The Ways of Opus Dei -- Apr. 24, 2006 -- Time

Hier is 'n uittreksel uit 'n artikel oor die Opus Dei in die nuutste uitgawe van TIME Magazine. Dit is die organisasie wat deur Dan Brown se boek, The Da Vinci Code, beroemd (berug?)gemaak is.

The Ways of Opus Dei -- Apr. 24, 2006 -- Page 1: "In early March, Elizabeth Heil, an arts-administration graduate student at Columbia University, was watching previews in a movie theater on Manhattan's Upper West Side when she cracked up inappropriately. The trailer was for the movie The Da Vinci Code, directed by Ron Howard and scheduled to open May 19, and it featured a grim-faced fellow uttering Christ's name repeatedly and then--wham!--whaling away at his already bloodied back with an Inquisition-issue cat-o'-nine-tails. It was not an intentionally funny scene. But Heil, who was familiar with the book on which the movie is based, recognized the figure onscreen as the albino assassin Silas, a fanatical, murderous member of a bizarre Catholic group called Opus Dei, and couldn't suppress a giggle. She is a member of the actual Opus Dei. 'This is so outlandish,' she recalls thinking. 'I wish we were that interesting.'

The Da Vinci Code's Opus Dei--a powerful, ultraconservative Roman Catholic faction riddled with sadomasochistic ritual, one of whose members commits serial murder in pursuit of a church-threatening secret--is obviously not reflective of the real-life organization (although author Dan Brown's website states the portrayal was 'based on numerous books written about Opus Dei as well as on my own personal interviews'). Yet in casting the group as his heavy, Brown"was as shrewd as someone setting up an innocent man for a crime. You don't choose the head of the Rotary. You single out the secretive guy at the end of the block with the off-putting tics, who perhaps has a couple of incidents in his past that will hinder an effective defense.