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and hard that he would leave splashes of blood all over the floor. However, Escrivá never
required anyone to imitate him. According to Allen, Escrivá taught that no one in the
movement should do anything that compromises his or her health. These seemingly
barbaric rituals are to be done in private and endured silently. Opus numeraries also
practice mortification by sleeping on thin boards that cover the mattress. Men will sleep on
the floor once a week. Members practice small corporeal mortification at meals by skipping
sugar, extra butter, or dessert. Members fast on prescribed days and on their own. But
Allen notes that the time he spent with Opus Dei members over a year of research proved
that members are ―not especially fastidious about denying themselves food and drink.‖
Members might have an assigned spiritual director who acts as a guide and confessor of
sorts. Ritual prayer several times a day keeps each member aligned with his or her purpose
and cause, which is to represent Christ‘s message in everything. In general, Opus members
are very dedicated to family, job, church, and the mission. Members tend to follow
conservative values that align with Catholic principles. For this reason, critics see the group
as a throwback to a pre-Vatican II era.
Some ex-members describe Opus Dei as another harmful cult that uses deceptive recruiting
and brainwashing. But is it harmful? And if it is harmful, how could a pope as astute and
worldly wise as John Paul II support an extremist organization that could damage the
Church that he so served and loved?
John Allen wrote Opus Dei both to examine these criticisms and to expose Opus Dei to the
light of journalism. This means that he traveled far and wide to Opus centers around the
world, interviewed both members and ex-members and apologists and critics alike, and
read about the group till he thought he could not take it anymore. What he left out of his
book would fill many volumes, I‘m sure. What he put in should go a long way to explain
many facets of the Escrivá movement in Catholicism. Allen summarizes the history and
structure of the group and its leader in Section One. In Section Two, he covers the group
from the inside and describes its purpose as members generally see it. The title of chapter 4
is telling: ―Contemplatives in the Middle of the World.‖ In Section Three, Allen addresses the
criticisms about the group‘s attitude toward secrecy, mortification, women, money, politics
and the Church.
Allen addresses ―blind obedience‖ among members, and the cult label. In chapter 13, he
relates an interview with cult expert David Clark, who exit-counseled a female member who
later founded Opus Dei Awareness Network (ODAN). ODAN has Internet presence and
functions as a forum for former members. In his last section, Section Four, Allen gives a fine
―summary evaluation,‖ with some advice for Opus Dei as it moves into the future.
I must admit, having come from a career in the ―cult awareness‖ field, that I hold a bias
toward Opus Dei as a kind of Catholic cult with harmful elements. I am also a Catholic. My
early sources of information about Opus were not only ex-members‘ stories, but also several
books published before 1990, including The Secret World of Opus Dei by Michael Walsh.
Allen‘s book has given me a better understanding of this movement, and I am thankful for
his hard work that lays out all the Opus Dei laundry, both clean and soiled. The author
brought me more in touch with the average member who appears to suffer no undue harm.
Allen reports that members and leaders were more secretive prior to 1990, but this secrecy
may have been a flaw that is slowly being corrected. By following a principle of humility to
work silently in the world without bringing attention to oneself, the member is actually
following a commandment of Christ.
On the flip side, outsiders noted the lack of transparency in a group that, for its relatively
small size (less than 90,000 among a billion Catholics worldwide), has considerable
influence. Allen reports that Opus attracts people of financial means who have sophisticated
fundraising ability. Some critics believe that Opus Dei has too much influence over the

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Vatican, and that it may be the driving force behind the conservative backlash to liberalizing
elements inadvertently released by Vatican II. (In fact, only 0.9 percent of those who are
Catholic bishops are Opus members). Allen looks squarely into the problem of transparency
as one of the flaws in the group, which even the group acknowledges has led to
considerable misunderstanding. The secrecy lends itself to extreme misrepresentation in
The Da Vinci Code, for example, because there is no accessible popular information to
contradict it!
Allen substantiates charges of deceptive recruiting, pointing out that some members would
invite friends to Opus Dei activities without mentioning that the group was behind the
activities. Another tendency was to not reveal the high demands initially to new recruits. A
third tactic was to ―provoke a crisis of vocation‖ when a recruiter believed that someone was
ready for it. But Allen notes that not all Opus Dei members among the hundreds he
interviewed behaved this way, nor were they all politically conservative. In fact, Allen
discovered that the deceptive tactics are not a policy from the top, but the result of
overzealous members. Most members, he found, do fall into the conservative camp,
however. In principle, each member votes according to individual conscience—Opus Dei
member groups in South America, for example, have entirely different political and social
climates than those in the United States or Spain. Another myth that Allen exposes is that
Opus Dei works in high places and does no charitable work. Opus members have in fact set
up schools and medical charities for the poor in third-world countries. These members are
actually following the spirit of the founder, who expected every member to act in the world
as Christ would.
If I have a criticism of Allen‘s book, it regards factors that may be beyond his scope. From
his book, we learn that new movements, like saints, are flawed entities and often rub
contemporaries the wrong way. Allen tells us about Josemaria Escrivá‘s flaws, even if his
devotees shrink from recognizing anything beyond the legend of his holiness. But Escrivá
and his more dedicated devotees envision more than just another movement equal to
hundreds of others spawned within Catholicism. Their purpose is to infiltrate all aspects of
society with God‘s grace through ―the Work.‖ The path emphasizes work on oneself through
mortification, as if this will bring more of God‘s grace into being.
Allen quotes Escrivá from his writings in The Way (227): ―If you realize that your body is
your enemy, and an enemy of God‘s glory since it is an enemy of your sanctification, why
do you treat it so softly?‖ In The Forge, by Escrivá, he states: ―What has been lost through
the flesh, the flesh should pay back: be generous in your penance.‖ Although members will
dispute it, in this latter regard, Opus Dei falls into the radical dualism of the Gnostic cults
that denigrate the corporeal self in favor of a spiritualized self. In addition, Gnosticism as
one of the early Gospel heresies, like much of occultism in general, emphasizes a magical
union with the divine through ritual prayer and mortification. Simply put, God gives you
more grace if you pray more or fast more. The Gospel and especially the writings attributed
to St. Paul do not support this nonsensical approach to God. In effect, such cults tend to
separate members from a reasonable approach to faith, and to cut off one‘s reason in
matters of faith is always dangerous.
Allen does not offer a neat answer to the question of how harmful Opus Dei is. His research
indicates that some ex-members have legitimate complaints, but, like any new organization,
Opus Dei has made adjustments and decreased what appears as secrecy during the past
two decades. Using his analogy that Opus is like strong beer, one can understand how the
group members might lose the more sober approach to religion common to Catholics. His
book corrects misperceptions about conspiratorial power, and it places the mortification
rituals in context. Unless Allen missed something, I got the impression that I suffered more
mortification playing high-school football for four seasons than an Opus Dei member will in
a lifetime of religious practice!