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Friday, May 19, 2006
151 Opus Dei called 'complete opposite' of 'The da Vinci Code' portrayal By JERRY FILTEAU CATHOLIC NEWS SERVICE WASHINGTON JL- The impression of Opus Dei conveyed in Dan Brown's novel, "The Da Vinci Code," is "tIj'e complete opposite of what Opus Dei is about," said Brian Finnerty, U.S. spokesman for the international Catholic organizatio~. The book portrays Opus Dei as a secretive cuW within the Church plotting to t~ke over the Church and willing ,to kill those who stand in its way. One of the main characters in the book is a murderous albino Opus Dei monk named Silas. In fact Opus Dei,headed by a bishop, is a personal'prelature part of the hierarchical structure of the Church - and it has no monks. ' With the vast putllic attention given to the book over the past three years, and with the movie coming out, Opus Dei is using the occasion "to get!lthe word out about who we really are," Finnerty told Catholic News Service in a phone inteo/iew. He said one of the things the organization has done is provid~ a brief description of the reallOpus Dei for a new Website funded by the Catholic Communication Campaign, www.jesusd~coded.com. "Opus Dei" is Latin for "God's work," and~imembers often refer to it sitpply as "the Work." And what is the Work really about? "Coming closer to God and finding God in eyeryday life," Finnerty said. WHile the novel portrays it as being in opposition to the world, "Opus Dei is about seeing the world as a place of encounter with ChriSt," he said. Founded in Spain in 1928, Opus Dei now has more than 87,000 members it} more than 60 countries, including 3,000 in the United States, according to Finnerty. Members seek "to make their faith infuse all aspects of life, including their jobs;' Members are expected to attend daily Mass and to pray the rosary and engage in mental prayer, ,spiritual reading and meditation every day. About 70 percent of Opus Dei members are supernumeraries, those who are married or who plan to marry, I~ccording to Finnerty. The rest~ he said, commit themselves to lives of celibacy. Of those "lembers, about two-thirds live in Opus Dei centers and are call~d numeraries; the other third, called associates, live in their own homes. More than half the members around the world are women. Russell Shaw, i'a Washingtonbased Catholic journalist and former media spokesman for the National (now U.'S.) Conference of Catholic Bishops, told CNS he joined Opus Dei, in 1980 and it has helped him d~velop "a richer, II
"THE LAST SUPPER" emerged from centuries of dirt, decay and retouchings when the Leonardo da Vinci masterpiece went back on display in Milan, Italy, in 1999 after a 22-year restoration. (eNS photo from Reuters)
'Da Vinci Code' lies could deliver more interest in faith, speaker says By ANA RODRIGUEZ-SOTO
Abraham really existed or the Exodus actually took place, said Rabbi Herbert Baumgard, rabbi CORAL GABLES, Fla. - Inemeritus of Temple Beth Am in stead of fearing or trashing "The Pinecrest. Da Vinci Code," people of faith "It is out there and it's all over should view it as a much-needed the place. The whole thing is bevaccine against ignorance, acing questioned and has to be concording to Thomas Ryan, chairsidered," said Rabbi Baumgard, man of the religious studies dewho has read the novel. partment at St. Thomas UniverThe Rev. Priscilla sity in Miami. Felisky Whitehead, associ"It is a novel that holds ate minister at the Church a mirror up to us - to silly "When there's something in the by the Sea in Bal Harbour, academics and people who misuse facts," Ryan told a popular culture going on, it's a great also read it, and described group of Protestant, opportunity to agree with it, disagree it as "fiction robed in ageold rumors." Her church is Catholic and Jewish leadwith it or talk about it," said Rabbi affiliated with the United ers gathered in late March for the monthly clergy dia- Edwin Goldberg, who hosted the Church of Christ. Members of her congrelogue sponsored by the clergy meeting at Temple Judea in National Conference for Coral Gables. "One thousand years gation have asked her Community and Justice. from no~ God willing, there will be questions about what is He said talking about people talking about the Bible. No true and what is false in "The Da Vinci Code," she the popular book - and upcoming movie - should one will be talking about Dan said. The problem is they do not want to take the "strengthen our congrega- Brown." time to do the research. tions to be able to deal with "They want me (to dig it what's out there" in tenils of religious ignorance and mis"I think the author puts in all out) for them." Like Ryan, however, she is conceptions. those mistakes to alert us" to the ''This