Friday, September 07, 2007
OPUS ANGELORUM
A report at skeptictank.org, taken from German Scientology News, has the following to say of Opus Angelorum in 1999:
It's a different story with the so-called Engelwerk (Opus Angelorum), though. According to what Martin Huber knows, this group is on the advance in the district. He knows several people personally who have been affected. They are from the Burghausen areas, as well as from the western part of the district.
Huber did not reveal their identities for privacy reasons, but he knows that critics and apostates of sects are not exactly dealt with lightly. This is the one point in which Engelwerk does not differentiate itself from other sects. Huber says, "Whoever risks raising criticism is made out to be a trouble-maker and a social outcast." The sectarians do not think twice about using libel, Huber continued.
In contrast to Scientology, whose members admit they are Scientologists, Engelwerk is a secret society; little of its structure has surfaced. Huber stated, "The motto of the Engelwerk members is to be silent or lie." People who end up in the clutches of Engelwerk, according to Huber, "cut themselves off from the outside and live in a dream world" which puts criticism beyond their grasp. The JU brochures are meant to see that things do not get that far, nor with another psycho-cult: the Bruno Groening Friend's Circle.
There appears to be somewhat of a verification at Wikipedia. From the Wiki entry:
The Katholische Pfadfinderschaft Europas (KPE; roughly Catholic Guides and Scouts of Europe) is a German Catholic Scouting organization with 2,500 members.[1] It is part of the Union Internationale des Guides et Scouts d’Europe (UIGSE). ...
There is some controversy surrounding the KPE, both within the German Catholic Church and also in the German Scouting movement, centered upon the KPE's focus on proselytization, its connections to Catholic fundamentalist networks, and its tendency toward isolation from other groups. The KPE is considered by some to be a fundamentalist group. ...
Observers describe the KPE as loyal to the Pope, conservative, and traditional in its Scouting activities and in its spirituality. Great emphasis is placed on the regular confession (see Catechism of the Catholic Church, Sections 1423-1442) and the regular attendance of Mass (see Catechism of the Catholic Church, Section 1389) which is celebrated in some groups according to Tridentine Rite. ...
In 2003 the organization's paper "Pfadfinder Mariens" promoted a book of the far right politician Rolf Kosiek published by the extreme right Hohenrain-Verlag. Further on, Thomas Niggl OSB, member of the Work of the Holy Angels, advocated theses of the extreme right Deutsche Studiengemeinschaft. ...
After press reports on the possible entanglement of the KPE and the SJM in the St. Pölten pornography scandal the Conference of the German Bishops officially distanced itself from the KPE in summer 2004 by stating its non-adherence to the Bund der deutschen katholischen Jugend, the union of recognised Catholic youth organizations in Germany.[1]
Later in the same year some groups and most of the leaders of the Austrian sister organization KPE-Ö left the organization and accused the German KPE and Andreas Höhnisch of interfering in its internal affairs.[4] In response the supporters of German KPE stated that these groups were influenced by masonic ideas.[5] ...
Until 1992, the adherence to the Work of the Holy Angels was officially advocated by the KPE.[7] Today, still some members of the KPE hold contacts to the Work of the Holy Angels and the Society of St. Pius X.[9] In 2007, there is at least one German Scout group connected to the Society of St. Pius X with very close contacts to the KPE.[10] ...
The isolation of the KPE's members from other, possibly interfering, groups is mainly criticized by German Scouts. Until 2000, groups of the KPE participated in and even organized joint events.[11] Since then, the KPE retreated nearly totally from the German Scout movement...
There are, of course, two viewpoints to approach these statements. On the one hand, isolation and segregation are symptoms of destructive cultish behavior. On the other hand, those of us who would like to see the Church restored to Her former glory would welcome some isolation of our children until they are old enough to evaluate what is being presented to them. That, after all, is what Catholic schools are about. A critical question is whether a wedge is being driven between parents and children. The article does not address this.
There is another concern. We know, from Father Z's explanation that I blogged yesterday, that the history of Opus Angelorum prior to 1992 includes promotion of the names of angels and demons--a practice Father Z described as dangerous. If this practice was encouraged among scouts, there would be ample reason to worry. But there is no way to know whether it was or wasn't.
Some of you may remember the homosexual scandal at St. Polten that went around the web some time ago. The seminary was shut down after pictures of seminarians kissing each other were posted. Given the history of sexual abuse in the Catholic Church in America which has included incidents of abuse of scouts, and given this alleged involvement of KPE with the St. Polten scandal, the implications are not good.
Adherence to traditional Catholic beliefs does not insure that activities of abuse will not take place. Neither does it insure that additional practices of an heretical nature will not be introduced at some level in an organization. If there is a secret inner core--and a reference to "masonic ideas" would indicate that there were levels of involvement that were not open to all--there is the possibility of activities a traditional Catholic would not approve.
I wonder if Benedict's trip to Austria, repeated so soon after his last trip to Austria, has anything to do with this?
