From Library Journal
A former numerary, or full member, of Opus Dei, a personal prelature within Roman Catholicism, Tapia offers in almost crushing detail a chronicle of her 20 years with the prelature. She does not hesitate to assert that its methods and structures resemble a cult and that fanaticism and zealotry abound. However, her work has problems. For non-Catholics, terms like personal prelature and secular institution remain without clear definition. In addition, Tapia's interior life remains a mystery; she fails to convey how such a secretive, cultlike sect, disliked and mistrusted by those closest to her, moved her to renounce family and friends for nearly 20 years. Tapia does provide the externals, offering only bare snippets regarding Opus Dei's ability to incorporate her "very flesh and spirit." Readers seeking enlightenment on the needs and motivations of cult followers will be disappointed. An optional purchase at best.?Sandra Collins, Pittsburgh Theological Seminary Lib.Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Language Notes
Text: English (translation)
Original Language: Spanish

FROM THE PUBLISHER

This is the story of a religiously motivated young woman who was manipulated, turned into a fanatic, and only gradually came to her senses - all because of a religious organization working in the highest echelons of the Roman Catholic Church: Opus Dei, "God's Work." Much has been written about Opus Dei, which during the pontificate of Pope John Paul II has become the most powerful organization in the Roman Catholic Church. Described as a "Holy Mafia" by its critics, "The Work," as it is known, has been charged with secrecy, elitism, reactionary politics, and questionable financial practices. But no one until now has described the inner workings of Opus Dei, from its goals and methods to the actual day-to-day activities of it members, with as much thoroughness and detail as Maria del Carmen Tapia. The author describes what she calls the making and unmaking of a fanatic. There is the devious recruitment, the forced estrangement from her family, the indoctrination, life in the "Golden Cage" of Opus Dei's governing center in Rome, her years as head of the women's section in Venezuela, her sudden recall to Rome, where for seven months she was held virtually prisoner, and finally the reprisals after she left the organization. In this strongest indictment of Opus Dei to date, Maria del Carmen Tapia reveals the dark side of "The Work": its duplicity, questionable recruitment practices, shocking disregard for human rights, and the unwholesome cult of its founder.

FROM THE CRITICS

Library Journal

A former numerary, or full member, of Opus Dei, a personal prelature within Roman Catholicism, Tapia offers in almost crushing detail a chronicle of her 20 years with the prelature. She does not hesitate to assert that its methods and structures resemble a cult and that fanaticism and zealotry abound. However, her work has problems. For non-Catholics, terms like personal prelature and secular institution remain without clear definition. In addition, Tapia's interior life remains a mystery; she fails to convey how such a secretive, cultlike sect, disliked and mistrusted by those closest to her, moved her to renounce family and friends for nearly 20 years. Tapia does provide the externals, offering only bare snippets regarding Opus Dei's ability to incorporate her "very flesh and spirit." Readers seeking enlightenment on the needs and motivations of cult followers will be disappointed. An optional purchase at best.Sandra Collins, Pittsburgh Theological Seminary Lib.

Washington Post