dei is that his mother has never understood his decision.

KELLER: I see her very often. It's just the fact that she doesn't share all this part of -- important part of my -- of me. That -- I mean that -- to be sincere it's a little painful.

NEARY: Some of the sharpest critics of Opus Dei are parents who say they've lost their children to the organization.

Franca Rotenelli (ph) an Italian mother whose 28-year-old son is a member of Opus Dei, says she used to have a good relationship with him.

FRANCA ROTENELLI, MOTHER OF OPUS DEI MEMBERS (VIA TRANSLATOR): Before my son had his first encounter with Opus Dei, we had a wonderful, wonderful relationship. We were very close, it was a marvelous relationship. And he felt very comfortable at my little parish. In fact he would even come on his free time to teach the young children how to sing.

And then slowly after he encountered Opus Dei, all this ended until at the end only Opus Dei was important.

NEARY: Rotenelli says she wrote to every member of the College of Cardinal with her concerns about Opus Dei, but received a few form letters in return.

Although she and her son are now completely estranged, Rotenelli says her experience has not shaken her faith in Catholicism.

ROTENELLI (VIA TRANSLATOR): Now for me, personally, my sense of Catholicism has not changed. I am a Catholic. I consider myself a catholic. I am faithful still. However, I feel a great distance form the official church now. Because I have felt -- I'm suffering and I feel that there's a lack of justice within the Vatican in confronting this problem. And I'm suffering because my son has now told me we are no longer his family.

NEARY: Bishop Echevarria, the prelate of Opus Dei, says his organization encourages its members to love their families and take care of their parents and he says no one is forced to join Opus Dei against their will.

ECHEVARRIA (VIA TRANSLATOR): We don't take away the freedom of any person. Everyone is told they may consult whomever they wish, their parents, their pastor, even enemies of the church because we are only interested in people who decide freely and responsibly.

SOUNDBITE OF RELIGIOUS HYMN

NEARY: Every year on June 26, followers of Opus Dei, celebrate mass on the feast day of Blessed Josemaria Escriva, the founder of Opus Dei.

SOUNDBITE OF RELIGIOUS HYMN

NEARY: ON May 17, 1992, 300,000 people gathered St. Peter's Square in Rome to watch as Pope John Paul II beatified Josemaria Escriva. Beatification is an important step in the process of becoming a saint in the Roman Catholic church. And members of Opus Dei, like this man attending the Feast Day Mass in Rome, have little doubt that sainthood is inevitable for their founder.

OPUS DEI MEMBER (VIA TRANSLATOR): He's such a great important person to us that we already consider him a saint. But of course officially it is the church that decides this.

And if God wants him to be a saint, he will be a saint.

NEARY: But the beatification of Josemaria Escriva has also come under attack from critics who say the process was unusually fast. Escriva died in 1975 and was beatified less than 20 years later. The Vatican and Opus Dei both point out that the canonization process has been simplified under new cannon law.

But some critics of Opus Dei were not allowed to testify against the beatification. One of them was Maria del Carmen Tapia.

MARIA DEL CARMEN TAPIA, FORMER MEMBER OF OPUS DEI, ROME; I wrote to the pope. I never received a reply.

NEARY: Tapia was a numerary of Opus Dei for 18 years and worked closely with Josemaria Escriva. In her book "Beyond the Threshold," Tapia charges that in 1965 she was forced to resign Opus Dei, but Tapia says no one ever explained what she had done wrong.

Later, during the beatification process, Tapia says Opus Dei tried to discredit her, accusing her of horrendous depravity and calling her a person without a conscience. Tapia believes that it why she was not called to testify before the tribunal set up to investigate the life of Monsignor Escriva.

TAPIA: That counsel could have reacted in two ways. One, as they did. Well, how are we doing to ask anything to this person who has no conscience or if they had been moved by a curiosity, and say well, let us ask to this kind of monstrous -- monstrous person, what did happen. They never did.

NEARY: Opus Dei's critics see the beatification of Josemaria Escriva as another indication of Pope John Paul II's support for the organization and as another symbol of Opus Dei's influence in the Vatican, they point to the pope's decision to name Joaquin Nevaro Vales (ph) as the Vatican press secretary.

Nevaro Vales is a numerary in Opus Dei.

JOAQUIN NEVARO VALES, MEMBER OF OPUS DEI: The day I myself realize in a way or another, that Opus Dei tries to influence my job or tries to, in society, to fulfill a role that is not the reason why I joined Opus Dei, I will leave Opus Dei in 10 seconds.

NEARY: Nevaro Vales strongly defends the beatification of Jose Maria Escriva pointing to the changes in cannon law which streamlined the process and the work that Opus Dei did in laying the groundwork for beatification.

Nevaro Vales maintains that the critics of the process are the same people who simply do not like Opus Dei.

As for the pope's support of Opus Dei, Nevaro Vales says that must be seen in the context of the entire church.

NEVARO VALES: In supporting Opus Dei, I would say that there is something which is very -- is important for the pope. That is he supports strongly any institution or organization in the Catholic church dedicated to lay people.

NEARY: Do you know if the pope is aware of some of the criticism or the concerns that are expressed about Opus Dei within the church.

NEVARO VALES: Yeah, but he's also aware of critics against himself, against the church, and against many other organizations, either lay organization and religious organization. So...

LAUGHTER

... I don't think he's very much concerned by those critics.

NEARY: Opus Dei, says Nevaro Vales is just one of many organizations competing to be heard in a church filled with differing viewpoints. What continues to worry the critics of Opus Dei is that its conservative voice seems to be getting a better hearing than others.

Lynn Neary, NPR News, Washington.

This is a rush transcript. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.

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