Having vs. Being

People are reeling from the current economic crisis gripping our nation, indeed the world. They (we) are looking for answers to give us a sense of peace amidst the turmoil. Some of the questions we want to ask include: How do we make things right again? What was the era of prosperity we just experienced? If it was so prosperous, why do we find ourselves so beset by fear, insecurity and confusion now, so shortly after its collapse, its "fall"? How can I find or create opportunity when everyone and everything seems to be closing down, hunkering down? What are the key elements to maintaining a prosperous society? Can our leaders get us back on track?

A number of factors have contributed to our current situation. Some people who should have known better acted irresponsibly out of greed (For more on this, watch CNBC's David Faber's fascinating and informative documentary House of Cards.). And yet, while top financial players (in business and government) may be responsible for the widespread sale of shoddy investment instruments, we cannot ignore that large segments of our population routinely increased their consumption by increasing their debt -- not a healthy habit.

Since our economic system is in collapse, and each one of us plays a role of some sort within our nation's economic and cultural system, we should think about what makes for a healthy economy and how our outlook and behavior can contribute to improving the current situation. I recently came across these words of John Paul II which might provide some new insights around what consumption should mean to a Christian:

"A given culture reveals its overall understanding of life through the choices it makes in production and consumption. It is here that the phenomenon of consumerism arises. In singling out new needs and new means to meet them, one must be guided by a comprehensive picture of the person which respects all the dimensions of his being and which subordinates his material and instinctive dimensions to his interior and spiritual ones. If, on the contrary, a direct appeal is made to human instincts--while ignoring in various ways the reality of the person as intelligent and free--then consumer attitudes and lifestyles can be created which are objectively improper and often damaging to the person's physical and spiritual health. Of itself, an economic system does not possess criteria for correctly distinguishing new and higher forms of satisfying human needs from artificial new needs which hinder the formation of a mature personality. Thus a great deal of educational and cultural work is urgently needed, including the education of consumers in the responsible use of their power of choice, the formation of a strong sense of responsibility among producers and among people in the mass media in particular, as well as the necessary intervention by public authorities...It is not wrong to want to live better; what is wrong is a style of life which is presumed to be better when it is directed towards "having" rather than "being," and which wants to have more, not in order to be more but in order to spend life in enjoyment as an end in itself.[75] It is therefore necessary to create lifestyles in which the quest for truth, beauty, goodness and communion with others for the sake of common growth are the factors which determine consumer choices, savings and investments. In this regard, it is not a matter of the duty of charity alone, that is, the duty to give from one's "abundance," and sometimes even out of one's needs, in order to provide what is essential for the life of a poor person. I am referring to the fact that even the decision to invest in one place rather than another, in one productive sector rather than another, is always a moral and cultural choice. Given the utter necessity of certain economic conditions and of political stability, the decision to invest, that is, to offer people an opportunity to make good use of their own labor, is also determined by an attitude of human sympathy and trust in Providence, which reveal the human quality of the person making such decisions." CENTESIMUS ANNUS (On the Hundredth Anniversary of Rerum Novarum), #36 Pope John Paul II (May 1991)

First Review of Soon-to-be Released Book - Women of Opus Dei: In Their Own Words

From Publishers Weekly - February 2, 2009

Women of Opus Dei: In Their Own Words Edited by M.T. Oates, Linda Ruf and Jenny Driver. Crossroad, $24.95 paper (224p) ISBN 978-0-8245-2425-8

The Catholic group Opus Dei (Latin for “work of God”) emerges in this compact collection of essays and interviews as an entity that gives its female members a deep sense of purpose amid ordinary and extraordinary circumstances. Whether they are stay-at-home mothers or professionals in academia and business, these women tell of lives changed by their faith and what they commonly refer to as “the Work.” Opus Dei members, according to founder St. Josemaría Escrivá, aspire to be “contemplative souls in the midst of the world who try to convert their work into prayer.” They do this through offering their work to Christ and following a spiritual regimen of daily prayer and regular theological development programs. Excerpts from Escrivá's writings and an explanation of the group's structure help fill out the selected narratives. Readers looking for the kind of intrigue found in The Da Vinci Code's treatment of this group won't find it here, but they will get an honest appraisal from women who know Opus Dei from the inside out. (Apr.)

