I was wandering if there are any Eastern Catholics that are involved with Opus Dei. I have read "The Way" by St. Josemaria Escriva and really enjoyed the message for the layman to be called to holiness and to take their Faith seriously. How well would an Eastern Catholic fit into Opus Dei? Has anyone had any experiences with Opus Dei?

Mike

Not at all. Opus Dei is a personal prelature (non-territorial diocese) of the Latin Church. An Eastern Catholic I know was contemplating membership but found that Opus Dei makes no accomodations for Eastern Catholics. If one wants to be a member one must take on their rule which includes many Latin devotions, Eastern equivalents may not be substituted. But as this is a Latin jurisdiction that makes perfect sense.

Some Eastern Catholics are "Cooperators" with "The Work." Membership in the Cooperators is open to any and all people of good will who support the spirit and ideals of Opus Dei, regardless of jurisdiction or even faith.

God bless,

Father Deacon Daniel

"Opus Dei, qui tollis pecuniam mundi, dona nobis partem!"

Father Serge:

If I may say so, you have a great sense of humor.

BOB

I know a number of folks in Opus Dei. On point: I know a supernumerary who is a Syro-Malabar Catholic. While he is a member, and still Syro-Malabar, he does practice all the Latin devotions and prayer norms that go with being a supernumerary. Unless no one noticed with him, he is proof that Eastern Catholics can join.

It should be noted that the Opus Dei prayer norms are not clerical. The lay members are not obliged to the Roman office for instance. The prayer norms are very Roman however. Not being in Opus Dei I can't tell you about them in great detail, but the Angelus, Rosary, daily mass (or as often as possible), works of penance and mortification, as well as refections on certain topics each day of the week are the ones I know of from friends.

As for would an Eastern Catholic with an established eastern spirituality fit in well? I imagine Father Deacon Daniel is correct. Regardless, Opus Dei is not an easy organization to join. It takes ~1.5 years of classes, in addition to them knowing the candidate real well (i.e. the candidate attending Opus Dei events regularly for a non-trivial period of time, which would probably include becoming a cooperator and attending a cooperator's circle regularly). In short you really can't accidentally join them and be committed to something that you didn't know about. If you are curious, going to some of their stuff would be the way to learn more about them.

Justin

I used to have an Opus Dei spiritual director. He was a good man, very devout and deeply practical.

However, when he found out that I had a growing love for Byzantine spirituality, he said that I was spiritually sick because I should have been satisfied by the Novus Ordo and the normal Roman piety, and that my interest in the Byzantine tradition was a sign that I was becoming too "singular" and that I had an unhealthy desire for new things.

He then blew his top when he learned that I was attending an indult Traditional Latin Mass.

I never went back.

The problem, I think, is that St. Josemaria Escriva emphasized two things:

1) Roman-ness. As he himself used to say: "Be more Roman each day!"

2) Ordinariness. Among other things, this means not looking for singularities or for extraordinary forms of piety.

These teachings, of course, have their context. I'm sure that St. Josemaria Escriva -- who had a deep love for the Church -- never meant his teachings to be taken to mean that there should be no variety in the spirituality and rites of Catholics.

The problem is that some Opus Dei priests take his teachings too literally, and combine it with what can only be called as a too positivistic and juridical a view of orthodoxy. So, for them, ordinariness and Roman-ness mean accepting only the Novus Ordo (albeit well celebrated) as their liturgy (hence the remarkable silence of Opus Dei regarding the Tridentine Mass), and using only the usual means of Roman piety (rosary, Way of the Cross) as their spiritual expression. And there is a tendency in Opus Dei to mistake "Roman" for "Catholic", as if the two are coextensive. What chance does the Eastern Rite have in Opus Dei?

Even the modern Roman Liturgy of the Hours -- which should be the expression par excellence of Roman lay piety too -- is not used by the numeraries, because according to one numerary I asked, "it is only for priests"

That is truly fascinating, AsianPilgrim. Thanks for broadening my knowledge today.

Fr David Straut

Dear Bob/Theophan,

You may indeed say so - compliments are always welcome! I once jokingly threatened to found a religious order dedicated to the spiritual edification of the wealthy and privileged, and two friends immediately remarked that I was too late - Opus Dei had already copyrighted the idea!

