Rating: 
Summary: private revelation does not guarantee truth or rectitude
Review: As a former numerary who left Opus Dei after six years, I can only confirm the accuracy of much of what Ms. Tapia describes concerning Opus Dei ideology and praxis. The details she cites might be different, but the internal norms that guide thought and behavior in Opus Dei are the same. Although in the balance the picture she creates is a negative one, there are a variety of positive experiences that she relates, implying that the experience of the Opus Dei numerary is not wholly bad. This explains Ms. Tapia's 18-year commitment to the organization. The profile she sketches of Bl. Escriva, while bordering on the satirical, is nevertheless valuable because it indicates another dimension to an influential and controversial man who is usually represented by his followers as a spokesman for the Holy Spirit, more angelic than human. I can also affirm, based on my own experience, that what has been described by Ms. Tapia as Bl. Escriva's harshness and lack of charity has to some extent been passed on to his followers. Moreover, his irascibility and roughness of expression were qualities that I suspected--even in the censored environment of Opus Dei, there existed telling clues to the man's faults--and only now see confirmed through Ms. Tapia's account. No doubt the man was flawed, as anybody else on this earth. What I will express next does not touch directly on the content of Ms. Tapia's book, but I believe that it may shed light on the sentiments expressed, both good and bad, about Opus Dei, and, as a corollary, about Ms. Tapia's story. In my opinion, it is perhaps more accurate to say that Opus Dei is a mixture of what is good and holy, along with beliefs and practices that are not only questionable but arguably immoral. No one can quarrel, for example, with the value of prayerful devotion or the practice of Christian asceticism. But, to cite some examples, the outright deception of parents in the name of the virtue of prudence, it seems to me, clearly trangresses the eighth commandment against lying. The practice of taking parents' possessions and transferring them to the Opus Dei centers without the parents' knowledge, a practice that during my stay in Opus Dei was encouraged directly in writing by Fr. Alvaro del Portillo, citing "the example of our holy Founder," the then deceased Msgr. Josemaria Escriva, also transgresses the seventh commandment against stealing. What are patently immoral practices can only be justified by misguided casuistry. The notion that Opus Dei ideology and praxis is entirely the product of divine inspiration is, in my opinion, theologically insupportable. Much of Opus Dei ideology and praxis originates from Bl. Escriva, if we are to believe historical testimony as well as the practice among Opus Dei directors of citing Bl. Escriva to justify what is often called the Opus Dei "spirit." Yet we must acknowledge that the source of this spirit is Bl. Escriva's claim to private revelation, which belongs to a very different category of truth from the depositum fidei of the Church. Indeed, in many cases it seems that Opus Dei beliefs and practices, as is evident from Ms. Tapia's account, may just as well be the product of human judgment, preference, and opinion. Fr. Escriva's beatification and probable canonization do not alter this equation because the papal act of beatification does not necessarily sanction Bl. Escriva's claim when he was alive that he, as the Founder of Opus Dei, is the sole source and arbiter of a divinely communicated system of belief and practice. One has only to read the history of the Church and peruse copies of original documents to realize that in notable instances, the saints made mistakes that in the context of current knowledge and modern mores might very well be regarded as disgraceful. Some of the saints' mystical writings also show them to be recipients of private revelations that turned out to be false. Instead of assuming that what has been passed on from Bl. Escriva is divinely inspired in its entirety, I believe that it is a more accurate theology to recognize that the truth and value of private revelation is manifest in its effects: "By their fruits you shall know them" (Mt. 7:20). It goes without saying that systemic aspects of Opus Dei ideology and praxis have had very negative effects on individuals who joined the organization under the impulse of unknowing idealism, including Ms. Tapia. Therefore, to cite or criticize the negative aspects of Opus Dei does not necessarily constitute "slander," an emotionally charged word that tends to obfuscate the issues raised by what may very well be legitimate criticism. Insofar as Ms. Tapia testifies to harmful aspects of Opus Dei that are consistently confirmed by many former numeraries, including myself, she is simply telling the truth. I emphatically attest that numerous beliefs and practices of Opus Dei have worked to the harm, at times severely damaging, of many former numeraries, including Ms. Tapia, as well as their families, and that this abuse is insupportably justified by invoking a divine mandate. In consequence, it is my sincere desire that Opus Dei reform itself in specific aspects, for the sake of many aggrieved persons and for the protection of the next generation. Reform entails the rejection of important aspects of Bl. Escriva's idiosyncratic legacy. I earnestly hope that the little I have written will work toward enlightenment and genuine reform and that we will not have to wait as long as Galileo did for rectification.