Abusing my religion - An op-ed appeared in New York's Daily News on May 21, 2006

You probably wouldn't have known me in the first place if you saw me walking down a New York City street. But now, because of "Da Vinci Code" author Dan Brown and the movie's director Ron Howard, I have been rendered even more obscure.

You see, I am a female member of Opus Dei. Not only does the book describe me as "brainwashed," it further makes me invisible within my organization and subservient to men.

Nothing could be further from the truth. It's hard to know what motivated Brown to pick on us, but it's time to set the record straight about some of his many gaffes.

To start, the book and movie depict a Catholic organization run by a cadre of powerful monks and bishops. The truth about Opus Dei: Only a small minority of our members are clergy, and there are no monks. Lay men and women are vital and active members of our institution.

In the "Da Vinci Code," women's emancipation seems to mean nothing but serving as the child-bearer, either to a nondivine Jesus Christ or to some other man. We are the weaker sex and seem not to care. Reality: Opus Dei was the first institution within the Catholic Church in which both lay men and lay women have the same vocation, the same rights and duties and receive the same in-depth theological and philosophical training.

Though women (and men) in Opus Dei strive to be thoroughly dedicated to God, we wear no habits nor take any vows. We try as much as possible to blend in, to be a quiet Christian presence wherever we work and live.

Women participate in the collegial governing of Opus Dei at every level - international, national and local.

Of course, the most serious lies and blasphemy in this book and movie aren't about ordinary men or women. They're about Jesus Christ Himself.

History and the Catholic Church confirm for me that Jesus Christ has both a human and divine nature, and that He suffered, died and was resurrected from the dead on behalf of all of us, who were and are in need of redemption. In respected historical and theological circles, no one doubts the Crucifixion.

But according to Brown, Jesus' death on the cross never happened. It was a lie.

This cartoon story vilifies my religion and effectively casts me, a female adherent to it, as a stooge. It will sell millions of dollars in tickets and popcorn.

But the truth is stronger than slander. Catholicism is a faith of love. And women in Opus Dei work as lawyers, judges, teachers, doctors, professors, chefs, homemakers, artists, engineers, clerks, hairdressers, college presidents, writers, etc. For us, it's about doing one's work - whatever it may be - well and with love.

Mary Elise Eckman is the President of the Rosemoor Foundation and also heads up Opus Dei's U.S. programs for women.

The Teachings of St. Josemaria Escriva in an African Context by Margaret Ogola, M.D. of Kenya

An article by noted Kenyan author Margaret Ogola on the relevance of St. Josemaria´s teachings to Africa.

Published originally on www.stjosemariaescriva.info

Love is perennial and youthful. So is this continent, 60% of whose population are under the age of twenty-five. The momentum of the youthfulness of the peoples of Africa will necessarily carry this continent beyond it's current woes and upheavals to the realization of a truly African dream where people will take responsibility for their homeland and cease to expect help from where none is forthcoming.

There are many things which move me deeply in the teachings of Saint Josemaría Escrivá, but perhaps the one that has had the greatest impact on my life, my outlook, my hopes, is the concept that every baptized person is expected to take full responsibility for the attainment of full Christian and social maturity. There are no second-class citizens in the world-view of the founder of Opus Dei. All are called to struggle for sanctity right where they are — sanctity being walking in friendship with God in the highways and alleyways of this world wherever his children are to be found — working, suffering, living.

“Heroism, sanctity, daring, require a constant spiritual preparation. You can only give to others what you already have. And in order to give God to them, you yourself need to get to know him, to live his Life, to serve him.” (The Forge, no. 78). This ringing call is not for a few specially gifted or set apart people, but amazingly enough it is for all. I truly found it amazing that anyone could take the lay faithful so seriously. This attitude does cut dependency at the knees. One has no choice but to stand up and be counted.

