Opus Dei: Holiness North of the Common

LIVING together in a large white house north of the Common, ten Harvard and M.I.T. Catholic men are trying hard to make themselves holy and glorify God by working. Leading disciplined, intensely religious lives, they are trying to prove that a few young people still believe in God, good manners, and a rugged but charitable individualism.

They are members of Opus Dei, a worldwide association of Roman Catholic lay people whose message to individuals-particularly professional people-is a sort of Catholic moral rearmament. Based in Spain, Opus Dei now claims a membership of over 60,000 men and women in 69 countries, including 2000 Americans.

Opus Dei seeks to help its members lead fully Christian lives outside as well as inside the cathedral. By obeying conscientiously the teachings of the Catholic Church in their everyday work-and by influencing their fellow workers to do likewise-members believe they will achieve sanctification.

Despite its claim to be an exclusively spiritual organization, Opus Dei has become a powerful conservative force in Spanish politics and society. Its members occupy top positions in that country's government, economy and university system. Some Spaniards refer to it as "Octopus Dei."

A Spanish lawyer-turned-priest, Msgr. Jose M. Escriva founded Opus Dei in 1928 to counter what he saw as growing secularism and anti-clericalism among Spanish intellectuals. As president-general, Escriva now controls the association from Rome. In 1947, the Vatican officially recognized Opus Dei as the Church's first secular institute.

"Opus Dei," Escriva has written, "was born to tell men and women of every country and of every condition, race, language, milicu, and state of life-single, married and priests-that they can love and serve God without giving up their ordinary work, their family or their normal social relations."

In 1933, Escriva published The Way, a collection of 999 principles by which members of Opus Dei are to live. It has sold more than two million copies in over 60 languages.

Written in the second person, most of the principles are didactic aphorisms which exhort the reader to hard work, self-denial and service to society. "Be firm! Be strong! Be a man! And then... be an angel!" counsels principle number 22.

II

THE Cambridge students live with an older director, Carl B. Schmitt Jr. '51, two priests, an architect and an astrophysicist in a large, comfortably furnished house on Follen Street.

Elmbrook, as the house is called, is one of 20 residential study centers which Opus Dei operates in the United States. Boston has two such centers: Trimount House for men and Bayridge House for women.

All of Elmbrook's residents are single Catholic men. Most Opus Dei members eventually marry, although some remain celibate. Women and non-Catholics are welcome at the house, but only as visitors.

Non-Catholics may participate in some activities as "Cooperators," but may not join the organization. Women may join the larger association of Opus Dei, but they are organized in a segregated branch.

"The professional role of women is not skirted in the least in Opus Dei," Schmitt said in a recent interview. President-general Escriva, however, believes the woman's most important place is in the home. Escriva has written, "In the care she takes of her husband and children, a woman fulfills the most indispensable part of her mission."

Unlike Phillips Brooks House and Hillel House, Elmbrook is not officially associated with the University. Schmitt said that students living at Elmbrook "participate in all sorts of Harvard activities, and hundreds of Harvard students visit Elmbrook each year."

Elmbrook was established by the American branch of Opus Dei in September 1959. It is not a monastery and its residents are not required to take vows. Most of them, however, gather for daily mass, formal evening meals, meditation sessions, and occasional weekend retreats at the association's rural conference center in East Pembroke.

Living at Elmbrook, Schmitt said, "involves a serious effort to make use of the means the Church has to offer-the sacraments, prayer and confession-to live conscientiously.

"As long as you live by Catholic doctrine, what you do in the world is your affair," he added. "Opus Dei is very conscious of the dimension of individual freedom."

Officially Elmbrook has no house rules. There is tacit agreement, however, to maintain a minimum of noise, to wear coats to dinner, and generally to observe home manners. "We like to keep a family atmosphere," Richard F. Collier '72, one Elmbrook resident, said.

Elmbrook has no official policy on the use of drugs. "It's never come up," Collier said. "The people who live here and the people who come over a lot aren't going to use them."

