Back at work for the next three days after the Christmas break until the (over)indulgence can start again on New Year's Eve. At least there's nothing left of the turkey; not my favourite of meats and my mum wouldn't have fancied the idea of creating that behemoth of poultry dishes, the 'Turducken' (a turkey stuffed with a chicken, which is in turn stuffed by a duck) so turkey was the only meat on the menu. They could go even further on the poultry ostentation scale, perhaps with the 'Swurduckenquail' - yes that's right, a swan stuffed with a turkey, which is stuffed with a chicken, which is stuffed by a duck, in turn stuffed with a quail. I think it's only a matter of time before this culinary absurdity hits the tables.
Talking of OD, I read Dan Brown's 'The Da Vinci Code' over the break in between the turkey-gorging and sleeping, a novel where he pulls together several theories and myths plus some allegedly factual evidence to spin a tale about the Holy Grail and in which he mentions another OD - that of Opus Dei, the Catholic organisation with the overdose here being religious zealotry and the brainwashing of its members. Although a work of fiction, the facets Brown describes of the real-life Opus Dei can be corroborated and a little research yields many tales of past members having been befriended by Opus Dei members who were trying to 'apostolate' - basically recruit them. The methods are aggressive and manipulative in the manner of making the potential member feel guilty about the wrong and suffering in the world and urging them to join Opus Dei to carry out good Christian work towards ending this.
Aiding others would seem a noble Christian cause, but the reality is that once initiated into the organisation members are increasingly corralled like sheep in their lives and thinking to conform to the beliefs of Opus Dei which are based on 'The Way', authored by the organisation's founder Josemaria Escriva. People have cited a brainwashing effect whereby people come to rely on the organisation and become enveloped by the doctrines taught them (for example members are strictly monitored on their reading material). As such it seems many cultish facets of Opus Dei exist from a dicatatorial authority figure to a strict hierarchical structure of obedience and subservience, allied to an overbearing control of information.
My personal Catholic experience comes from attending a Catholic boys' school (run by the Jesuits, who incidentally are a group opposed to Opus Dei and the canonization of its founder) at one point in my education, which was when I first heard of Opus Dei. Not being Catholic myself, I still attended mass (which we had weekly) out of respect, but I was never comfortable with many Catholic concepts including the whole confession and penance ritual (if you confess your sins and repent your souls will be cleansed, but if you don't Purgatory awaits). I once went to confession out of curiosity and failed to see how saying a few 'Hail Marys' and a couple of 'Our Fathers' should absolve someone of committing sin, and the act of confessing to a priest was to me a little strange, given that they taught in theology classes that God was omniscient and I presumed that a good Catholic would come clean to God in their prayers anyway!
The whole idea of original sin and the theme of guilt within Catholicism was a hard pill for me to swallow. However, this forms a major part of the ideology within Opus Dei to a further extreme, that followers should perform 'corporal mortification', which includes self-flagellation at one end of the scale and abstinence at the other, as a daily reminder of original sin and act of spiritual cleansing. That some of their members (those ranked as numeraries) have to wear a 'cilice' (basically a barbed band designed to cut into the wearer's flesh) for a few hours each day to achieve this aim shows the archaic thinking behind Opus Dei. Also, should any member believe that they require to carry out more than their daily amount of 'corporal mortification' they need the authority of somebody higher ranked - this shows the strict hierarchy within Opus Dei and also the incredible indoctrination whereby someone would actually say in effect, 'Please (Sir/Ma'am), may I have some more pain?'.
At the end of the day I consider myself agnostic; given my Buddhist parents and upbringing, schooling in various establishments of differing Christian denomination and an open religious education, perhaps this is logical. Religion per se isn't a bad thing as it can give followers contentment and a sense of purpose in their lives, rather it is the conflicts which arise because of how individuals interpret and act on them which is the problem - fundamentalists of any creed can be dangerous. An organisation as blinkered and intolerant as Escriva's Opus Dei can only promote these conflicts and misunderstandings as well as hurting the individuals it seeks out to serve its purpose (argued by many to be mainly fiscal).
People should be left to decide their own minds and the right to an opinion should be respected - nobody should have to be coerced into any belief. Problems arise when religions and people belonging to them lose this respect for others as in the case of Opus Dei which is only one amongst many religious groups guilty of this.
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