Africans too, and in particular, are not second-class citizens of the world doomed to be dependent on others for all manner of handouts. Help yes, as one brother gives to another who happens to have fallen into difficulties — culpable or otherwise — looking him straight in the eye, as a brother who stands on an equal but firmer footing, should. In this regard, I have great doubts regarding the form of aid now being doled out to Africa by the monetary institutions and governments of the west and in particular through the state. There is something disturbingly pernicious about a type of aid that leaves an entire continent not only inescapably indebted, but also totally dependent. But help yes — as one brother gives to another.

One tends to forget, perhaps because of the rapid adaptability of Africans, that only barely one hundred years ago, this continent was in the early iron-age. Within this short period of time we have had to adopt systems of thought and governance that others have had hundreds or even thousands of years to experiment with. What's more, we have had to do it in their languages. Thereby we have gained and lost at the same time. In having no choice but to learn and be facile in other languages we have had the great benefit of looking into the minds of others and into the minds of their great thinkers and have greatly benefited. But often these others have felt no great need to learn our languages and thus be in a position to look into our souls to truly understand why we laugh when we laugh and why we weep when we weep. This is diminishing, for in every language is coded generation upon generation of human aspiration and endeavour. No wonder some great attempts to assist have foundered.

In any case the African loves to learn and this longing finds powerful echo in the words of Bl. Josemaría. “Study. Study in earnest. If you are to be salt and light, you need knowledge and capability. Or do you imagine that an idle and lazy life will entitle you to receive infused knowledge?” (The Way, no. 340). Indeed Josemaría Escrivá urges all his children to strive to have the doctrine of theologians and the piety of little children. In short, he does not encourage the kind of easy formulae for rapid salvation that some look for — a formalistic or pietistic religion where attendance without commitment or emotions without thought is the order of the day. Rather he urges a deep interior transformation with a sportsmanlike approach to the interior life — never remaining down after a fall. “Another fall... and what a fall! Despair? No! Humble yourself and through Mary, your Mother, have recourse to the merciful love of Jesus. A miserere — "have mercy on me" — and lift up your heart! And now, begin again.” (The Way, no. 711). Also “Tackling serious matters with a sporting spirit gives very good results. Perhaps I have lost several games? Very well, but — if I persevere — in the end I shall win. ”( Furrow, no. 169). And Africans are nothing if not sportsmen and women.

The family is central to the being of the peoples of Africa. It is not only a social safety net for almost everyone, it is also a source of deep identity — a revelation of who one really is. The loss of family values harms every group of people, but it has been catastrophic for Africans. Indeed it is this loss that has opened doors to the Aids pandemic, which in Africa seems to acquire an increase in virulence and ferocity not seen elsewhere. Josemaría Escrivá stands out because of his single-minded defense of the family, of the sanctity of marriage and of the dignity of fruitful love. “Do you laugh because I tell you that you have a "vocation to marriage"? Well, you have just that — a vocation. Commend yourself to St. Raphael that he may keep you pure, as he did Tobias, until the end of the way.” (The Way, no. 27). Also: “In national life there are two things which are really essential: the laws concerning marriage and the laws to do with education. In these areas God's sons have to stand firm and fight with toughness and fairness, for the sake of all mankind.” (The Forge, no. 104).

Finally, the African woman carries heavy burdens both figuratively and actually, but her dependability is phenomenal. In the midst the swirling chaos of day-to-day living she holds the family together with nothing more substantial than the strength of her love. And to her the new saint has this to say: “Woman is stronger than man and more faithful in the hour of trial: Mary Magdalene and Mary Cleophas and Salome. With a group of valiant women like these, closely united to our sorrowful Mother, what work for souls could be done in the world!” (The Way, no. 982).

The teachings of Josemaría Escrivá resonate with the perennial youthfulness of love, to which Africa, amidst the crises and problems besetting her, responds. “These world crises -the founder of Opus Dei states quite calmly- are crises of saints.” (The Way, no. 301)

Margaret Ogola, M.D. is Medical Director of the Family Life Association of Kenya and for the Cottolenga Hospice for HIV-positive orphans. She and her husband, George, have four children. She is also an award winning author of The River and the Source (a novel) and Education in Human Love.

