Opus Dei
Vatican personal prelature
Opus Dei is a Catholic organization founded in Spain in 1928, emphasizing that ordinary people can achieve holiness through daily work and routine activities.
Members include laypeople and priests who commit to spiritual practices while pursuing secular careers.
The organization has attracted controversy over its secretive nature, alleged cult-like practices, and conservative influence within the Church.
It gained wider public awareness through Dan Brown's novel *The Da Vinci Code*, which portrayed it sensationally.
Making someone or something sacred
- workEffort toward a goal
- vocationDedicated career path
- holinessSacred spiritual purity
- prayerAddress to deity
faith · devotion · contemplation · sacrament · Mass · Eucharist · confession · piety
Senior clergy's jurisdiction
- VaticanPapal city-state
- Catholic ChurchPope-led Christian denomination
- clergyOrdained religious officials collectively
- laityNon-ordained church members
supernumeraries · cooperators · priests · headquarters · Rome · apostolate · membership · hierarchy
Intense shame or embarrassment
- self-denialRestraining one's own desires
- asceticismSevere self-denial practice
- penanceSelf-mortification for wrongdoing
- fastingDeliberate food avoidance
celibacy · chastity · abstinence · sacrifice · obedience · supernumerary · spiritual direction · norms
Practice of hiding information
- cultFervent fringe group
- allegationAssertion lacking proof
- criticismJudgment of faults
- recruitmentSeeking new personnel
coercion · control · brainwashing · exposé · transparency · investigation · media · scrutiny
- cryptexRotating-dial message container
- thrillerSuspense-driven narrative genre
- SilasLatin-origin masculine name
- bestsellerHigh-volume publication
Dan Brown · conspiracy · symbologist · Louvre · priory · secret society · villain · sensationalism
sanctification
Making someone or something sacred
prayer · faith · devotion · contemplation · sacrament · Mass · Eucharist · confession · piety · sainthood
prelature
Senior clergy's jurisdiction
- VaticanPapal city-state
- Catholic ChurchPope-led Christian denomination
- clergyOrdained religious officials collectively
laity · supernumeraries · cooperators · priests · headquarters · Rome · apostolate · membership · hierarchy · founder
mortification
Intense shame or embarrassment
- self-denialRestraining one's own desires
- asceticismSevere self-denial practice
- penanceSelf-mortification for wrongdoing
fasting · celibacy · chastity · abstinence · sacrifice · obedience · supernumerary · spiritual direction · norms
secrecy
Practice of hiding information
- cultFervent fringe group
- allegationAssertion lacking proof
- criticismJudgment of faults
recruitment · coercion · control · brainwashing · exposé · transparency · investigation · media · scrutiny · debate
The Da Vinci Code
- cryptexRotating-dial message container
- thrillerSuspense-driven narrative genre
- SilasLatin-origin masculine name
Dan Brown · bestseller · conspiracy · symbologist · Louvre · priory · secret society · villain · sensationalism · Hollywood
- Catholic Associationsconfraternity, sodality, Knights of Columbus
- Catholic ChurchVatican, papacy, cardinals, popes, papal
- Catholic GroupsJesuits, Franciscans, Dominicans, Benedictines, Carmelites
- Catholic OrganizationsKnights of Columbus, St. Vincent de Paul, parish councils, missionary societies, Knights of Malta
- Christian OrganizationsSalvation Army, Pioneers, TBN, Knights of Columbus, K-Love
- Modern ChristianityVatican II, ecumenism, evangelicalism, liberation theology, Billy Graham