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On the whole, I thought that the text of the Time article on Opus Dei was rather good. I know that the reporters worked hard on it, and it conveys a good deal of what Opus Dei is all about, especially through the side-bar interviews with people like the real Silas of Opus Dei.
The article begins with a delightful scene: long-time Rome resident (now a New Yorker) Liz Heil laughing at The Da Vinci Code trailer. Sadly there was no photo of Liz cracking up – which would have been a far more fitting first-page photo than the rather dull-looking discipline which appears. The article closes with Cardinal Julian Herranz joking about how a bogus conspiracy-mongering article on Opus Dei piqued his curiosity and eventually led to his vocation. As bookends, those two are hard to beat.
Along the way, Notre Dame’s Scott Appleby is paraphrased as attributing Opus Dei’s influence to “the articulate piety” of its members – not a bad phrase, even if it’s unclear who coined it. I also liked how St. Josemaria and Pope John Paul II are aptly described as “creative traditionalists.”
Best of all, Opus Dei is described as “a movement of pious laypeople who would, by prayerful contemplation and the dedication of their labor to Christ, extend the holiness of church on Sunday into their everyday work life.” I wish I’d said that myself. Maybe I will…
And then there’s one great laugh line: an unidentified senior prelate of another religious community in Rome – Opus Dei is not a religious community in Rome or anywhere else, but let’s leave that aside for now – says, “Their approach is preconciliar. They originated prior to the Second Vatican Council…”
Pretty insightful. Ain’t no denying: Opus Dei did originate prior to Vatican II, placing it in that select category which includes just about every major institution in the Catholic Church… including, perhaps, the senior prelate’s own religious community?
Just for the record, when the first members of Opus Dei arrived in Rome in the 1940s to explain this new phenomenon (lay men and women seeking holiness in and through professional work), they were told by officials in the Curia that they’d come 100 years too soon.
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Well, the irony is that all the real preconciliar groups originated after Vatican II.
I also thought the pre-conciliar comment was pretty funny. Come to think of it, I think the Gospels are pre-concialiar too…
Did anyone else find that photo essay a bit… bizarre?? A photo of a stair landing? A bell? A telephone?!?? I thought that one was the best– that must be the special Opus Dei hotline straight to the Pope. I gotta get me one of those!
You can listen to Laura Ingraham’s interview of Father Michael Barrett here.
Thanks for that link, Pauli.
(And, yes, Margaret, that photo essay was a riot. Close-up of a bell, close-up of a phone. I guess there was nothing else more interesting around there… no murderous monks lurking behind the staircases.) Made for a good laugh.
Enjoyed the photo of the woman praying in the chapel, artistic angle and all that. And it seemed like she was indeed praying. So rare a sight, we’re lucky it was caught on camera!
Yup, too bad a photo of Elizabeth laughing wasn’t in the article–would’ve added some much-needed spirit to everything. The last paragraph was great, as Fr. John mentioned. Someone in Opus Dei 30+ years telling all the readers of TIME that he’d discovered Opus Dei through nothing less than… a fictional book! Fancy that. Hope springs eternal.
I just read this writeup on the article on TIMES and I thought some people wouldn´t mind reading it too. The link is http://pblosser.blogspot.com/2006_04_01_pblosser_archive.html#114588613135653853
Thank you Kene. It´s a very good article.
Just read the article, Kene. Thank you. (And a nice ink sketch of Newman next to the article to boot. Thanks!)
About 40 years ago Time published another article on Opus Dei, which consisted of a long interview with Msgr. Escriva. (It’s included in the collection Conversations with Msgr. Escriva.) It’s not clear that the authors of the current piece consulted the older one, but it might be worthwhile to compare the two. Fr. John?