I read with interest Antonia Cundy’s report “Opus Dei group accused of recruiting children” (August 5). The accounts given by former members of the conservative Catholic group exactly match my own experience as a numerary member from 1974 to 1979, joining when I was 15. I wrote a book about my time in the organisation. In it I tried to expound on and warn about the methods used by Opus Dei when dealing with young adults which amount to brain or soul washing, inculcating certain ways to think, feel and emotionally react.
If these methods are employed on a young person, it will be unimportant whether he or she already has the legal status of a member of Opus Dei or not — one of the issues you discuss. The true scandal is that Opus Dei is still able to disguise the methods by which it recruits adolescents.
These people often come into contact with Opus Dei via institutions (youth clubs, student homes) and offerings (eg computer courses) whose connection with Opus Dei is not obvious.
For the youth clubs or student homes are not owned or formally run by Opus Dei. Legally they are not institutions of Opus Dei. Instead, they are operated by associations founded and run mainly by members of Opus Dei. The young visitors — or their parents — cannot know that one of the main aims of the youth clubs is the recruitment of new members for Opus Dei by those who run the youth clubs.
Klaus Steigleder
Professor of Applied Ethics
Ruhr University, Bochum, Germany
