Opus Dei: An Objective Look Behind the Myths and Reality of the Most Controversial Force in the Catholic Church by John L. Allen

Author:John L. Allen [Allen, John L.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Opus Dei (Society), Proofs (Printing), Religion, Christianity, Catholic, History, Christian Theology, General
ISBN: 9780385514491
Google: mJkWAQAAMAAJ
Publisher: Doubleday
Published: 2005-05-15T04:00:00+00:00

Separation

One thing that strikes even casual observers of Opus Dei almost immediately is the strict separation between men and women in virtually every aspect of life. Male and female numeraries live in separate centers, and even when Opus Dei has a large building with multiple programs and offices, with quarters for both men and women, those facilities are completely separate, down to having separate entrances. This is the case at the American headquarters at Thirty-fourth and Lexington in Manhattan, for example, and at the Rome headquarters on Viale Bruno Buozzi. In Rome the facilities have separate names, Villa Tevere and Villa Sacchetti, though in reality these are simply two doors, one around the corner from the other, that lead into the same building. When Opus Dei offers retreats or evenings of recollection or get-togethers, men and women are always separated. Opus Dei–affiliated schools are not merely boys-only or girls-only, but only female instructors teach in girls’ schools, and only male instructors teach in boys’ schools (though the support staff is often mixed). As noted in chapter 1, Sarah Cassidy, an English numerary who sits on the Central Advisory Council, the top organ of government for the women’s branch, said that if they have a question to put to anyone on the men’s side, they would ordinarily do so in writing, not by means of a phone call or personal visit.

Father James Martin, the Jesuit who wrote the 1995 article on Opus Dei for America magazine, tells a story about how far the emphasis on separation goes: “I had a friend who worked on the information systems and the electrical stuff in the building at Thirty-fourth and Lexington,” Martin said. “The Opus Dei people told him. ‘We want separate phone systems, and we want separate computer systems, and we want separate everything.’ And he said, ‘Why would you want that?’ And they said, ‘We want to treat it like two separate buildings.’ And he said, ‘That doesn’t make any sense. You’re going to be talking to each other.’ They said that was okay. And he said, ‘It’ll cost you twice as much money.’ Their response? ‘No problem.’ ”

“What is that?” Martin asked rhetorically. “It’s either that women are dangerous, which is the worst of theology, or they’re a sort of lower status. It just totally baffles me. If you’re trying to be a lay organization, and ‘being a lay organization’ I assume means being in this contemporary culture, this separation just flies in the face of all that.”

Even Catholics who don’t necessarily share Martin’s perspective often find the separation puzzling. A prominent American Catholic lay-woman, who said she didn’t want to be identified because she’s supportive of Opus Dei, told me during a recent visit to Rome that because she works with both men and women in her professional life, she finds the segregation inside Opus Dei “a little odd.” On a practical level, she said, she is often invited to give talks to Opus Dei, and having to do it once for the men and again for the women means “double the work.

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