Opus Dei gains ground in England

National Catholic Reporter, Jan 21, 2005 by John L. Allen, Jr.

In a sign that an old wound may have healed in Catholic England, priests from Opus Dei have been assigned a parish in the Westminster archdiocese, and the controversial group now counts the up-and-coming minister of education in the government of Prime Minister Tony Blair among its members.

"Opus Dei is coming in from the cold," one church official in England told NCR, referring to the more ambivalent reception the group had received under the late Cardinal Basil Hume.

Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O'Connor of Westminster announced Jan. 9 that an Opus Dei priest, Fr. Gerard Sheehan, would take over as pastor of St. Thomas More Parish in London's Swiss Cottage neighborhood. The parish is located near a residence for university students operated by Opus Dei, called Netherhall. The parish includes a nearby low-income housing project, as well as two middle- to upper-class areas, and has an estimated Sunday Mass attendance of 500.

St. Thomas More becomes one of a handful of parishes around the world entrusted to the clergy of Opus Dei. In the United States, the lone Opus Dei parish is St. Mary of the Angels in Chicago in Rome, Opus Dei is responsible for Sant' Eugenio Parish, built by Opus Dei and presented to Pope Pius XII.

Prior to entrusting the parish to Opus Dei, Murphy-O'Connor consulted with his archbishop's council, the canons of the Westminster cathedral, and his brother bishops, all of whom, according to sources in England, approved the move.

Meanwhile, with the appointment of Ruth Kelly, 36, an Opus Dei supernumerary (meaning a member who is married and lives with her family), as minister of education, Blair has given the highest profile political post ever to an Opus Dei member in England. Ironically, despite Opus Dei's reputation for conservatism, Kelly is a member of the left-of-center Labor Party.

Kelly is a mother of four, and was a journalist for the Manchester Guardian, widely considered the leading left-wing daffy in Britain, from 1990 to 1994. She worked for the Bank of England before going into politics. She has declined media requests to talk about her Opus Dei membership.

Kelly grew up a Roman Catholic in Northern Ireland, and her family moved to England when she was 15, just in time for the recession of the early 1980s under Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher. The resulting social unrest helped propel Kelly into politics. "I had a very strong feeling that it was unjust and that, if I could do anything to help, I should be doing it," she said in a recent interview.

Kelly is known as part of a breed of younger British politicians who take a strong moral line on issues such as parenting and antisocial behavior. She is staunchly antiabortion and anti-euthanasia, and, according to the Times of London, has made it clear that she will not work at either the Department of Health or the Department for International Development because of her stance against contraception.

Kelly is seen as a rising Star in the Labor Party, and some have even tipped her as a future candidate for prime minister.

These signs carry special significance in Westminster, since it is the only archdiocese in the world where a bishop once published guidelines restricting the activity of Opus Dei. The move came under Hume in 1981, in response to complaints that Opus Dei was "secretive" and subjected young people to excessive recruiting pressure.

Hume's guidelines required that members be 18, that parents be notified when young people join, that members be free to leave and to choose spiritual directors outside Opus Dei, and that Opus Dei activities carry clear indications of their sponsorship.

"I think they've taken on board the criticisms while maintaining their charism, and have become more open," Murphy-O'Connor said during a November interview for a forthcoming book on Opus Dei.

"In a real way, rather than notional, they've been very cooperative in wanting to work with local bishops. There's no sense that they want to work in opposition.... The Catholics I've met in Opus Dei have clearly been very dedicated Catholics, very committed to the particular path that is described by St. Josemaria Escriva which is the mission of lay people in their professional fields."

The bottom line, according to Murphy-O'Connor, is that "I'm very content to have Opus Dei in the diocese."

Despite the fact that Opus Dei arrived in England in 1946, making it one of the first three countries outside Spain where the group set up shop, and that Escriva spent several summers in the United Kingdom, Opus Dei's growth in England has been limited. Today Opus Dei counts roughly 500 English members.

A statement from the Westminster archdiocese said that entrusting St. Thomas More Parish to Opus Dei is in keeping with a policy of asking communities and movements that are already making a contribution to the church in England to pick up responsibility for pastoral care of parishes. In recent months, Westminster has entrusted parishes to Vietnamese and Brazilian communities, and is exploring how the Neocatechumenate and the Carmelites of Mary Immaculate might take on further pastoral oversight.