Opus Dei

Quite an interesting essay from Paul Fortunato, an English professor and member of Opus Dei in today's New York Times. He's actually glad that The Da Vinci Code came out. It gives him a chance to explain what Opus Dei is really about. Now I've said before that I hated the book. Frankly, it was badly written with childish characterizations and ludicrous conspiracy theories of history. But, as I mentioned, Fortunato is glad it came out.

AS a member of Opus Dei, I would like to thank Dan Brown and Ron Howard for "The Da Vinci Code." Why am I not outraged like so many other devout Roman Catholics? Because I think we could not have wished for a better result: critics attack the film (and, retrospectively, the book) as boring and annoying and cartoonish; and because everyone is seeing it anyway, many people who would otherwise have no interest in Opus Dei are curious, allowing us to explain what we are really about.

For the record, I do wear a spiked metal band on my leg for a couple of hours a day just like the movie's murderous Opus Dei numerary, Silas (that's always the first question). But I do not wear a robe, except at graduation ceremonies. I'm an English professor at a state university and am finishing a book titled "Modernist Aesthetics and Consumer Culture in the Writings of Oscar Wilde." So much for stereotypes.

I joined Opus Dei as a numerary, a member who has committed to celibacy and lives in an Opus Dei center, when I turned 18. My father is a supernumerary (one of the married members, who account for around 80 percent of us). He never encouraged me to join, though he and my mother taught me to pray and to love the ideas of St. Josemaría Escrivá, the order's founder, on turning work into prayer.

It's an interesting read, obviously, Opus Dei is not for everyone, certainly not for me. Nonetheless, they are not the cartoon bad guys that Dan Brown painted them as, either.