Even after leaving people may still be subject to pressure from the organisation. In Fr Antonio del Val, a priest of Opus admitted false defamation of character in a Seville magistrates' court; he and five other Opus Dei members had attempted to defame a former numerary who, after leaving, had published revelations about Opus Dei.
The Associates are not a very important section of the organisation. Their commitment to Opus Dei is essentially the same as that of the numeraries but they are not of the same educational standard. They take the same vows as the numeraries but, not being highly educated and coming from relatively modest social backgrounds, they fulfill a largely menial role in the organisation. In many ways their status is similar to that of the lay brothers in the Jesuits and other religious orders.
The majority of Opus Dei members are supernumeraries.
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The supernumeraries take less stringent vows than the numeraries. They are usually married people living in society in the normal way, and they are not required to live in Opus Dei residences. Supernumeraries can, at least in Iheory, come from any social stratum, but in practice they are almost always high-ranking people in professional and social life - doctors, lawyers, engineers, architects, bankers.
The Cooperators take no formal vows. They merely undertake to assist Opus Dei in its activities and to pray for it. However, their importance is far greater than this might suggest. The primary function of the cooperators is the provision of money for Opus Dei projects, either from their own pockets or through their positions of influence in industry, banking or politics. Cooperators can be of any religious persuasion: basically, their religious beliefs are not as important as their ability to channel money into the organisation. The only people who may not become cooperators are Communists and Freemasons.
Article of the Constitutions reads: "The numeraries and supernumeraries must be convinced of the need to maintain a prudent silence regarding the names of other members and never reveal to anyone the fact that they belong to Opus Dei. The whole attitude is summed up in Constitution "in order to achieve its aim more easily the Instiitute as such must live in concealment". This pervasive secrecy manifests itself in many ways. The Constitutions of Opus Dei are not made available to the public.
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The magazine Cronica is not available freely outside Opus Dei. No list of members of the organisation is ever published. Details of its internal government are not disclosed. The names of the business ventures it controls and manages are not revealed. The names of Opus Dei directors on the boards of banks, insurance companies and transnational corporations are not revealed.
Most of the Opus Dei centres in Ireland - including the university residences such as Ros Geal - are owned and operated by a company called University Hostels Limited. The Articles of Association of this company stated: "The President General for the time being of the Sacerdotal Society of the Holy Cross and Opus Dei, or any person nominated in writing by him, shall have power by notice in writing to the Company to remove any Director from office and to appoint any other person to be a Director.
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Clearly, this was to be no ordinary company. Subscriptions for shares in University Hostels Limited were invited in May The prospectus made three things clear. Firstly, the shares on offer were non-voting preference shares; secondly, dividends would be small; and thirdly, the company would be run at all times by Opus Dei. The purchase of shares in University Hostels, therefore, was not really a commercial investment but rather a financial contribution to the Opus Dei organisation.
In this context the list of eighty or so original subscribers makes interesting reading - Included were John A. It should be made very clear that Magill is not suggesting nor implying that any of the people named in the article are members of Opus Dei, at whatever level, unless this is specifically stated. Nor is Magill suggesting or implying that any of the people named in this article know of or approve of the methods of recruitment used by Opus Dei. The other four directors were important people in Irish society. The Earl of Wicklow, chairman of the company for many years, had interests in land, insurance and publishing; he was a member of Opus Dei up to his death in Alexis FitzGerald is a prominent member of Fine Gael.
He represented that party in the Senate for many years and in June Garret FitzGerald appointed him to the unprecedented position of special advisor to the government; he was given a ministerial salary and had the right to attend all cabinet meetings. On his appointment he resigned many of the directorships, including University Hostels. Although he has been involved in the formation of other Opus Dei companies also, Alexis FitzGerald has stated to Magill that he is not a member of Opus Dei.
With regard to the allegations about recruitment methods in the hostels he says: "I would disapprove of any undue influence but I wouldn't know any more about it than you would", adding that he had nothing to do with the day-to-day running of the company or its hostels. Charles Brennan is the present chairman of University Hostels Limited.
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He has also stated to Magill that he is not a member of Opus Dei; as far as the allegations about recruitment are concerned he states: "I am not involved in the day -to-day running of the hostels", and when asked about recruiting students under 18 without their parents' knowledge: "I certainly wouldn't approve of it". The other founding director, John Kenny, is ill and could not be contacted for comment. The situation has changed over the years and the company is now controlled by an Opus Dei vehicle called Lismullin Scientific Trust with an address at the Opus Dei Knapton residence.
A similar outfit with the same address, Tara Trust, also holds shares in the company; it is interesting to note that Tara Trust received non-voting shares in from the Jesuit Michael Paul Gallagher, who lectures in English in UCD. It is not clear if money changed hands or not. Over the years the personnel of the board of directors has naturally changed.
The vast majority of these have been numeraries, living in Opus Dei residences; occasionally, however, other names surface. In the s and s a Dublin barrister, Thomas Doyle, served on the board; he was appointed a judge by Liam Cosgrave in and has served on the bench in the High Court ever since. University Hostels Limited has raised substantial sums of money over the years to finance its expansion. In this regard Opus Dei's links with the business and financial world were extremely useful. All the financing for the company in the period came from Irish Life; after that it came from the Educational Building Society.
