Linked to a forthcoming television series, this work has been compiled by several authors as a collection of short essays revealing the history and inner workings of secret societies around the world: It is a compilation of facts and figures which are readily available elsewhere and which have been covered by other works more than adequately over several hundred years.

Geheimbünde: Freimaurer und Illuminaten, Opus Dei und Schwarze Hand

There is absolutely nothing new in this work, nothing that a newcomer to the subject couldn't have found elsewhere, nothing that adds to what we already know. Worse still, the bulk of this book is taken up not with secret societies, but with speculation over conspiracy theory surrounding the moon landings, the World Trade Center attack, Area 51 and Roswell. A relatively well-informed reader will also discover that much of what has been presented here appears to have been taken piecemeal from other works. There are quotations - for example from Cicero and Tertullian - which are not listed in the chapter notes, they have been taken from other works, second and third hand quotations.

There is a mass of speculation, but very little by way of revelation, many questions and few adequate answers. It is, in effect, simply a television series printed as a book, but without the music to add substance. For a newcomer to secret societies, or an avid television viewer, perhaps of interest, but no more than that. That the bulk of the work has nothing to do with secret societies is more than disappointing, that the information reproduced here is commonly available in much better works a lesson for readers as much as for writers: This book does none of that.

I ordered the book after I've seen the third episode. Unfortunately I've seen only the third out of three. The book is very similar and close to the tv serie and I assume the first two episodes were as closed as the last one. The book is very structured. Each chapter contains one secret fret and ending with a summary of a couple of possibly frats our time.

I had no knowledge about the subject,but the writing of the book is step by step,the writers explain from the beginning and don't go to much I ordered the book after I've seen the third episode.

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I had no knowledge about the subject,but the writing of the book is step by step,the writers explain from the beginning and don't go to much beyond,so the reader gets the important informations without becoming bored of to much talking around. I enjoyed it much! Ramona rated it it was ok Sep 14, In many male Opus Dei centres, women visit every evening to cook for the men and then leave without social interaction, as Jose Maria recognised that despite the equality of men and women, centres for men may need a female influence to function.

Critics have argued that Opus Dei's unique status as a personal prelature within the Church gives it too much independence. According to critics, elevating Opus Dei to the status of a personal prelature allows its members to "go about their business almost untouched by criticism or oversight by bishops". Catholic officials say church authorities have even greater control of Opus Dei now its head is a prelate appointed by the Pope, and they argue members are "even more conscious of belonging to the Church".

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Similarly, they point out that Opus Dei must obtain permission from the local bishop before establishing an Opus Dei center within the diocese. Some critics claim Opus Dei exerts a disproportionately large influence within the Church itself. They point to the unusually hasty and otherwise irregular process in which Escriva was canonized.

Opus Dei has been accused of running a business of selling babies during and after the Spanish civil war. To this day no Opus Dei priest was prosecuted for their involvement in running this child kidnapping business. In official Opus Dei reports about their own history these business activities have been excluded. Supporters of Opus Dei say criticisms of it are often motivated by bad faith, jealousy, vengefulness, or other biases on the part of the critics. Many criticisms come from former members of Opus Dei.

Their status was studied by Bryan R. Wilson , who studied the phenomenon of new religious movements in general. In one paper, Wilson discussed the unreliability of the testimony of former members of religious movements. Wilson said some "apostates" themselves "have been first a victim" then "a redeemed crusader" and that their "personal history predisposes [them] to bias. Supporters also point to sociological research which suggests apostates create atrocity stories , tales that present events in such a context that the narrator evokes or tries to evoke moral condemnation or horror among the audience.

According to Wilson, "Neither the objective sociological researcher nor the court of law can readily regard the apostate as a creditable or reliable source of evidence," he states. Opus Dei's supporters often see criticism as motivated by a religious bias or political agenda. Many supporters say criticisms of Opus Dei stem from a generalized disapproval of spirituality, Christianity, or Catholicism. Many supporters of Opus Dei believe the Jesuits hold a grudge against Opus Dei borne of jealousy and ideological differences.

Richard John Neuhaus said: Competition and jealousy among religious movements in the Catholic Church is nothing new, and some Opus Dei members are not hesitant to suggest that theirs is now the role in the Church once played by the Jesuits. The Jesuits, who were once viewed as the elite corps of the papacy, have in recent decades had a sharply attenuated relationship to the hierarchical leadership of the Church.