Rating: 
Summary: Bravo to Maria Del Carmen Tapia
Review: Bravo to Maria del Carmen Tapia for being a trailblazer for all those who have been hurt by Opus Dei. By speaking out, she has started the process of demystifying the cult-like and secretive organization in the Catholic Church. Chapter 7, "Rome II -- Return to the Unknown" is a gripping tale of her imprisonment in Rome by the founder of Opus Dei. Her crime? She used her critical thinking skills as an Opus Dei director in Venezuela. A must-read for anyone who wants to learn to what extent Opus Dei controls the lives of their numerary members.
Rating:
Summary: An honest, fair account of life inside Opus Dei.
Review: Carmen Tapia writes with charity, not in anger; for this reason her horrific account of life inside this sect is the most convincing I have read. Her story ties in with my own experience, and the experience of friends of mine who've had the misfortune to join Opus Dei. Her book can prevent many tragedies if it is read in time.
Rating:
Summary: permutation of some of the worst aspects of religious life
Review: From the book review by Sr. Kaye Ashe, National Catholic Reporter, September 5, 1997: The little I knew about Opus Dei before reading this book was enough to make me uneasy about the increasing strength and visibility of the organization in the Catholic Church. Maria del Carmen Tapia's story deepened my wariness into something akin to dread.... According to Tapia, her formation in Opus Dei bore the marks of determined indoctrination, not to say shameless brainwashing. Superiors encouraged a cultic and worshipful reverence for the founder, whose words and directives were never to be questioned or critiqued. His authority was God-like... The weekly "confidence" or fraternal chat, in which full members bared their souls to the local directress, molded them into unthinking instruments of the organization. The duty of "fraternal correction" imposed on members in their relation to one another a coded system of reporting on those guilty of "bad spirit" or faults against unity, reinforced an atmosphere of guilt and suspicion. Particularly in Rome, a brutal schedule of physical work, the lack of contact with family, friends or outside events and a detailed plan of spiritual development, narrowly focused on Opus Dei regulations, left little time for anything beyond "The Work" and "The Father" (Escriva).... What is bound to strike members of religious congregations is the similarity between the formation received by full members of Opus Dei ("numeraries," who compose about 20 percent of the membership) and the life lived in pre-Vatican II novitiates and convents.... Indeed, all of this seems, if anything, bleaker and more pronounced in Opus Dei than in the old religious communities.... Readers who suspect that Opus Dei's recruitment policies are questionable, its financial and business practices sometimes devious and its deference to the powerful and wealthy self-serving, will find much to confirm their suspicions in Tapia's narrative. If they had reason to wonder at the speedy beatification of its founder in 1992, 17 years after his death, their mystification will double as they see him through Tapia's eyes: a self-preoccupied, overly-authoritarian man given to loud and angry tantrums.
Rating:
Summary: The real inside of the Opus Dei...
Review: I just read the review of Javier Puerta (Spain), and I'm strongly agree with him. Anyone who was numerary knows what happen inside the Opus Dei...and this book it's not a surprise for me; I could writte the same...different places and names, but similar circunstances... I hope that many people read this book and know the truth ....and we're save, because God it's not going to measure us with the wand of the Opus Dei!! He really knows what is charity, love and comprehension...
