Opus Dei lowering the bar on its "whipping boy of Liberals" image

[UTUSN]

*******QUOTE*******

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20060212/en_nm/leisure_davinci_opusdei_dc

Opus Dei tackles "Da Vinci Code" image problem



.... But as the whipping boy of church liberals for years and with estranged members telling of coercive recruitment tactics and corporal mortification, Opus Dei has been controversial. Now, because of "The Da Vinci Code," it has to do even more to overcome the unblessed image portrayed by the book. ....

Passersby who approach the organization's 17-story building in Manhattan are invited to reach for a leaflet to learn about the real Opus Dei, which means "God's work."

Finnerty's job these days is to promote the group and give reporters tours of the building, a $69 million corner edifice in midtown Manhattan housing a luxurious conference center on five floors as well as accommodations and offices for around 65 members.

COUNTRY-HOUSE STYLE ....

The late Pope John Paul II was an admirer of Opus Dei, but Allen said its influence was not as strong as some think.

Allen said just two of the 115 cardinals who elected
Pope Benedict were Opus Dei, and the group claimed only around 40 of the world's 4,500 bishops as members.

"They simply don't have the stranglehold on power that people imagine," Allen said, adding that Opus Dei's wealth was also exaggerated by critics. Worldwide assets were around $2.8 billion, he said, with U.S. assets of $350 million -- around the same as a mid-sized diocese. ....

********UNQUOTE*******

[AX10]

1. To say that Opus Dei is a "cult" is an insult to cults.

[MADem]

2. A mid-sized diocese? What a load of horseshit!!!!

How many mid-sized dioceses own assets that include a seventeen story building in Manhattan?? Who do they think they they are kidding???

The most telling paragraphs in that puff piece:

Dan Brown didn't make up the idea of Opus Dei as the boogeyman of the Catholic Church," Allen told Reuters in a phone interview from Rome, where he reports on the Vatican.

"Critics would often say Opus Dei is a very conservative version of Catholicism. Some would say it is a very worldly version of Catholicism focused on wealth and power," he said.
....

Follow the money, indeed!

[Beelzebud]

3. You know why the Da Vinci Code bothers them so much?

The truth hurts!

[UTUSN]

4. You nailed it. How Xtian of them to worship "wealth and power" n/t

[Cleita]

8. The Church and the Vatican have worshipped wealth and power

from the Middle Ages. The Princes kept the Church in power as long as they kept the peasants in line with promises of a better afterlife and fear of Hell.

[mitchum]

9. They are the original CORRUPT multinational corporation

[mitchum]

5. "...only $2.8 billion"???!!!

What kind of fantasy world do these boyfuckers live in?
Oh...that's right...

[Missy M]

6. Many schools and churches in the diocese around here.....

are closing down. I am sure they could stay open if they had assets of $350 million. It is another SECRET organization looking to run the world. I despise secret organizations. What do they have to hide?

[Cleita]

7. Mortification, as that type of physical penance is called

within the Church, is nothing new with Catholic religious and clergy and many practice it daily. So it seems that a society like the Opus Dei would incorporate it as part of their system.

I don't think they have the influence within the church as many think they do either. However, when you look at their lay membership, like Bob Novak and Mel Gibson for instance, it make one wonder exactly what influence they do have considering those two public personalities.

Even if you love to hate Novakula for what he stands for, he's a widely read and seen on TV journalist. Mel Gibson is a movie maker, and notably his controversial, The Passion, reached audiences all over the world.