The famous "fourth vow" of allegiance to the pope is now frequently understood by Jesuits as a vow to the papacy in generalmeaning the papacy as they think it ought to be. As Vittorio Messori notes, this movement, which was once thought of as a pre-Vatican II fossil by progressives, has not only survived the heyday of progressive Catholic movements, but continues growing while the left in general, religious and lay, is shrinking.

According to Time magazine, "church liberals, once riding high, have understood for decades that Rome does not incline their way. They feel abandoned, says Allen, 'and whenever you feel that way, there's a natural desire to find someone to blame.

Controversies about Opus Dei

The animosity from within the Church derives from the conflicting views of the role of the Church following Vatican II. According to Vittorio Messori, a major source of hostility towards Opus Dei is the application of political categories to a religious phenomenon such as Opus Dei. These groups against Opus Dei, he says, see everything happening in the world only through the prism of power-seeking, that is, of political spectrums of people in the left versus people on the right.

Since Opus Dei is one of the major religious groups, the application of politically motivated campaigns against it is even stronger. According to Allen, Opus Dei became the lightning rod for the attacks of liberals in the culture wars when John Paul II, perceived as a conservative by the liberals, granted several favorable things to Opus Dei such as beatification, canonization of the founder, and personal prelature status. Some supporters of Opus Dei have viewed the controversy surrounding the organization as a " Sign of contradiction.

Accordingly, they see the very existence of critics as further proof of the organization's sanctity. Contrary to attacks of secrecy and heresy, the bishop described Opus Dei's founder as someone who is "open as a child" and "most obedient to the Church hierarchy". Opus Dei is "a vigorous expression of the perennial youth of the Church, fully open to the demands of a modern apostolate We look with paternal satisfaction on all that Opus Dei has achieved and is achieving for the kingdom of God, the desire of doing good that guides it, the burning love for the Church and its visible head that distinguishes it, and the ardent zeal for souls that impels it along the arduous and difficult paths of the apostolate of presence and witness in every sector of contemporary life.

Criticisms against Opus Dei have prompted Catholic scholars and writers like Piers Paul Read [95] and Vittorio Messori to call Opus Dei a sign of contradiction , in reference to the biblical quote of Jesus as a "sign that is spoken against". Almost all founders of societies in the Church have suffered. Opus Dei has been attacked and its motives misunderstood. In this country and elsewhere an inquiry has always vindicated Opus Dei. This is truly a great ideal, which right from the beginning has anticipated the theology of the lay state of the Second Vatican Council and the post-conciliar period.

During the canonization, there were 42 cardinals and bishops from around the world, generals superior of many religious institutes , and representatives of various Catholic groups. During those days, these Church officials commented on the universal reach and validity of the message of the founder.

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With the teachings of St. Even if he can be very weak, with many mistakes in his life, a saint is nothing other than to speak with God as a friend speaks with a friend, allowing God to work, the Only One who can really make the world both good and happy. Ratzinger spoke of Opus Dei's "surprising union of absolute fidelity to the Church's great tradition, to its faith, and unconditional openness to all the challenges of this world, whether in the academic world, in the field of work, or in matters of the economy, etc.

This, for me, is a message of greatest importance. It is a message that leads to overcoming what could be considered the great temptation of our times: Josemaria as "a precursor of Vatican II in proposing the universal call to holiness. Josemaria, [] and he prayed before his relics for 45 minutes, when he once visited the church of the prelature in Rome. Opus Dei has also been criticized for allegedly seeking independence and more influence within the Catholic Church.

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On the other hand, according to several journalists who researched Opus Dei separately, many criticisms against Opus Dei are based on fabrications by opponents, [8] [] [] [70] [] and it has been said that Opus Dei is a sign of contradiction. In recent years, Opus Dei has received international attention due to the novel The Da Vinci Code and its film version of , both of which prominent Christians and non-believers criticized as misleading, inaccurate and anti-Catholic.

Allen, Messori, and Plunkett also state that accusations that Opus Dei is secretive are unfounded. These accusations stem from a clerical paradigm which expects Opus Dei members to behave as monks and clerics, people who are traditionally known and externally identifiable as seekers of holiness. In contrast, these journalists continue, Opus Dei's lay members, like any normal Catholic professional, are ultimately responsible for their personal actions, and do not externally represent the organization which provides them religious education.

