Opus Dei in society
According to Catholic officials and scholars, Opus Dei is God's Work performing a divine operation in society which mobilises Christians to sanctify secular realities from within.
It is a spiritual, catechetical agency of the Catholic Church in charge of forming people so they can act with personal responsibility "to put Christ on top of all human activities," as their founder says.
The main strategy, according to Escrivá's teaching, is that each Christian must strive to become a "canonizable saint", another Christ redeeming all men and women, and thus also a responsible citizen who works for the common good.
(Many Globalizations: Cultural Diversity in the Contemporary World 2002) The largest part of the apostolic activity of the prelature is what the individual members do with their friends and colleagues in their respective communities and workplaces.
In Spain, Saint Josemaría Escrivá himself founded the University of Navarra in 1959 which confers 27 degrees and administers more than 300 post-graduate programs and includes a teaching hospital.
[citation needed] However, in "Preserving Power and Privilege," a report of Catholics for a Free Choice, Opus Dei is categorised together with Neocatechumenal Way, Focolare, Legion of Christ, Community of St. John, Charismatic Renewal, and Communion and Liberation, among Catholic groups having "neoconservative or fundamentalist moral and political beliefs," "extremely traditionalist," and "pre-enlightenment" messages for society.
Wood's book supports Christopher Dawson's thesis about religion "as the dynamic element in history and as a real world-transforming power.
Have you ever bothered to think how absurd it is to leave one's Catholicism aside on entering a university, or a professional association, or a scholarly meeting, or Congress, as if you were checking your hat at the door?
[12]Critics say this type of counsel makes it impossible for Opus Dei members to be free in political matters, since it creates ideologies such as "National Catholicism", according to Alberto Moncada,[13] or "Catholic Totalitarianism," according to Argentine Marxist historian Emilio Corbiere.
[14] Thus, Opus Dei members are placed squarely on the political right, becoming a conservative influence in world affairs, promoting the Vatican's traditionalist policies against divorce, abortion, euthanasia, gay marriages, contraception, etc.
[15] “The claim that Opus Dei is merely a humanitarian organization with no political agenda is simply not credible,” said Frances Kissling, president of Catholics for a Free Choice.
], serves as the Vatican's instrument to oppose the liberal and secular thought expressed by John Stuart Mill's classic statement: "The only freedom which deserves the name, is that of pursuing our own good in our own way," and lately put into American jurisprudence in Planned Parenthood vs. Casey 1992, “At the heart of liberty is the right to define one’s own concept of existence, of the universe, and of the mystery of human life."
