Opus Dei forms new institute, issues video on members

Published: 2006-04-21

NEW YORK (CNS) -- Opus Dei will take a hard rap when "The Da Vinci Code" premieres May 19, if the movie at all resembles the best-selling book of the same name by novelist Dan Brown, which portrays Opus Dei as a secretive cult within the church plotting to take over the church. But U.S. leaders of Opus Dei -- a Catholic organization with more than 87,000 members worldwide who seek to make their faith infuse all aspects of life, including their jobs -- are using the occasion as a teachable moment to spread the word of what they are really about. A month in advance of the movie's release, Opus Dei's U.S. branch announced the formation of the St. Josemaria Institute and the release of a free DVD with interviews of several U.S. members who tell how belonging to Opus Dei has affected their lives. The institute, named after Opus Dei's founder, St. Josemaria Escriva de Balaguer, is at the organization's U.S. headquarters in New York. The DVD, titled "Passionately Loving the World," can be ordered on the institute's new Web site, www.stjosemaria.org.

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