ฝัง
- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 4 ต.ค. 2024
- Former Opus Dei member tries to explain the many contradictions and paradoxes found in Opus Dei.
BEST RESOURCES TO LEARN MORE ABOUT OPUS DEI:
Best Websites
Odan.org (Opus Dei Awareness Network)
Best English language website about Opus Dei.
Opuslibros.org
Most comprehensive source for accurate information about Opus Dei. Includes many testimonies from former members. The “Correspondence,” “Your Writings,” and “Vocation Trap” sections are the most useful. It is a Spanish language website. However, by right-clicking and choosing “Translate to English,” Google provides a decent although imperfect translation.
Best Books
Beyond the Threshold: A Life in Opus Dei , by Maria del Carmen Tapia.
The book Opus Dei hates more than any other. Ms. Tapia simply recounts her experiences of Opus Dei and Josemaria Escriva. The problem with this book, for Opus Dei, is that Ms. Tapia paints a picture of Josemaria Escriva which is very much at odds with the false hagiographies it pushes. And her writing is eminently believable. This book may be out of print, but used copies are generally available on Amazon.
Saints & Schemers: Opus Dei and Its Paradoxes , Joan Estruch.
1994 Oxford University Press book that traces the many contradictions in Opus Dei’s telling of its early history. Out of print, but available used on Amazon.
Opus Dei as Divine Revelation: Analysis of Its Theology and Its Consequences in Its History and People , E.B.E.
Former South American member of Opus Dei provides an accurate understanding of how Opus Dei sees itself. This book may be of interest principally to former members of Opus Dei. For anyone looking for a deep dive.
NOT RECOMMENDED
Opus Dei: An Objective Look Behind the Myths and Reality of the Most Controversial Force in the Catholic Church , John Allen, Jr.
John Allen is an excellent journalist. Unfortunately, he widely missed the mark in this book. Kudos to the Opus Dei PR team for dodging a bullet!
Anything approved of or promoted by Opus Dei or its members
These works are pure hagiographies and do not even mention (let alone explain or contextualize) Josemaria Escriva’s many and serious defects. The histories of Opus Dei written by Opus Dei members or sympathizers omit so many important details that they can only be described as materially false.
Thank you for your insight. I was a supernumeray for more than 40 years. A few times I wanted to quit. Finally in 2020 The Lord made me quit completely from the Catholic Church. I am glad and happy with my relationship with God and Jesus and the Holy Spirit.
You possibly could add Mother Theresa to your pantheon of shams . As a young doctor I was nearly canvassed by a fellow doctor Numinary to join OD . He lived with them , an odd but very determined character . Luckily for me I desisted .
Your videos, I'm sure, have helped a lot of people. Your efforts have not been in vain.
🙏🙏🙏🌟🌟🌟Thank you for this. Narcissists are hopeless at deep connection, but excel at fame.
Thank you. We briefly overlapped in law school. I got out two years ago. I appreciated you then and I still do now.
Thank You for this.. I waste my life in Opus Dei, now I dont know who I am and where to go, and where to look for help.. Could you pray for me guys?
Yes.
Also, if you join the Opus Dei Exposed subreddit on Reddit, you will find a lot of former members who support each other and help each other process their experiences.
@@nopusdei Thank You, I am already there :)
St. Alphonsus Liguori said that a little scrupulosity may help beginners but that's the best that can be said for it. Making a lifestyle, let alone a cult, out of it is not of God. Making a lifestyle or a cult out of any small part of Christianity is heresy defined.
So all nuns and monks or lay religious people are part of cults? They make their lifestyle out of Christianity. What are you saying?
Thank you for your fine job, my friend.
Your bold videos have a fresh approach. I hope they remain as a reference for others to see. Specially those who are still stuck inside.
So important. Just binged all your videos and finishing with this one. Having been deep in the Church, working for her and in vocations, this was all very confusing to witness and read about when it was happening -especially a couple decades ago before there was anything on the internet and I was trying to discern my own! I really can't thank you enough.
EVERY single one of your videos is spot on. There needs to be a wider audience to see these. You've done important work. Is there a way to contact you?
Peter, Thanks for your kind words! You can reach me at [email address redacted]. I will say that I'm not terribly interested in promoting these videos or my ideas on Opus Dei. I'm mainly hoping that TH-cam's algorithm and the Holy Spirit get these videos to those who could benefit from them.
Thank you for the edification and may God bless you
The Legion of Mary (Frank Duff, Edel Quinn, St. LM de Montfort) and a trip to Lourdes miraculously got me out of Opus Dei. I would not be here today. Thank you for being the voice of reason. May God bless you.
I almost got suckered into Opus Dei 16 years ago. God woke me up to Opus Dei and its cult
I think that what you say about Josemaria Escriva is probably right. Thank you for making this series. I wish you all the best of the future. I think that were right to get this out of your system and then stop.
