Philosopher Wins $3.8m Grant for Work on Aging & Loneliness
John Beverley, assistant professor of philosophy at the University at Buffalo (SUNY), has been awarded a $3.8 million grant from the National Institute on Aging for a project focused on philosophically-informed ontology development related to the psychological study of aging. (more…)
How Opus Dei Conquered D.C.
Details of the Opus Dei network in the American capital are a significant part of a new, deeply researched book by British financial journalist Gareth Gore, Opus: The Cult of Dark Money, Human Trafficking, and Right-Wing Conspiracy Inside the Catholic Church (Simon & Schuster; October 1). Gore traces the history of the cultish organization from Franco’s Spain through its expansion globally and, finally, to the group’s rising influence in Washington and the American conservative movement.
(Opus Dei declined to comment for this piece, although it had expressed preemptive concern about the book when its publication was announced.)
Opus Dei runs colleges and elite private schools around the world as well as institutions like the CIC, all designed to attract and mold the influential. It has residences where its most dedicated members — “numeraries,” some of whom are ordained priests, as was Father John — live under strict regimens tailored to ward off the sensual temptations of the secular world even while encouraging participation in it. The residence in Manhattan houses numeraries in a 17-story building on 34th Street called Murray Hill Place, which has separate entrances for men and women. Officially, Opus Dei has 3,000 members in the U.S., and Gore was told 800 of them are in Washington.
Not all are numeraries living in the residences; there are “supernumeraries” who live among the rest of us. (There are also those called “cooperators” who are not officially members but are associated with the group and its various activities.) The names of numeraries and supernumeraries are not public unless the members want them to be. And Gore says the numbers don’t reveal the extent of the group’s influence:
“When I first started writing the book, I became obsessed with establishing who is a member. I decided to give up on that. It is a rabbit hole down which you will be hunting forever.” What he found is that “under every stone, you find a whole ecosystem of Opus Dei affiliates.
”Opus Dei has seen its sway rise and fall in the Vatican over the decades, with the more traditionalist popes, including John Paul II and Benedict, more sympathetic. Recently, the more progressive Pope Francis has tried in various ways to rein in the forces of conservativism. But right now, in the U.S. anyway, the organization is on a roll.”