The Birthday Of "Alternative" Feminism?

London Times ^ | February 14, 2010 | Anne-Marie Walker

[Steelfish]

February 14, 2010 The Birthday Of "Alternative" Feminism? Anne-Marie Walker

St Valentine’s Day is an important day for most people but this year it is especially important. Why? Is it going to be particularly chocolate-filled? Will there be a mountain of roses? No. It will be the 80th anniversary of the start of the women’s section in Opus Dei and as a woman in Opus Dei that’s really important to me.

Opus Dei began life on 2 October 1928 when a young Fr Josemaría Escriva caught the tiniest glimpse of God’s plan for him within the Catholic Church. At that time, he believed that it would only be for men. However, two years later, while celebrating Mass on 14 February 1930, he realised that women were very much part of Opus Dei.

Sixty-two years later, in January 1992, I joined those women of Opus Dei. At the time I was an undergraduate studying English and Publishing from a Marxist and Feminist perspective. Feminism, as far as I could make out, was defined as women imitating men in the worst possible ways. Needless to say I was not impressed so I was fascinated to discover the Catholic Church’s teaching on an alternative Feminism.

“A woman has to develop her own personality and not let herself be carried away by a naive desire to imitate, which, as a rule, would tend to put her in an inferior position and leave her unique qualities unfulfilled,” said St Josemaría Escriva back in the late 1960s. John Paul II’s 1988 Apostolic Letter, Mulieris Dignitatem, announced that women’s “unique qualities” had a crucial role in saving humanity. He demonstrated women’s dignity and vocation in the Church through our role model, Mary, the Mother of God and the other women in the Gospel.

[steadfastconservative]

I’m not sure why any Catholic would want to get mixed up with Opus Dei, which can only be described as a secretive, cult-like group. Of course, “supernumeraries,” like Ms. Walker don’t have the full Opus Dei experience that “numeraries” do. That is, supernumeraries live out in the world and have some semblance of normal lives while “numeraries,” from whose ranks Opus Dei priests are drawn, give up everything to this group—their possessions, their freedom, their ties to their families.

My son became involved with Opus Dei when he was a freshman in college and from the moment that he did, the “director” of the Opus Dei “center” near campus, did everything he could to persuade my son that he had a vocation to be a numerary. As soon as a male college student expresses any interest in Opus Dei, the local center pushes the young man into this vocation and does not allow him to really reflect on whether or not he has a vocation. Indeed, the Opus Dei priests and numeraries told my son that he had a vocation, that this was God’s will for him, shortly after he became involved with the group.

Moreover, Opus Dei quickly worked to separate my son from his family by scheduling Opus Dei-sponsored activities during his school breaks so that he could not come home. He was also discouraged from talking to us about anything substantial about Opus Dei. They also told him that he was not supposed to receive any sort of spiritual direction from his parish priest back home or from any priest who did not belong to Opus Dei.

After a couple of months with this group, my son’s behavior and outlook had completed changed. All he talked about was Opus Dei, the “center” near campus, and his vocation as a numerary, which, after a few months with this group was all but certain.

To make a long story short, he went to an Opus Dei center in Boston the summer after his freshman year (which he had to pay for). When he returned from this trip, which ended just before his sophomore year was to begin, he expressed some doubt about whether or not he had a vocation to be a numerary—he did not think he would be happy in that vocation—but his advisors at Opus Dei had insisted that this was God’s will for him and that he would not be able to go to heaven if he did not follow through with this. Needless to say, we were alarmed by this. It seemed as though Opus Dei had brainwashed him.

My son ended up leaving Opus Dei that autumn. He was quite angry at this group for quite some time. They actually tried to push him into a vocation that he did not have while telling him that he was not supposed to seek any guidance on this matter from anyone outside of Opus Dei, including his family. He is now in the seminary, studying to be a priest. He does have a vocation, after all, but thank heaven it is not to Opus Dei.

I have no objection to someone joining a religious order. But Opus Dei denies that it is a religious order even as it requires numeraries to live as religious. Moreover, I can’t think of any religious order that pushes anyone into joining, the way that Opus Dei does. Or that isolates them from their families the way that Opus Dei does. This is one strange group. I wouldn’t advise anyone to become involved with it.