How I Left the Opus Dei

I haven't watched the series yet, so I won't give any stars, but for what I've read and seen in interviews about the experiences of these women absolutely breaks my heart.. I'm a current numerary member of Opus Dei, and I'm totally not falling for the "I love Opus Dei and want to defend it so I'll do a technical critique of it as a documentary" reviews, they don't convince even me. What breaks my heart is that members of my own family, which is Opus Dei, have hurt these women so badly. Clearly someone did something very wrong to them. I can imagine how I could end up giving the same kind of testimony if I would have been introduced to the Work through a manipulative bunch of people, which I know exist in it, as anywhere else. But mine has been an experience of genuine love and care, no matter if I stay or leave. And I want to stay, despite having been hurt quite badly at times by other members. I have been hurt in my childhood family as well, and I don't want to leave them either. My heart and prayers are with these women, I pray that they might find further peace and healing in their personal path. I also intensely hope that the people who treated them badly, intentionally or unintentionally, have seriously repented, and legally sued if necessary. We need to learn.

I was also recruited as a young teenager to Opus Dei, and spent 12 years in the organization. This documentary series is absolutely accurate, so accurate that it could have been about my own life. I remember having to study chemistry on the bus commuting to and from the university. I also remember not having cash to buy something to eat during the day. I remember having to clean the men's houses and thinking to myself- why wouldn't they be able to do this themselves? Watching the documentary has re-opened my eyes to the extent of the psychological abuses. Thank you for shining a light on the realities of Opus Dei.

I also left Opus Dei in the second decade of this century.

The docuseries says exactly what I lived through, what we all lived through, in its first few episodes. It's 100% real. So real that it hurts. So real that it makes you want to stop the playback, open the window, and scream: Why do they do things so wrong in that institution???

J. K. Rowling's latest book, The Running Grave, addresses precisely the actions and consequences of religious cult groups. Setting aside the plot elements related to a detective novel, the methods of recruitment, the processes of persuasion, indoctrination, guilt-tripping, idealization of the leader, member categories, exhausting pace of life, money management, etc., couldn't help but remind me over and over again of what I experienced inside Opus Dei. Terrible.

This series is not a Rowling novel (written under her pseudonym Robert Galbraith), but a documentary about my life and the lives of thousands and thousands of us who also left Opus Dei under threats of eternal damnation. Moreover, in my case, when I said I was leaving for good, they tried to convince me that I was mentally unstable (something my psychologist and psychiatrist firmly denied) and that I needed to take pills. Thank God I had the sense to say, "The problem is yours, not mine."

Additionally, the docuseries is very well made, with a great pace. Thank you for remembering the thousands of victims of this institution that does not deserve to take God's name in vain.

The only people hating on this film are in or involved with Opus Dei. They have their bias. Meanwhile, people who escaped Opus Dei know all too well how true these stories are. Let the public beware: Opus Dei is a dangerous high demand religion that has destroyed the lives of thousands of ex members with little to no oversight by the Catholic Church. They want your children to make a vocational commitment as early as 14.5 years old and they LIE when they try to tell you people cannot join until they are adults. They are using half truths and your ignorance of their statutes and canon law to make you try to believe them. If you value your life and the lives of your loved ones you will Stay Away from Opus Dei.

I was a member of Opus Dei. I was recruited as a child and was coerced into joining after being pestered and repeatedly told I had a vocation. A vocation to OD does NOT exist as has been determined by the Pope repeatedly. This documentary is 100 percent true.

Any comments to the contry are from Opus Dei themselves and their diehard followers. It is inevitable that they would try to invalidate the experience of these women and it is also inevitable that they would dig in to 'protect' their institution. An institution that they in fact and in reality do not even belong to but have nevertheless given many years and an awful lot of money to. As always the voices of the victims are being drowned out by the abusers and those who benefit from their exploitation.