Friday, June 16, 2006
EMAIL FROM LEE PENN
Last fall, I did a 2-part story for the Journal of the Spiritual Counterfeits Project (SCP) about the Da Vinci Code and Opus Dei.
The magazine has now put part 1 on the Net, in its entirety.
The first part of the story, on Brown's best-seller, disposes of that trashy novel in short order, and spoils the plot (for the 25 people left who have not yet read it.) Then, I move on to examine Opus Dei: the facts, not Brown's fiction.
Main headings:
The Da Vinci Code
Just the facts about "The Way"
A rising power in the Catholic Church
Opus Dei influence in Washington DC and worldwide
Opus Dei: to last "until the end of time"?
Cultic practices
Secret documents
Modern-day flagellants
Escriva's teachings: "another gospel"
There are 235 footnotes, and there are pictures - including of the cilice and of the discipline.
Part II of the same story is just now going out in the mail to SCP subscribers. It will be at least 6 months till that article goes onto the Net, so if you want to read it now, call SCP at their office in Berkeley California (510-540-0300, from 9am to 5pm West Coast time) and buy the magazine from them.
It picks up where part I leaves off, and covers the track record of Opus Dei activity in the world and in the Church.
The article ends thus:
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"Leaving aside the Machiavellian strategies of Opus Dei, we can give the last word to one of the cult's survivors, Maria del Carmen Tapia. After she was expelled from the movement, she continued to attend church. A priest who knew her story asked her, 'Why do you go on believing in God?' She replied, 'Because God has nothing to do with Opus Dei.'[i]
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[i] Maria del Carmen Tapia, Beyond the Threshold: A Life in Opus Dei, Continuum, 1997, pp. 284.
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The final chapter of my book, False Dawn, also includes a section on Opus Dei and the other "new ecclesial movements" within the Catholic Church. That chapter is on-line here:
FalseDawn-CH25.html
If you want to read the entire book, it is available throught SCP (call them at 510-540-0300) or through Amazon:
Amazon.com: False Dawn: The United Religions Initiative, Globalism, And The Quest For A One-world Religion: Books: Lee Penn
Lee
