Like any family, like the Church, it has sinners and jerks

By mmw in National Catholic Register

I love “the Work” and yes, that what it is often called on the “inside”. It is all about getting closer to God, hands down. Do people have bad experiences? Yes, sure, I did even back in college when I was stalked by a numerary. But you know what? I called my mom, who was in Opus Dei, and said this was out of control, and she called someone and next thing I know someone I knew as a child came to visit me at college and wanted to know what was happening. Long story short, the poor woman who was indeed stalking was moved out of college apostolate and the new woman who started visiting my University became the backbone of a thriving group that brought many people closer to God.

Opus Dei is like any family, it is like the Church, it has sinners and jerks and really holy people and a bunch of people who are trying really hard to do the right thing. They follow what the Church teaches, which is why I think some people who tend to affiliate with the “I’m more catholic than the pope” idea don’t like OD. I remember once being on retreat and the priest made an announcement before mass that the kneelers (customarily used for receiving) were not to be used because the Bishop has just declared that the norm for receiving communion was to be standing, so that’s what we were going to do. End of story, bishop is in charge.

Opus Dei also takes a lot of things seriously- liturgy, Humanae Vitae, the church’s teaching on homosexuality, that tends to alienate more left leaning Catholics. All in all, I love my vocation in Opus Dei and it helps me turn my normal life into a prayer and occasion of loving and serving God. That, and I am a lazy you know what who needs to be kicked in the pants regularly. No, nobody kicks me, but the constant stream of formation is very helpful to me to remember where I am and where I need to be.

One last misconception I wanted to talk about. Opus Dei talks about apostolate of friendship so that you are inviting people you know to activities that you benefit from on a one on one basis, that’s why they don’t do bulletin announcements generally and blanket invites to things other than big talks or masses.

Oh and about the “OD” group that was not an OD group- please don’t assume that people were trying to take over your life and recruit you for Opus Dei. We are encourage to spread doctrine. I know that once I started a Catechism reading group at my child’s school with another Super Numerary but “Opus Dei” per se was not involved in any way except in me asking my spiritual director, “hey do you think I have time for that?” It was my baby, not Opus Dei’s. I was inspired by what I had learned in Opus Dei formation to learn more doctrine. That was it!! That’s my two cents!

Read more: http://www.ncregister.com/blog/simcha-fisher/opus-dei-the-good-the-bad-and-the-albino#ixzz2efAbqLpO