Writer and broadcast analyst John L. These journalists have stated that the historic roots of criticisms against Opus Dei can be found in influential clerical circles. As to its alleged participation in right-wing politics, especially the Francoist regime, distinguished British historians Paul Preston and Brian Crozier state that the Opus Dei members who were Franco's ministers were appointed for their talent and not for their Opus Dei membership.

While Opus Dei spokespersons have admitted mistakes in dealing with some members and do not, as a rule, contest their grievances, [88] [] supporters have rejected generalizations merely based on negative experiences of some members. Wilson write about some former members of any religious group who may have psychological motivations such as self-justification to criticise their former groups.

Wilson states that such individuals are prone to create fictitious " atrocity stories " which have no basis in reality. Opus Dei is not "elitist" in the sense in which people often invoke the term, meaning an exclusively white-collar phenomenon, concluded John Allen. He observed that among its members are barbers, bricklayers, mechanics and fruit sellers.

Most supernumeraries are living ordinary middle-class lives, he said. Regarding alleged misogyny , John Allen states that half of the leadership positions in Opus Dei are held by women, and they supervise men. James Martin , a Jesuit writer and editor, and supporters of Liberation theology , such as journalist Penny Lernoux and Michael Walsh, a writer on religious matters and former Jesuit.

Critics state that Opus Dei is "intensely secretive"—for example, members generally do not disclose their affiliation with Opus Dei in public. Further, under the constitution, members were expressly forbidden to reveal themselves without the permission of their superiors.


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Opus Dei has been accused of deceptive and aggressive recruitment practices, [] such as showering potential members with intense praise " Love bombing " , [] [] and instructing numeraries to form friendships and attend social gatherings explicitly for recruiting purposes. Critics allege that Opus Dei maintains an extremely high degree of control over its members—for instance, past rules required numeraries to submit their incoming and outgoing mail to their superiors for inspection, and members are forbidden to read certain books without permission from their superiors. He couldn't have killed six million [Jews].

It couldn't have been more than four million. Opus Dei has also been accused of elitism through targeting of "the intellectual elite, the well-to-do, and the socially prominent. As members of Opus Dei are Catholics, Opus Dei has been subjected to the same criticisms targeted to Catholicism in general. For example, Opus Dei's position has been "to oppose sexual freedoms and promote conservative morals," according to an investigative report produced by the advocacy group Catholics for Choice.

Sociologists Peter Berger and Samuel Huntington suggest that Opus Dei is involved in "a deliberate attempt to construct an alternative modernity," one that engages modern culture while at the same time is resolutely loyal to Catholic traditions. In her book on Opus Dei, Maggy Whitehouse , a non-Catholic journalist, argues that the relative autonomy of each director and center has resulted in mistakes at the local level. She recommends greater consistency and transparency for Opus Dei, which she sees as having learned the lesson of greater openness when it faced the issues raised by The Da Vinci Code and other critics.

Aside from Escriva canonized in and Alvaro del Portillo beatified in , there a number of members of Opus Dei who have been proposed for beatification:. From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. For other uses, see Opus Dei disambiguation. Seal of the Holy Cross and Opus Dei: Timeline of Opus Dei.

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Teachings of Opus Dei. Interior life Catholic theology. Mortification of the flesh.


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Types of membership of Opus Dei. Opus Dei in society. Opus Dei and Catholic Church leaders. Controversies about Opus Dei. Retrieved 11 December Retrieved 27 November Retrieved 8 June Life and Works of its Founder". Retrieved 29 March BBC Religion and Ethics. Archived from the original on 29 September Retrieved 2 April Retrieved 24 March Opus Dei Official Site. Retrieved 16 May Retrieved 30 May Archived from the original on 27 October Archived from the original on 8 May Retrieved 4 March Archived from the original on 11 February Retrieved 12 December John McCloskey March Retrieved 28 November The New York Sun.

Archived from the original on 8 October Retrieved 11 March Archived from the original on 29 June Eternal Word Television Network. Archived from the original on 12 May Retrieved 13 April Civil Society, Associationalism, and Democracy". American Political Science Association. Retrieved 11 January Official Bulletin of Opus Dei.