The upkeep of the house and the planning of activities are the responsibility of a house committee, consisting of Schmitt and two residents appointed by him. The committee assigns cleaning and maintenance jobs to everyone in the house, but hires women to cook and to clean up after meals. Elmbrook students pay room and board fees to the house which Collier said were "slightly higher than Harvard's."

Most students now living at Elmbrook moved there as sophomores, after hearing about Opus Dei from friends who were members. Collier said he learned about the Cambridge center after taking a seminar at Schuyler Hall, Opus Dei's student residence at Columbia University.

Several students became interested in Elmbrook after attending summer orientation meetings held at the center for incoming Harvard freshmen from the Boston area. "We posted notices in local high schools," Schmitt said. "Perhaps six or seven freshmen showed up for each session."

F. Skiddy von Stade Jr. '38, dean of freshmen, said last week that he had met with incoming freshmen at Elmbrook "two and three summers ago" to talk about freshman year.

Students wishing to live at Elmbrook must first gain Schmitt's permission. Then they must file off-campus living applications with their House Master of the dean of students. Collier said the application process was "difficult."

Dean Epps said last week that no students had filed applications for permission to live at Elmbrookt for next year. "I've never heard of Elmbrook or Opus Dei," Epps added.

III

"OPUS DEI has no political or economic orientation in Spain or elsewhere," Escriva has written. "Each member is absolutely free to think and act as he sees fit."

However, members of Opus Dei may not hold political beliefs that contradict Catholic doctrine. "Atheistic communism is specifically condemned," Schmitt said, "and if socialism is understood as a denial of private property, then that would be wrong too."

Opus Dei members, however, have a reputation for extreme conservatism. At Elmbrook, life is outwardly more restrained than life in a Harvard House. A recent Life article described Elmbrook's Columbia counterpart as "a tasteful commune for conservatives."

Collier said that students living at Elmbrook hold "diverse political views." "There are no real extremists, or if there are, they keep it to themselves," he added.

"The local Opus Dei people seem to be apolitical," Fr. Richard B. Griffin, S.J. '51, the Catholic chaplain of Harvard, said last week. "Many of us in the Church increasingly think that participation in the broad area of polities is a basic part of the Christian commitment. I have the impression that they don't feel that."

Schmitt, however, said he thought that Catholic priests should stay out of polities. "Secular problems, as far as participation, should fall to laymen," he said. "Priests should stick to preaching doctrine."

He specifically criticized Fr. Daniel Berrigan, Fr. Philip Berrigan and Congressman Robert Drinan, S.J. (D-Mass.) for engaging in politics. The Berrigan brothers have been involved in numerous protests against American participation in the Vietnam war. Drinan won a seat in Congress in 1970, running as a peace candidate.

Some observers interpret as conservatism Opus Dei's strong belief in individual freedom and responsibility.

Asked whether he could condemn a member of Opus Dei for being in Franco's Spanish cabinet, Schmitt said. "As long as the Church says it's all right for him to be in the cabinet, I think it's okay. I have no right to judge another man's actions. The only question I can ask is: Is he being loyal to his conscience?"

IV

WHAT is so attractive about membership in Opus Dei compared to parish life? "Many Catholics are dissatisfied with parish life," Griflin explained, "In many parishes there are 2000 families. Spiritual and human links with others in the parish are therefore tenuous."

"The spirit of Opus Dei is that Jaymen can work with laymen," Michael A. Cook '72, a frequent visitor to Elmbrook, said last week.

"Opus Dei emphasizes what laymen can do," Schmitt said. "Ordinarily, a Catholic thinking of serving his fellow men would become a priest," he said. "Opus Dei encourages its members to pursue virtues outside the Church."

Much like the 17th century New England Puritans, members of Opus Dei believe in the sanctity of hard work.

"Work is to give glory to God," Schmitt said. "It involves human virtue and establishes one's place in society."

Schmitt said that Opus Dei doctrine differs from the Protestant work ethic in that it "stresses the need for attention to virtue while working, rather than the virtue of work for success's sake."

Escriva has written, "God created man to work. Work is one of the highest human values and the way in which men contribute to the progress of society. But even more, it is a way to holiness."

Why join Opus Dei? "It was the best way I could serve God," one member said. "Through my own sanctification. I could help those around me."