Fr. Serge

I used to have some Opus Dei friends but they said they could no longer associate with me because I was in the Orthodox Church. They also said that their spiritual advisers were quick to use the phrase, "Don't be holier than the Pope." And yes, their spiritual readings were very controlled and in obedience they could not question the novus ordo or attend the Traditional Latin Mass. Now that the Pope is allowing the Traditional Latin Mass, I wonder if they have changed their minds?

I went on a retreat as a new Catholic at the LA house and it was awful. I got yelled at because I didn't know I was to reuse the cloth napkin. I also was not allowed to run to the car after the evening activities.They actually had a lock from the inside that I couldn't open. There weren't any pictures of other saints. They had a few of Mary and nothing but the founder. They also deprive you of a basic amount of sleep and the food was not enough to be satisfied.They also said he was the first saint to say the laity could become saints. That is just a lie. My friend from Canada told me about her time with them and said the same thing.

My friend from Columbia who is now a Benedictine priest in Italy said they tried to get him to join in Columbia. He said they could care less about the poor. He said it was for the upper middleclass and the rich. It is like a cult

Elizabeth Maria I would say to your ex-friends that the Pope has many Orthodox friends so maybe they are not the Obedient Catholics they fancy themselves!

My friend from Columbia said the same thing!

I wasn't going to post anything but since others have mentioned things that cause rational people to hesitate with regard to Opus Dei, I must say that I have had negative experiences as well. We were once invited to a "party" that was a social event for Opus Dei folks. My wife, who is a licensed counselor, was told that her soul was in jeopardy because she studied and practiced Psychology. I was also told by a woman that I could not be considered a Catholic theologian unless I studied Latin and scholasticism. She was a member of our Melkite parish and was always worried that we were quasi-schismatics. Also, my dear friend (who is ex-Opus Dei) told me stories about Opus Dei members fraternally correcting one another (for example, if one were to spend less than 10 minutes in contemplation after receiving the Eucharist, one might be approached by a fellow member and "encouraged" to do so." There were other things that I have personally seen happen in Opus Dei to reinforce the negative vibes I already had. I apologize if this offends anyone, but it is all the truth.

Joe

Dear Father Serge,

Just because one has a copyright, does not mean that one knows how to implement it. Your proposed order would probably be of much benefit to people who need a lot of spiritual help.

St. Josemaria Escriva celebrated the TLM until the morning of his death, as he had an indult to celebrate it in his private chapel. While his attachment to the TLM has often been explained away as due to old age and deteriorating eyesight, his 3-volume biography by Andres Vazquez makes clear that he keenly suffered from the liturgical reform, from the abandonment of the rubrics that he held so dear.

St. Josemaria also ordered that all Opus Dei oratories keep to "ad orientem" altars -- an order obeyed in Opus Dei until the mid-1980's. In this, he was remarkably prescient.

Incidentally, St. Josemaria Escriva went to Greece in the 1960's, and was known to have observed the Greek Orthodox liturgy a couple of times. That is remarkable, given that at that time, attendance in non-Catholic liturgies was strictly prohibited. He also bought an Orthodox icon as a gift for Paul VI. As I said in my OP, St. Josemaria was himself a man of the Church, with a deep appreciation for the Fathers and Doctors and for the richness of the traditions of the Church. He himself was certainly not "anti-Eastern." And if you read his life, he also had a deep love for the poor and the sick. He never intended Opus Dei to be for the elite only.

I love St. Josemaria Escriva. It is Opus Dei as it developed after his death, that I can't stand. Opus Dei today is, sadly, a caricature of what St. Josemaria wanted. From my own experience, it seems to me that Opus Dei has developed an extremely narrow sense of what Catholic orthodoxy is.

That is sad. I particularly dislike that expression, "Do not be holier than the Pope." We are to follow the example of Christ, the Theotokos and the saints. I wonder who coined that expression. He should be drawn and quartered.

My experiences are quite different - and all positive. While I can not offer explanations for the negative things many have expressed here, I'd point out that some could have explanations.



This just seems to odd to me - it's worth pointing out that random members of Opus Dei are just as capable of having silly ideas as the rest of us. I've heard some other ones that weren't real brilliant, and then heard someone in Opus Dei who was near by enter the conversation on the other side. They aren't monolithic- contrary to the myth. Their intellectual formation and education can be quite random, and is not necessarily the same as other members of Opus Dei - the standard intellectual formation, while deep for the average Catholic, is not a seminary degree.