I shared so many of the feelings you've expressed in this video, it's like listening to someone read my 15-yo mind as I listened to anecdote after anecdote that was supposed to be edifying but made this guy sound really scary to me. I chalked it up to cultural differences, because I'm American and Spain is very different, and I thought it must just be me. And frankly, I was too young and naive to question it, which, as you pointed out, is why they started recruiting me at 14.
These days, I feel I am hanging on to Catholicism by my fingernails. And one major reason for that is the canonization of Josemaria Escriva. Now that he has been canonized, I fear the Church will never stand up and say they were deceived or they made a mistake. I fear that, as with the abuse scandal in the US and around the world, they would rather just gloss it over and cover it up than admit that they were wrong, especially in a matter where they are meant to be infallible. This would call into question the infallibility of the canonization process, and it would open up other canonizations to the same scrutiny. And so Opus Dei will continue to get away with its abuses, mostly with impunity, because, "Our founder is a saint, so everything he said is good/true/holy, and he said to do things this way, so that's how we will continue to do them." I certainly hope I'm wrong, but I just don't see the Church ever retracting his canonization.
I left after being confronted by too many failings in the Church. I wish I hadn't. The Church is NOT perfect but it is far, far, far better than the world. 'Infallibility' has only been invoked TWICE by the pope, fyi: The Immaculate Conception and the the Assumption of Mary. Stay close to Jesus. Ask him to grant you pardon and peace. Talk to Him and ask him to help you understand in due time. Keep the faith! I'm concerned that Escriva was canonized, too, but I don't worship him I worship God and I trust it will be clear in time if I need to know.
Yes, yes, and yes
These are good videos. Thanks for making them! Sorry you had to learn about Opus Dei the hard way.
My parents being devout Opus Dei members ruined my entire childhood.
Thanks. exactly.
Fr gregory Hesse said the same about opus Dei
Source? I'd like to listen to him
What's the title of the book written by the Carmelite on the universal call to holiness?
The book I reference is titled "Union with God According to St. John of the Cross" by Fr. Gabriel of St. Mary Magdelen. It is not a book on the universal call to holiness in Carmelite spirituality per se, but the introduction mentions that St. John of the Cross taught that his doctrines applied both to religious and laypeople. St. Theresa of Avila had similar ideas and did not think that the heights of mystical union were reserved for religious but could also be achieved by laypeople in the middle of the world.
@@davidgilbert9606 Thank you. Nonetheless, St Teresa of Avila and St John of the Cross were firm believers in the "state of perfection"; the monastic contemplative life being the highest possible ideal and the lay state something for people who are less spiritually developed.
It is indeed striking that when St. Josemaria went to Rome to present the Work he was told he had arrived 60 years early. St. Josemaria was without a doubt the main proponent of the universal call to holiness before it was fully embraced by Vatican 2. I firmly believe he was a prophet.
I am thinking of joining the Work but I am watching your videos to have all the possible info, and I appreciate your testimony.
Right on the mark. The superficiality of his saintly behavior. And the show that the Work puts on to perpetuate this image. BTW, there's another contemporary character who was already being canonized in life by her devotees: EWTN's Mother Angelica.
@nopusdei I recently watched Harrison Butker's controversial speech and it was pointed out that he referenced "Saint" Josemaria Escriva twice by a commenter. He uses Opus Dei lingo as well.
I noticed Butker has also spoken in several interviews that he aspires to Sainthood. (he has referred to his backlash as persecution & relates it to martyrdom 🙄) It seems he is working on the requirements. Additionally he is close to Josh Hawley whom he has named as his mentor. The speech was more of a right wing political rant. Hawley has publicly commended Butker on numerous occasions. In a response to backlash from a prior commencement speech, Butker stated "all publicity is good publicity." He claims God has called him to speak out, and gave him his NFL platform to reach more people with his hard truths. (he claims to be an introvert and is succumbing to God's will, over his own) He seems to be building a platform to shift into a political career? Curious if you watched the speech, and picked up on what appears to be an alignment with Opus Dei agendas?
You tell so many lies and you make up so many stories...
What, specifically, do you think is a lie or a made-up story?
@@nopusdei Many things, specially what you said about St. Josemaria's stance on Vatican II, Pope John XXIII and Pope Paul VI.
I would also like to have a source for what you said about Marcial Marciel's supposed "veneration" for St. Josemaria.
@@goncalobastos3808Everything he said is true, Everything Everything and more is the pity he hasn't told more truths. Wake up.
I think Maria del Carmen Tapia's book contains all of those items. Maybe I read some of them on Opus Libros. Opus Dei is not what it appears to be. I dare you to read Maria del Carmen Tapia's book and dig around on Opus Libros. Don't fear the truth. But it is pretty ugly.