And from Carl Olson
The most recent edition of TIME — which is apparently some sort of news magazine — features a dramatic cover with a big headline, "The Opus Dei Code", and an article claiming to tell "the real story" about "the secret Catholic society." Since I'm not a member of Opus Dei (nor am an albino monk, but that's another matter), I'll leave it to others to get into the details of the article. I simply wanted to note a couple of things that caught my attention in reading it. First, I got a good laugh out of this paragraph:
James Martin, an editor at the Jesuit publication America who has written critically about Opus, offers a middle ground between Dale Carnegie and the octopus: "Opus Dei provides members with an overarching spirituality for their life," he suggests. "It's an ongoing relationship that helps buttress and further shape the thought of people who are already conservative Catholics. That's a powerful symbiosis, and there's a personal connection between members, whether they're housewives or politicians. It's not an evil empire, but that doesn't mean there aren't serious issues that need to be addressed."
Hey, come to think of it, that last phrase could be applied to America magazine as well: "It's not an evil empire, but that doesn't mean there aren't serious issues that need to be addressed."
Second, the authors of the piece seem to be fixated on certain words. The word "secret/secretive" appears ten times. The word "conservative" appears eight times (the word "liberal" is used four times). And then there are statements like this:
Opus Dei is not a kind of spiritual pick-me-up for casual Catholics. It features a small, committed membership (85,500 worldwide and a mere 3,000 in the U.S.), many of whom come from pious families and are prepared to embrace unpopular church teachings such as its birth-control ban.
Unpopular among whom (other than TIME reporters, I mean)? The answer is given a bit later:
"I don't believe Opus Dei is either a [cult] or a mafia or a cabal," a senior prelate of another religious community in Rome told TIME. It is just that "their approach is preconciliar. They originated prior to the Second Vatican Council, and they don't want to dialogue with society as they find it." That would not describe the majority of self-identifying American Catholics, who are distinctly postconciliar, with more than 75% opposing the birth-control ban. Their sympathy for Opus Dei might be limited. Some might even feel hostile toward it: 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."
Oh, those good ol' "self-identifying American Catholics," who must identify themselves because in many cases you wouldn't know they were Catholic by how they talked and lived. As for "dialogue" with society, there is copious evidence that the "preconciliar" (what? the Church has had only one Council in its entire history? amazing!) Church had plenty of dialogue with society — but did so with the intent of proclaiming the Gospel and the Truth, not capitulating on matters of faith and morals, as some "American Catholics" have been doing for the past few decades. Come to think of it, a couple of recent popes have also pointed out that true dialogue does not equal indifferentism. Wonder if they knew/know anything about the Second Vatican Council? Well, if there's any question about that matter, I'm sure TIME magazine can set the record straight in a future issue.
Catholic Ping - Please freepmail me if you want on/off this list
Our Archbishop here in San Antonio, Jose Gomez, is a member of Opus Dei. He's conservative, he's traditional and he's exactly what the Archdiocese needed after two and a half decades of the wonderful (but liberal) Archbishop Patrick Flores.
Archbishop Gomez is reigning in out of control "pastoral assistants" and wayward music ministers. He's speaking to a large population of Catholics neglected by years of liberal leadership.
Is he a threat to Catholics? Only if you're a liberal nutcase. He's merely living and leading the traditional (and still current) precepts of our Church.
Here's one of his wonderful homilies:
To grow in love to Mary, our Blessed Mother
May is a special month for all Catholics. It is a good time to think of our relationship with Mary, a time to grow in our love for her as the Mother of Jesus and our Mother.
“The most important aspect of the figure of Mary is her intimate union with Jesus as mother. Jesus’ humanity is entirely from Mary. She gave her son her mother’s heart, surrounding him with love, care and respect. Mary brought Jesus up by her work, her motherly devotion and her commitment to protect him. She educated him with her life, which was poor and serene, industrious and simple, chaste and full of maternal love. She brought him up by her trust in the Father and her willingness to help the needy.” (cf. Jesus Christ, Word of God, p. 147)
They lived a normal life, including joys and sorrows, as a simple family in Nazareth. Mary not only educated her divine son, but was also educated by him in a mysterious way. As we can see, Mary lived her life totally for Jesus. It was her faith in and commitment to Jesus that gave her life meaning. It is in that complete dedication that Mary, our Mother, is a model to us. She takes care of our needs and she takes us to Jesus, her divine son.
Mary’s only desire is to do God’s will, even if it includes suffering and pain. She’s there at the wedding feast of Cana, following Jesus through the roads and alleys of Galilee and Judea, somehow at the Last Supper and at the foot of the Cross. Always doing God’s will; and now she is sharing his glory! As Pope Benedict XVI said in his first encyclical (Deus Caritas Est, 41), “Mary’s greatness consists in the fact that she wants to magnify God, not herself. She is lowly: her only desire is to be the handmaid of the Lord. She knows that she will only contri-bute to the salvation of the world if, rather than carrying out her own projects, she places herself completely at the disposal of God’s initiatives.”
We are also disciples of Jesus Christ, and we have an important mission in the church and in society which is also a way to give glory to God. In my recent pastoral letter, I wrote: ‘To grow in the knowledge and love of Jesus is to grow in knowledge of his teaching and way of life.’ As we do it, we should also feel compelled sharing the knowledge and love of Jesus with the people we encounter each day.
There are many ways to grow in the love to our Blessed Mother, but perhaps the most special way is by praying the most holy rosary — a most powerful weapon against evil.
The rosary is a beautiful prayer that we should never abandon or underestimate. It is not a kind of superstition, but a prayer that Our Lady has encouraged and that popes have prayed and encouraged others to pray for many centuries. “The rosary, as an exercise of Christian devotion, follows right after the Mass and the Breviary in importance; and for lay people, it follows in importance after participation in the sacraments.” (Pope John XXIII’s Apostolic Letter, On the Rosary)
The rosary, with its meditations on the faith, while a great prayer, is also a powerful teaching tool. The rosary is a true dialogue with Mary, our heavenly mother. In the rosary we speak to Mary and ask her intercession on our behalf before her son Jesus. In this way, we speak to God through Mary. It isn’t a question of repeating formulas so much as of speaking directly to another who, if you do not see with your physical eyes, can be seen with the eyes of faith.
We should resolve ourselves to praying the rosary frequently, daily if possible. We must make time to say to Our Lady the words she longs to hear. How can we say we love her if we do not find time to to say to her the things she wants to hear, that we know are pleasing to her?
If we really try to put ourselves into the 20 mysteries and contemplate the scene, we are practicing a rich, theological prayer in a relatively easy way. We are praying about the chief events in the history of salvation, from the conception of the Messiah up until the Resurrection and beyond to the Glorification of the Mother of God. This ensures that we not forget the life of Christ, for in the life of faith, forgetfulness can be fatal.
The month of May is a graced time to call to mind the mysteries of the Blessed Virgin Mary and to enter into them through our devout reliance on the mediation of the Mother of God. We devoutly recite the rosary in order to enter into contact with Mary, and to repeat the passion which makes Jesus familiar to us daily.
Let us pray to Mary so that through her intercession all nations may enjoy peace and love. And let us not forget to honor in a special way this Mother’s Day our mothers, both alive and deceased.