OPUS DEI SIR,—May another Catholic university teacher make a belated
reply to Mr. Bergonzi's unfair attack on Opus Dei.
Surely it is inconsistent for one who prides him-
self on being a liberal Catholic to admit the illiberal motive of giving 'unwelcome publicity' to an organization of which he plainly knows very little. Would Mr. Bergonzi tell us where are the university chaplains who have been discourteously treated by Opus Del, who are the bishops who have restricted its activities?
Having lived for three years in a university hostel
directed by Opus Del I can testify that it was an exceptionally well-run hostel and that the residents were in no way pressed 'to join the Institute. The aims of Opus Del have been made clear to your readers by an English member: they certainly do not include the 'crusading clerical-fascist activities' imputed by Mr. Bergonzi.
Mr. Bergonzi makes the absurd statement that
Opus Dei fosters 'a repressive and authoritarian type of spiritual direction which may suit the Spaniard but is highly repugnant to the English temperament.' There are many Catholics (and not only in England) to whom any kind of spiritual direction would be repugnant. But those to whom it is not should be
left free to make up their own minds without being snbjected to alarmist propaganda. Mr. Bergonzi's timidity belongs to the era of 'Papal aggression' scares rather than to the late twentieth century.— Yours faithfully, coRNELIUS O'LEARY ha Wellington Park, Belfast
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