INTRODUCTION
A lot has been said about Opus Dei, but because the Prelature doesn't
have a controversy culture - such a culture not fitting in its spirituality - very few studies have been done about the enemies
and/or most vocal critics of Opus Dei. I feel the usual arguments of those must be analysed to understand the whole situation
better and to see what kind of common ground, if any, is behind the anti-Opus Dei thinking. This may be, I think, full of
enlightening material.
I am a friend of Opus Dei and had a discussion with the author (www.mond.at/) of the site Opus
Dei - The Unofficial Home Page , whom I want to thank for the dialogue he had with me. The latter site likes to present itself
as balanced,but it is obvious that the author is enthusiastic about everything negative that can be said about Opus Dei. One
may think that its arguments are not as good as those of other critics, but nevertheless I think they are roughly representative
of the general line of anti-Opus Dei argumentation.
The text with which the dialogue started is the
F.A.Q. of the Unofficial Home Page. Criticism of the interpretation of The Way follows rigorously the development of this F.A.Q.
The criticism and replies' quotations follow this table of content (Links above):
-Criticism #1 about Opus
Dei & reply
-Criticism #1.1 about Opus Dei
-Criticism #2 about Opus Dei
-Opus Dei & Jesuits
-Criticism
#3 about Opus Dei
-Interpretation of the Way (Opus Dei main book on spirituality)
-Interpretation of McCloskey (Opus
Dei priest)
-Opus Dei : A book by Maria Carmen Tapia (ex-member of Opus Dei)
-An hypothesis about conflicting evidence
on Opus Dei
The books quoted most often are:
Mgr. Escriva, The Way;
M.C. Tapia, Beyond the Threshold
- A life in Opus Dei;
J. Estruch, Saints and Schemers - Opus Dei and its Paradoxes;
St. Ignatius Loyola, Constitutions
of the Society of Jesus