Video Profiles/Interviews of Different Women in Opus Dei

Special On-line Video Testimonials of Women who speak about their personal experience with Opus Dei

• Elizabeth Heil, Columbia University Graduate Student


• Virginia Hughes, New Jersey Lawyer, Wife and Mother

• Pat Anderson, Opus Dei US HR Director

• Andrea Feehery, Hospitality industry professional, staff member of Shellbourne Conference Center, Valparaiso, IN discusses her vocation as a numerary assistant

• Angela Fortunato, Public Health Administrator in Pittsburgh, PA discusses her vocation as a numerary member of Opus Dei

Love, Marriage, and the Teachings of St. Josemaria Escriva by Mary Brennan

No one would deny that the environment in which young people today fall in love and feel called to commit themselves to each other in marriage is a very difficult one indeed. Young people today have grown up in the wake of the sexual revolution that has wreaked havoc on individuals and families — on each of them as individuals and on their own families. Many of them have experienced the divorce of their parents. The great majority of them have been “sexually active” from a very young age, encouraged by a culture that worships free sexual expression, and doctors and schools that casually distribute contraceptives to keep them “safe.” For many this has meant that their heart has been broken numerous times as these immature, uncommitted relationships have ultimately come to an end. Many have chosen to live together before marriage, believing that they are unready for the commitment of marriage, and unsure about their ability to live up to the responsibilities that marriage entails. Many fear that their future marriage will end in misery and divorce, as they have seen so many other marriages end.

It is precisely this landscape that silently cries out for some good news. Young people today yearn to learn the truth about themselves, those they love, and even God. They are open to learning about commitment, faithfulness, sacrifice, and purity. They long for the hope that their love for each other can last a lifetime. My husband and I have been privileged to serve these couples as they come to the Church for marriage preparation. It is a blessing for us to share with them that their love for each other is holy — that God loves their love for one another. We are honored to be able to share with them that their bodies also are holy, and that they are deserving of the very best, no matter what their background or their past.

Married for twenty years now, my husband David and I have been involved in marriage preparation programs since we were newlyweds. (The priest who witnessed our marriage wisely saw that if we were active in the Church, we would be more likely to continue to grow in our faith, and would have a stronger marriage.) All couples who come to the Catholic Church for marriage are required to take a marriage preparation course, an approach that acknowledges the difficulties that couples face, and seeks to help them discern if the decision to marry this person is a good one, and give them the skills and knowledge that will help them navigate the inevitable daily tensions, stresses, and even crises.

About five years ago now, David and I volunteered to direct the marriage preparation program at our parish, St. Mary’s in Franklin, Massachusetts. We have had the pleasure of designing a program and getting others involved in it, great married couples and priests who have been incredibly generous and hard working. Our program consists of three sessions, and we offer it twice a year. Over the past five years, we have had the joy of spending time with about 150 engaged couples, couples who typically exude love and expectation. We have put time into this work because we believe that it makes a difference for the engaged couples, but it has immeasurably enriched our own relationship as well, as twice a year we immerse ourselves in how best to cultivate and strengthen married love.

The program we have designed is based on the theological virtues of faith, hope, and love. “There are in the end three things that last: faith, hope, and love, and the greatest of these is love.” ( St. Paul ) An important part of the program is spent teaching the couples, as most have not been practicing their faith, what the Church teaches on marriage, the sacraments, and the purpose and meaning of human sexuality. We have talks on making good use of the engagement period, human virtues, communication, finances, intimacy, children, extended family, and natural family planning. Though the engaged couples come to us nervous and anxious as to what to expect, the overwhelming majority tell us that the experience has been rewarding and worthwhile.

