Opus Dei: An Investigation into the Powerful Secretive Society within the Catholic Church

Rating:
Summary: Don't Waste Your Time
Review: Walsh does bring out some facts in this book (which is why I gave it one star), but his presentation wreaks of third-rate trashy journalism -- by which I mean an emotional and unbalanced report of the truth. It's kind of like listening to political adversaries shooting their silly barbs at each other during an election time. This is unfortunate because Opus Dei is a very manipulative organization which, because of its immense wealth, influences an increasing number of Church authorities with a fundamentalist kind of conservatism. (Tony Hendra's new book, "Father Joe," [2004] has a great word for people like this: "cathoholics.") I think that if Walsh had written a more dispassionate book, it would have been more effective in making his point: namely, that for all their claim to being model Catholic clergy and lay persons, they use utterly un-Christian methods to achieve their ends within the structure of the Church. With this, I would agree.

Rating:
Summary: Biased Portrayal, Showing Jesuit-Opus Rivalry
Review: Walsh, a former Jesuit, bases many conclusions about Opus (admittedly) on the Prelate's constitution of 1950! He holds the Prelature hostage to practices based on thier rule of half a century ago. What if someone's only view of America's south was a snapshot of 1954? While it may be true that Escriva was slow to embrace the liturgical changes of the Second Vatican Council, so were thousands of clerics ordained before 1969.Opus influence in anti-Marxist dictatorships is frequently cited, yet there exists no apology for Jesuits holding state positions in Ortega's Sandanista Cabinet! He concludes that Opus is "less Christian" than those who practice Liberation Theology. Ironically, it was a member of Walsh's former Order that was a US Congressman with a Pro-Abortion voting record.