Mel Gibson and Opus Dei

Over the last several months, I have received dozens of visitors who were referred to this site from search engines using the keywords Mel Gibson and Opus Dei.

Puzzled, I ran into another fellow at St. Blog's, Matthew Collins, who also happens to be a member of Opus Dei and has composed this little Opus Dei FAQ. He has also received these visits. He even went so far as to ask what these folks were looking for, and their question appeared to be that because Mel Gibson is said to be a radical traditionalist, and Opus Dei is also considered by some to be radically traditionalist, is Mel Gibson a member of Opus Dei? Matt's FAQ answers the question.

For those folks, let me set the record straight. Mel Gibson is not a member of Opus Dei. Secondly, in my opinion, Opus Dei is far from being radically traditionalist. Though it probably isn't for everyone, I would consider it orthodox and pretty mainstream, actually. As I understand it, the primary message of Opus Dei and its founder, St. Josemaría Escrivá, is the idea of the universal call to holiness, including that of the laity of our church. As ecclesiastical movements go, this is a popular idea. The whole idea of the universal call to holiness is the emphasis behind such Vatican II documents as Lumen Gentium. I also understand there are a number of myths associated with Opus Dei that I won't get in to here, primarily because I have had very limited exposure to them and am not a member myself. But Matt can answer these questions, and I'm sure there are many out there who can explain them.