The engaged couples are interested in learning about their faith, something most of them have not thought about for a while. They enjoy hearing from the married couples who share their experiences, and appreciate learning healthy ways to communicate. We emphasize practicing human virtues, because as my husband says, “Before marriage it’s all about choosing the right person. After marriage, it’s all about being the right person.” The session on human sexuality seeks to challenge them in a nonjudgmental way, and the vast majority are open to hearing what the Church has to say about living purity before and during marriage, the true meaning of the sexual act, and the gift of children, as well as premarital sex, living together before marriage, and contraception and sterilization. They are open because, as Pope John Paul II says in his book, Crossing the Threshold of Hope: “After all, young people are always searching for the beauty in love. They want their love to be beautiful. If they give in to weakness…in the depth of their hearts they still desire a beautiful and pure love.”

To be truthful, there have been moments when facing a group of blank faces when we might have been afraid — afraid of negative reactions, afraid of opposing the status quo — but we have been strengthened, enriched, and even spurred on, by the beautiful teachings of St. Josemaria Escriva, the founder of Opus Dei. My husband and I were introduced to the writings of this saint, and the spirit of Opus Dei, when we met a woman who is now a good friend of ours. At the time we had been married not quite ten years, and had the usual difficulties, mostly arising out of our fears. Fears regarding finances, our stubborn faults, and fears of what troubles the future might bring. What this new friend and her lively family — who are devoted to St. Josemaria and live his spirit — what they introduced us to was family life lived with joy, not fear. A family where each new child is welcomed and cherished, not feared and avoided. A cheerful, warm, and bright home. A husband and wife unreservedly devoted to each other and to their children. Witnessing their happiness had a profound effect on us.

As we learned more about Opus Dei, we saw how the spirit of Opus Dei had shaped their lives. St. Josemaria always encouraged spouses to be cheerful and affectionate with one another. He spoke about how we can keep our love young by doing the small things of everyday life with hearts full of love for each other. St. Josemaria taught that we should not be afraid to sacrifice for the good of the other, that children are a gift from God, and that to be generous in accepting children is always a blessing. He talked about making our homes bright, cheerful, happy places, and to be cheerful for others, even when we don’t feel so cheerful inside. St. Josemaria encouraged all people to have what he called a “sporting spirit,” to face difficulties with energy and enthusiasm. He emphasized that we all need to “begin again” whenever we find that we have fallen into old bad habits — to just pick ourselves up and begin again, as a little child would do, without looking back. He taught that we are all called to be saints, and that by struggling against our faults and uniting ourselves to God we can sanctify ourselves, our families, and the world around us.

This spirit, which has brought so much joy and peace to our family, animates our work with young couples. About helping others to integrate their faith more deeply into their everyday lives, St. Josemaria said: “be assured that it is a matter of making people happy, very happy.” My husband and I are convinced that the truths about man and woman and God, about their holy love for one another, and the beautiful spirit of Opus Dei, can help couples to be happy — very, very, happy. It is my hope that everyone will see the need to share the good news of Christ’s transforming love with all young people today, because they are deserving of the very best that we have to offer. As St. Josemaria wrote in his book The Way: “Don’t let your life by sterile. Be useful. Blaze a trail. Shine forth with the light of your faith and of your love.” The blessings that we each have received should beckon us to give generously of ourselves in the service of fair, beautiful, and lasting love.

Mary and her husband David live in Franklin , Massachusetts with their six children. They are members of the Archdiocesan Office of Marriage Ministries Advisory Board.

My Summer at Rosedale By Elizabeth Cheffers

I am of an idealistic turn of mind; perhaps I might even rightly be classified as a helpless romantic. I won’t try and deny it. My friends and family don’t even mention the words “fairy tale” around me because they know I will go off on one of my speeches about how important good children’s literature is. My life’s ambition is to be an English teacher, and so when I heard about a program run by Opus Dei called Rosedale I signed up without a moment’s hesitation.

Rosedale is the name of an all girls educational program in the South Bronx which has as its main focus a summer academic achievement program for girls in fifth through eighth grade. For five weeks in the summer they accept eighty girls into the program and give them classes in reading, writing, math, drama, cultural geography and character. I was asked to teach the writing class, and was naturally thrilled. And although they explained exactly what our responsibilities were going to be before we arrived, I’ll admit I had no idea of what that actually meant.