Spiritual reading is one of their norms - hence a director would have a great deal of influence over it - much like penances in a religious order. As for not being able to be friends with Orthodox - that runs contrary to my experience - but if for some reason a spiritual director thought the friendship was detrimental to the person's faith (i.e. If you had lots of discussions about theology and the Opus Dei members were beginning to question Catholicism) then the instruction could, potentially, be reasonable. There is a point at which any decent spiritual director (Catholic, Orthodox, Protestant, whatever) would suggest this. One would hope that education in their faith would be the first approach (and only approach needed), but . . .



I imagine the food and sleep varies depending on the exact person who is running the retreat, but I've been on ~5 Opus Dei retreats, and got more sleep than I usually do (i.e. I got ~8 hours on the retreat), and there was more than enough food (actually way too much in general - I gained a few pounds on every retreat I went on). Every center is run more or less independently - there is very little central structure or organization. Often people inside the same center don't know what each other are doing, because of the lack of central organization, and they are too busy to keep track of it themselves. Hence, a retreat in LA can be very different from a retreat in PBGH or Chicago when it comes to details such as food and lodging.

Regardless Asianpilgrim's points about uniqueness and Roman-ness are worth noting. In my experience their interpretation and implementation are usually the broader sort that they should be - but I know of exceptions. I can't speak to what is typical - my experience is limited to the Ohio/Western Pennsylvania region.

Justin

I think Eastern Catholics interested in keeping their heritage can forget about a vocation to Opus Dei, for the simple reason that Opus Dei is not merely an organization, but a "Personal Prelature" belonging to the Roman Rite, with its own bishop and clergy.

Trying to live the Eastern Catholic life in Opus Dei is like asking a Latin-Rite diocese to establish a Byzantine-Rite parish.

Opus Dei was a reaction to the Spanish revolution, clericalism and other 20th century modern anti-clerical western catholic problems in the Church.

My own perspective is that Opus Dei is an untraditional idea pretending to be tradition.
A monastery without a role. A peculiar reaction and fusion of socialism with catholicism, a variation of the Catholic Worker.

If one goes back to the roots of the Church, the roots which Eastern Catholic Churches have held to strongly. Christianity existed with many ideas better than Opus Dei for 1900 years.

So the best I can say about Opus Dei is it generally helps people attain salvation, publishes excellent Catholic school religious education books and fights radical heresies. However all these things have been done before Opus Dei existed and shall continue to occur once it is gone. Yes, I do not think it will last.

I agree that an Eastern Catholic would find keep their heritage significantly more challenging (as compared to other Eastern Catholics) as a member of Opus Dei.

I don't think it would be any harder because it is a personal prelature. The truth is that any Roman Rite organization with strict prayer norms would be just as difficult, if not more. In some ways the personal prelature status makes things easier - because a personal prelature recognizes that the member still has a Bishop (who is almost certainly not in the prelature), and that Bishop will have their proper say in the member's life. So an Eastern Catholic in Opus Dei would still have the same sort of relationship with their Bishop as everyone else in the Eparchy - thus they would keep their Eastern calendar, with it's holy days, fasts, etc. In addition to those things to which they would be obliged as a member of their Eparchy, they would also have to follow the norms of Opus Dei. Things could be much more convoluted for an Eastern Catholic who was, say, a member of a roman organization that keeps it's own calendar (which places obligations on it's members based on that calendar - obligations that could conflict). I'm pretty sure there are not any hard conflicts between being an Eastern Catholic and being in Opus Dei, this the questions I think about are:

1) Would the Eastern Catholic have adequate time for non-obligatory Eastern practices (and the answer is probably: no, they would not have enough time).

2) Would they find the practices of Opus Dei at times pulling them in a direction different from the direction being emphasized by their Eastern heritage. (and here, the answer is probably: yes, they would at times have a sort of schizophrenic spiritual life)



Oddly, I know of at least one example of a Latin-Rite bishop (in conjunction with the appropriate Eastern Bishop) trying to get a Byzantine-Rite parish going. I can't say the initiative has been wildly successful, and I agree it is odd, different, and seemingly paradoxical at a glance, but --- much like my Syro-Malabar acquaintance who is a supernumerary in Opus Dei --- sometimes different, strange, paradoxical things happen, and sometimes the Church as a whole, and the individuals involved are the better for it.

Justin