Throughout the s it also conducted a sophisticated fund-raising campaign aimed mainly at the higher echelons of Dublin society. One of the principal organisers of this campaign was the former Meath County Manager, the late Denis Candy. Such was the glitter of the occasion that one newspaper reported that one female guest - a member of the famous Dublin undertaking family, the Masseys - wore "one of the most daring dresses in Dublin". The figure seems extremely conservative when one considers the size and prestigious location of the properties involved - the huge Nullamore residence set in spacious grounds in Milltown in south Dublin, the Ely residence situated yards from St Stephen's Green in the heart of Dublin's prime property area.
Opus Dei is involved in running a number of children's clubs in Dublin. Each of these deals with boys or girls in their early teens - usually in the years age group. Many of these clubs do not publicise the fact that they are run by Opus Dei. For instance, the Harrow Club in Mountpleasant Square, Ranelagh, succeeded in gaining a page of free publicity in the giveaway newspaper, Southside Express, in January of this year.
Intending members were given a phone number to ring and told that Mr Brian Madden was the leader of the club; however, no mention was made of the fact that Mr Madden was also a numerary member of Opus Dei. In relation to the possibility of young people wishing to join the organisation it is worth noting the view of Fr Andrew Byrne, a priest of Opus Dei: in a letter to the Daily Mail on January 14, , he wrote: "in some cases when a youngster says he wants to join we do advise them not to tell their parents.
This is because the parents do not understand us. In Cardinal Hume of Westminster issued a set of regulations for Opus Dei-run centres within his diocese following a protracted investigation into the organisation's activities. Opus Dei centres should carry a clear indication that the organisation was running them; under's should not be recruited and asked to take vows of membership; potential recruits should be allowed discuss the matter with their parents before coming to a final decision; and those who wished to leave should be freely allowed to do so.
Cardinal Hume's concern for the young people of his diocese with regard to Opus Dei has not been matched by the Irish bishops. In the early s Opus Dei began to move into secondary education in Ireland. The official Opus Dei line is that the organisation itself is not involved in these ventures but that some of its members are. The Educational Development Trust was founded to establish secondary schools for boys and girls initially in the Dublin area.
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The operation was to be funded through a new vehicle, the Park Industrial and Provident Society Limited, which was set up in Over the years Horgan has also had interests in the clothing trade, the most recent being an outfit called Paul Matthew which he disposed of in a management buy-out in Other members of the trust have included the prominent Dublin lawyer Frank Fitzpatrick, who has stated to Magill that he is not a member of Opus Dei.
Apart from his interest in Fitzpatricks, one of the country's biggest firms of solicitors, he also owns the Las Rampas hotel in Fuengirola in southern Spain. Also involved is Noel Duff, managing director of Buswells Hotel opposite Dail Eireann, who could not be contacted for comment. The Educational Development Trust has so far established two schools. In a boys' school was established at Rockbrook near Rathfarnham; this was called Rockbrook Park School.
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There are some non-Opus Dei teachers in these schools but many are members; head teachers are invariably Opus Dei members. It is not unusual for pupils to travel ten or twenty miles to attend these schools. From the outset the schools were aimed at the elite of Dublin society. Although the schools are non-residential, fees are high. Opus Dei has extensive publishing interests in Ireland. These are run by Michael Adams, one of the most senior numerary members of the organisation in Ireland.
Opus Dei runs a chain of publishing houses under the name Scepter, the largest being in Chicago; and in a company called Scepter Publishers Limited was founded in Ireland. Like its sister companies elsewhere, Scepter's main function has been to publish literature associated with Opus Dei, and in particular Monsignor Escriva's best known work, The Way.
Scepter Ireland does not appear to have traded since The fourth director was David Donovan-Coyle, one of Galway's leading businessmen and a director at various times of up to twenty companies, among them Hygeia, Cold-Chon, Galway Concrete and Foir Teoranta, the state rescue bank. Mr Donovan-Coyle says that he is not a member of Opus Dei but admits to "admiring their efforts", and states that he made no money personally out of Scepter. For virtually all of its existence Scepter was controlled by Conference Centres Limited, a limited guarantee company enjoying charitable status because it has no share capital; all the directors of Conference Centres are numerary members of Opus Dei.
Four Courts Press specialises in publishing liturgical and religious books and has brought out many works by Dr Newman, the Dishop of Limerick. One of its primary functions is the publication of Position Papers. Position Papers are pamphlets issued on a monthly or bi-monthly basis by Opus Dei in Ireland. They deal with a variety of political and social issues and promote a rigidly conservative line on all of them - divorce, contraception and family matters.
Dei outfit, registered in the name of Terence Horgan, who also figures in the Educational Development Trust.
Michael Adams is the only Irish-resident director shareholder in Irish Academic Press, a company specialising in academic books. Opus Dei has considerable influence in the Irish business community.
This influence has been fostered and developed to a considerable degree through its conference centres at Ballyglunin and Lismullin. Ballyglunin Park Conference Centre is situated in a remote corner of East Galway in a magnificent Georgian great house; it occupies the same site as the Ballabert Catering College and it appears that the girls in the college, who live on site, service the centre itself. Dr O'Connor is an extremely affable and charming man and on the evening Magill called he was conducting a recollection, lecturing some of the wealthy burghers of Galway on "Materialism and Detachment".
He explained how Ballyglunin functioned: "Men are invited to attend recollections through the personal apostolate of people", i. He said that these recollections were attended by "business people" from the Galway and Tuam area and that the larger centre at Lismullin fulfilled the same function for the Dublin area.