Quote:
Originally Posted by Kevin
Something a lot of folks don't understand about Catholicism is that beliefs within the whole of Catholicism are as diverse as they are within Protestantism.
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That's an understatement! If you ever read the book about Robert Hanssen, a former FBI agent who spied for Soviet and Russian intelligence services against the United States, you will read of his family's involvement in the Opus Dei movement of the Catholic church. The name of the book slips my mind but I'm sure you can find it on Amazon.
Opus Dei is a controversial orthodox form of Catholocism. It shares the doctrines of the Catholic Church and has "no other teaching than the teaching of the Magisterium of the Holy See", as per the founder, Josemaría Escrivá de Balaguer.
Criticism of Opus Dei has centered on allegations of secretiveness, controversial and aggressive recruiting methods, strict rules governing members, elitism and misogyny, and support of or participation in authoritarian or right-wing governments. Critics allege that Opus Dei maintains an extremely high degree of control over its members—for instance, requiring numeraries to submit their incoming and outgoing mail to their superiors for inspection, and members are forbidden to read certain books without permission from their superiors. Critics charge that Opus Dei pressures numeraries to sever contact with non-members, including their own families.
Opus Dei received international attention due to the novel The Da Vinci Code and its film version of 2006.
While Robert Hanssen was active in Opus Dei, attended mass daily and recruited members for the organization, he regularly frequented strip clubs, shared recordings of he and his wife having sex and had a relationship with a stripper for whom he purchaed jewelry and a Mercedes Benz.
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