Autobiography and personal recollections of John B. Gough, with twenty-six years' experience as a public speaker

Successful and secretive, it was accused of using lavish richesБЂ«and influence in the Vatican БЂњto do everything from propping up Francisco FrancoБЂ™s Spanish dictatorship to pushing throughБЂ«rapid beatification for its founder in 1992, only seventeen years after his death. Declared by Pope John Paul II to be a БЂњpersonal prelatureБЂ«in 1982, Opus Dei, meaning БЂњGodБЂ™s work,БЂ«has been called a БЂњglobal quasi-diocese, able in some cases to leapfrog local archbishops and deal directly with [the Pope in] Rome. Opus Dei states that it is a Catholic institution with a mission to spread БЂњthe message that work and the circumstances of everyday life are occasions for growing closer to God, for serving others, and for improving society.БЂ«Critics say itБЂ™s a dangerous, if not malevolent, religious cult. Wherein lies the truth? On October 2, 1928, in Spain, twenty-six-year-old Josemarц­a EscrivцЎ envisioned БЂњa movement of pious laypeople who would, by prayerful contemplation and steady dedication of their labor to Christ, extend the holiness of going to church on Sunday into their everyday work lifeБЂ¦ He saw Opus eventually acting as БЂan intravenous injection [of holiness] in the bloodstream of society.БЂ™БЂ«In the wake of the publication of The Da Vinci Code, and the description of Opus Dei in the novel as a sinister and malevolent group, Time reported, БЂњOpus Dei is not a kind of spiritual pick-me-up for casual Catholics ...»