Rating:
Summary: An excellent representation of life within the Opus Dei
Review: I was a numerary of the Opus Dei in Spain for two years 1977-1978. I was recruited at the age of 19 while attending the University of Barcelona Spanish Studies course for foreigners. My parents who lived in the United States had to threaten with legal action before the Opus Dei allowed me to see them. The book brought back floods of memories. All the aspects of life within the Opus Dei that I had shared in common with Carmen, she had described absolutely accurately. I was alone in a foreign land and they took advantage of my vulnerability to take over my life. Luckily I my parents managed to get me out by hijacking me in London. Carmen has done the world a great service by exposing this terrible organization. I am still a daily Mass going Catholic, and now a medical school student. I was so glad to read that she had not lost her faith over her terrible ordeal. It's never too late to start over!
Rating:
Summary: This book shows the real "Opus Dei"
Review: Let me start by telling you that I was in service to the opus dei for 3 years, in short this means I was a slave not only in body but in mind, I was brainwashed, they made me hurt myself; telling me it was an act of love to God. All of my mail had to be read by the "director" of the house, I had to account to all the time I spent outside the house, They made me recruit new members by "any means necessary", They worship "Blessed Josemaria Escriva" as if he was God. It took me 4 years of therapy to get over my time in that house, If you have children or if you are thinking of joining the opus dei please read this book, if I had read it I would have not been trough this nightmare. What an unbelievable arrogance of this man (Josemaria Escriva) that he named his own work ``The Work of God''. Please I beg you; read this book It cansave you a lot of pain.
Rating:
Summary: If You Have Children -- Read It, Read It, Read It
Review: My children attended an Opus Dei school and I began to become concerned about the Opus Dei affiliation. I am a Catholic and assumed that Opus Dei was a religious order like any other. A friend recommended this book. After I read it, the things happening at the school made a lot more sense. So many people I know (both in Opus Dei and outside Opus Dei) confirm Ms. Tapia' s information about the organization. Thank you so much Carmen Tapia. I will definately educate my children about the dangers of Opus Dei.
Rating: 
Summary: A TROUBLED SOUL
Review: Seems that outside of Friar Tuck of Sherwood Forest fame, all religious leaders aka founders have suffered from those within its struture and from those without. Certainly Maria is baring her totured soul for the world to see. Pity! !Lastima! Complete surrender to God is indeed difficult to attain without the correspondingly difficult humility. Two elusive virtues to Maria. Her book is slanderous, vindictive, vicious, and villifying. Please, Maria, recant. Rethink. Remourse. Your pain is obvious to the most casual reader, but it need not remain with you. P.S. I am not a member of, affiliated with, nor engage in any activities of Opus Dei. I am extemely knowlegable of its spiriuality, its founder (personally), and its apostolate. Basic Theology. Basic Spirituality. Basic 'tongues of fire' Apostolate. Pobrecita - you missed the whole point. And being with the Father himself! What a waste! Pity! Your book, without doubt, is received with joy in the netherworld! !Que pena! !Que mujer tan triste! Espero que un dia vayas con Dios.
Rating:
Summary: if you read this book, be a scientific reader!
Review: This book is a collection of personal reflections written by a woman who was once a member of Opus Dei, an organization which is a part of the Catholic Church, supported by recent popes and the Magesterium, whose founder has been beatified. Ms. Tapia evidently came to regret her decision to join Opus Dei; the book is written as an admitted attempt to discredit the organization and (by implication) the Catholic Church which continues to support it. Read it with that in mind. If you choose to read the book (which I do not recommend), I admonish you to "think like a scientist" reviewing research. If you do this you are sure to recognize that: 1> events are portrayed in very emotional language and with terminology designed to arouse the reader, using words like "communism" and "cult" without basis 2> conclusions are drawn without supporting evidence 3> many "half-truths" are presented completely out of context in order to obscure their full meaning (which is often the opposite of what Ms Tapia implies) If you make it to the dramatic conclusion of the book, having read it critically, I imagine that you will immediately think (as I did) "Wait - there must be something missing!" Why? Because the events as described make absolutely no sense. A big chunk of the story is left out.
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