I think it hit me when we were decorating our classrooms before the first day of classes. I was hanging up posters of the various parts of speech and humming to myself when I saw the teacher’s desk out of the corner of my eye all alone in front of the blackboard. “Wait a minute”, I thought. “That’s my desk!” I’m eighteen years old and have ten younger siblings, so I thought I understood what responsibility was before I signed up for Rosedale, but when I saw that desk I suddenly realized what a huge responsibility it was to teach these girls. Each of the teachers teaches six classes a day, takes the girls to daily mass, and is assigned seven girls to mentor weekly. That first day in the classroom and in the days that followed I realized that I was being asked for more than I could give.

Once I realized this, however, teaching became much simpler. I had been receiving formation through Opus Dei since I was in high school and I knew, at least in my mind, that God asks all of us to give more than we have so that we can realize that without Him we can do nothing. Saint Josemaria’s words in The Way “Don’t forget, silly child, that love has made you almighty” helped me to be able to look at Him and laugh when I stumbled in class and said the wrong thing or when I lost my temper with a particularly difficult girl. I lived those five weeks relying completely on the grace of God to keep me from giving up on myself. I came to understand in a very real way the meaning of Saint Josemaria’s well known phrase, “ the glorious freedom of the children of God”. To be a contemplative, I understood a little better, to be completely free in the midst of a hostile world, is as simple as being aware of yourself as a child in her father’s presence.

Of course I must admit that although I had moments when I came to understand better the grace of God I also had moments when I turned it down and fell apart. By the sixth class of the day all I wanted to do was collapse somewhere and throw the Easy Grammar book out the window. I felt discouraged and depressed when I came to know the girls better and some of the horrible circumstances they were living in. I felt that as an adult I had a responsibility to change something, to try to make it better, but I couldn’t. One of the girls I ate lunch with lived in the projects and one day mentioned that the night before she and her mother had stood outside their building for hours while the police tried to take away a sniper who was hiding inside, going from apartment to apartment. She took a bite of her sandwich and confided in me that it made her upset to see the needles and vomit in the elevator and lobby, but there wasn’t anywhere else to go. I almost thought I was going to be sick when I thought of all I take for granted.

Of course there were the good moments too. One day one of my younger girls shyly handed me a love poem she had written to me while I was correcting her paper. We took the girls on excursions every Friday, and I’ll never forget the smiles on some of their faces when they went swimming at a beach for the first time. The best advice that the veterans of the program gave to the teachers when we came was not to get too worried about educational philosophies and our curriculum, but to look at each girl individually and think and pray about what they needed from us. The best moments were when I would try to make a special effort to be gentle with a particularly shy or sad girl and she would give me a timid smile that would break your heart with the trust written there.

With such an intense workday all of the teachers needed to be able to go somewhere afterward and relax. We were all living in a center of Opus Dei in New Rochelle that was a true home to all of us. The women living there welcomed us into their home, fed us, cleaned up after us, made sure a snack was waiting for us when we got home and offered up their work for ours. This sense of family and belonging helped all of us to be happy even though we were all far away from home. They offered us the opportunity to receive the sacraments daily, to take classes to improve our teaching skills and most importantly they offered us the opportunity to live with Jesus, present in the chapel.

Perhaps the most memorable part of Rosedale was, at least for me, the friends I made there. The teachers all rely on each other for help, consolation and enthusiasm. We would give ourselves a pep talk in the van riding to school cheering, “Who’s in charge? We are! We are! Who knows more? We do! We do!” At night or on weekends we would go into New York City and see the sites ( the free ones). Playing tag in the pouring rain, drinking way too much iced coffee and sometimes just putting my head in my friends’ laps and wailing at the end of a long day are my most treasured memories.

In all, Rosedale was not just a traditional service project, “a good experience”. It taught me how much I have to learn and how much I have to give. It made me want to teach for the rest of my life. More than that though, the spirit of Opus Dei that sustains it inspired me to want to be a saint, no matter what I do. My favorite quote of Saint Josemaria’s sums it up exactly, “ Dream, and your dreams will fall short.”