is a vaccine," said Ryan, fact that it is a work of fiction, grateful to Brown for one thing: whose area of specialization is Ryan said. "It's a story of people "It's no longer inappropriate to medieval Church history. "This who use false evidence to sup- talk about Jesus at a cocktail articulates the silliness that's out port their claims. And don't we party." "When there's something in there. We could use it as a way meet those people every day? I of inoculating ourselves." think it's a story of humanity. I the popular culture going on, it's Ryan, who only recently read think Dan Brown is kind of a great opportunity to agree with the novel, said his personal reac- laughing at us. It mocks our gull- it, disagree with it or talk about it," said Rabbi Edwin Goldberg, tion to it was: "Thank you, Dan ibility." Brown.... I am grateful to (the Participants at the clergy who hosted the clergy meeting at novel) for driving me to learn meeting noted that the novel Temple Judea in Coral Gables. more about my faith. It raises might not have been as popular, "One thousand years from now, questions that I need to go and or raised such a polemic, in a less God willing, there will be people see. I'm a smarter person as a secular age. Many people today talking about the Bible. No one result of it." are seeking spiritual answers out- will be talking about Dan He described the novel as "a side mainstream religions, and Brown." Background information on brilliant moneymaker" with all the Catholic Church is not the the right ingredients: a murder, only one dealing with miscon- what is truth and what is fica mystery and a conspiracy. As ceptions and revisionist theories tion in "The Da Vinci Code" one character in the book ac- about the foundations of the is available on the Website www.jesusdecoded.com. sponknowledges, "Everyone loves a faith. conspiracy." Even more so, Some in Judaism, for ex- sored by the U.S. bishops' CathoRyan said, when "it incenses ample, are questioning whether lic Communication Campaign. CATHOLIC NEWS SERVICE
the faithful." Brown "wants us to think that this is nonfiction. And a lot of people have fallen for the bait," Ryan said. But "it's not nonfiction." He said that "on practically every page there is falsehood" and "outrageous claims that are completely unfactual."
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deeper, more meaningful relationship with God." He said that even when he first became aware of Opus Dei, perhaps 15 years or so before he joined, he was attracted to its concept of a lay vocation, of seeing one's work in the secular world as a form of service to God. As an Opus Dei member, "I try to do that, I try to cultivate that intention underlying the work that I do. But"it's difficult. It's not 100 percent (successful)," he said. Catherine Hickey of Larchmont, N.Y., called Opus Dei "a wonderful thing in my life." Now 71, she said she learned of Opus Dei in her late 30s when her oldest boy got involved in a club run by some of its members. "I was very impressed with the young people. I loved their joy and their spirit of giving," she said. As a busy mother of seven, she said Opus Dei's message that lay people could be "contemplatives in the midst of the world" was a new idea to her. She joined at the age of 39. For the past 15 years Hickey has worked at the Rosedale Center of the South Bronx Educational Foundation, begun by local Opus Dei members and others to improve the education of girls in the South Bronx, one of New York City's poorest areas. Staff and volunteers mentor and tutor the inner-city gradeschool and high-school girls oneon-one after school and teach classes on Saturdays and in special summer programs, she said. The foundation runs a similar program for boys nearby at the Crotona Center. Opus Dei's Midtown Educational Foundation in Chicago runs similar programs for disadvantaged boys and girls there. Father John Wauck, an American Opus Dei priest who teaches at Opus Dei's Pontifical University of the Holy Cross in Rome, has a personal Weblog, known as a blog, on Opus Dei and "The Da Vinci Code." He predicts the cilice and whip will be what moviegoers vividly remember about Opus Dei when they leave the theater. The cilice (pronounced SILis), which is a belt or chain with sharp points, and the whip are used by numeraries for bodily mortifications. The priest says Blessed Mother Teresa of Calcutta, founder of the Missionaries of Charity, also used the whip, known as "the discipline," but "everyone knows that's not what the Sisters of Charity are all about. And it's not what Opus Dei's about either." In contrast to the "heavy knotted rope" that the monk character named Silas uses in the book, Turn to page 18 - Opus Dei
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