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The Da Vinci Code: A Biblical Response

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Opus Dei Responds to Da Vinci's Portrayal of Group

By Mark Martin
CBN News Reporter

CBN.com – (CBN News)- The Da Vinci Code movie arrives in theaters in a month.

Today, the Catholic group at the heart of the story, Opus Dei, throws off its reputation of secrecy to release its own movie.

They want to show that they are not the evil force that The Da Vinci Code portrays them to be.

The video, which features enthusiastic Opus Dei members, provides a striking contrast to The Da Vinci Code's portrayal of Opus Dei as a murderous cult.

One excerpt of dialogue from the movie has a member saying, "My job is to find is to find holiness and bring holiness into every day circumstances like this one."

Owen Damons, an Opus Dei member, appears in the video with his six children. "I think it's an act of charity to say, 'Hey no, that's not who we are,'" Damons said.

Opus Dei was founded in 1928 by a Spanish priest who wanted to provide Catholics with a more rigorous program for living out their faith every day.

Opus Dei now has 87,000 members worldwide and 3,000 in the U.S. Most live with their families.

A small percentage take a vow of celibacy and live in Opus Dei centers.

To counter criticisms from former members like Tammy DiNicola, who said, "It creates this atmosphere of -- you're never alone, you're always watched,” and to counter The Da Vinci Code's allegations of bloody, masochistic rituals, Opus Dei's public relations also has a new Web site and a new spokesperson.

"Well, the truth is that no one's mutilating themselves, and it’s sensationalized for movies. People love that sort of thing," Terri Carron of Opus Dei said.

She says that some members do inflict minor pain with whips or spiked chains as a reminder of Christ's pain, but says the group is not a cult.

Opus Dei also has its own Silas. As opposed to the Silas of The Da Vinci Code, the murderous albino monk, Silas Agbim is a stockbroker from Brooklyn.

Agbim said, "You can see I am not an albino. I am not a monk -- far from that."

Opus Dei says it is ready for accusations, and ready, for a response of its own.

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