to their doctrine.
There are only just under 90,000 members and at least 4 if not all 5 of the right wing S.C. belong to that sliver of the Catholic Church.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Opus_dei
As of 2012, members of the Prelature numbered 91,960.
Lay persons, men and women, numbered 89,909, while there were 2,051 priests.[1] These figures do not include the diocesan priest members of Opus Dei's Priestly Society of the Holy Cross, estimated to number 2,000 in the year 2005.[8] Members are in more than 90 countries. About 70 per cent of Opus Dei members live in their private homes, leading traditional Catholic family lives with secular careers,[9][10] while the other 30 per cent are celibate, of whom the majority live in Opus Dei centres. Opus Dei organizes training in Catholic spirituality applied to daily life. Aside from personal charity and social work, Opus Dei members are involved in running universities, university residences, schools, publishing houses, and technical and agricultural training centers.
(snip)
In Pope John Paul II's 1982 decree known as the Apostolic constitution Ut Sit, Opus Dei was established as a personal prelature, a new official structure of the Catholic Church, similar to a diocese in that it contains lay people and secular priests who are led by a bishop. However, whereas a bishop normally has a territory or diocese, the prelate of Opus Dei is pastor to the members and priests of Opus Dei worldwide, no matter what diocese they are in. To date, Opus Dei is the only personal prelature in existence. In addition to being governed by Ut Sit and by the Catholic Church's general law,
Opus Dei is governed by the Church's Particular Law concerning Opus Dei, otherwise known as Opus Dei's statutes. This specifies the objectives and workings of the prelature. The prelature is under the Congregation for Bishops.[2][71]
(snip)
Leaders of Opus Dei describe the organization as a teaching entity whose main activity is to train Catholics to assume personal responsibility in sanctifying the secular world from within.[19][80] This teaching is done by means of theory and practice.[81]
(snip)
Critics state that Opus Dei is "intensely secretive"—for example, members generally do not disclose their affiliation with Opus Dei in public. Further, under the 1950 constitution, members were expressly forbidden to reveal themselves without the permission of their superiors.[19] This practice has led to much speculation about who may be a member.[19]
(snip)
Critics allege that Opus Dei maintains an extremely high degree of control over its members—for instance, past rules required numeraries to submit their incoming and outgoing mail to their superiors for inspection, and members are forbidden to read certain books without permission from their superiors.[109] Critics charge that Opus Dei pressures numeraries to sever contact with non-members, including their own families.[109] Exit counselor David Clark has described Opus Dei as "very cult-like".[109]
= new reply since forum marked as read
