Magnum Opus Dei

MAGNUM OPUS DEI: of God and Greed + + Based on a True Story of An Ex-Opus Dei Priest + + VOLUME ONE INSIDE OPUS DEI, by Dr. Luis Esteban Latorre Part 1. I was a priest of the Opus Dei I was a priest of the Opus Dei for twenty long years. My parents also joined the Opus Dei, donated to the religious organization, now called "Personal Prelature," three pieces of real estate (the best of their properties), and donated also their only children, two sons, myself and my brother Bobby, both of whom became priests of the Opus Dei. My father was the only surviving son among daughters in his family and with both his sons as celibate priests in the Opus Dei, future generations would no longer bear his family name. I never regretted having joined the Opus Dei, I am still very much a conservative Catholic. But in the long run, its disciplines and practices conspired to alienate my basic instincts and led me to resign voluntarily from the Prelature and risk the acrimony of my friends and my brother. I was treated like a spiritual leper by Opus Dei members, despite the fact that I remained a priest in the diocese of Malolos, Bulacan. My parents resented this treatment and resigned from the Opus Dei. Before my father died, he extracted a promise from me to write about my experiences in the Work, as we call the Opus Dei. This I will do in these series of articles. I did more than that, I decided to leave the priesthood, get married, and give my father a grandson to carry on his name. I studied grade school and high school in La Salle, continued in Ateneo (Associate of Arts, Dean's List); in the University of the Philippines (Bachelor of Arts, cum laude), and in the University of Navarre in Spain and Rome (Ph.D. in Theology, sobresaliente cum laude, after getting my MA in History and Philosophy). In La Salle, I belong to a class that was accelerated by skipping grade seven and going straight to high school, after a rigid IQ test. As such I really belonged to three batches in La Salle, including the class we left behind and the class we were promoted to. And this is the generation that is already taking over the leadership of our country: The class we left behind, from the not-so-bright sections, included Teddyboy Locsin, Aquino's press secretary, now publisher of Globe; Quinito Henson, TV sports commentator and Danding Cojuangco's campaign manager; Joaquin "Wacky" Trillo, and "Doctor" Andy Jao, PBA sportcasters; Tommy Manotoc, sportsman and husband of beauty queen Au-Au Pijuan and Imee Marcos. The class which was accelerated included; Anthony Aguirre, Harvard man and heir presumptive to Banco Filipino; Vincent Tan, president of Jaime Zobel's Ayala Land; Bertie Lim, brother of Cheche Lazaro and president of Andrew Soriano III's Anscor holding company later became Tourism Secretary]; Louie Ysmael, owner of of Euphoria disco; Celso Lobregat III, loverboy, now Zamboanga congressman; Charlie Rufino (real-estate magnate), Digoy Fernandez (nephew of Jobo), valedictorian Rhett Pleno, and myself. The class we were promoted to included Jose Miguel Cuisia who looks like his brother Joey Cuisia; Mariano and Joey Velez, brothers of Bobong Velez, owners of Faces Disco and Do a Nena restaurant; Atty. Tony Arellano, son-in-law of KBL stalwart Conrado Estrella, ex Sec. of Agrarian Reform; Delfin DC Gonzalez, comptroller of San Miguel Corporation; Boy Feria, son of SC Justice Feria; and Rogelio "Babes" Singson, later became DPWH Secretary. The Work's idea of lay apostolate attracted me. I started frequenting the only Opus Dei Study Center then called Maynilad. Others who went with the same enthusiasm were Ernie Ordo ez, undersecretary of Trade and Industry; Cayetano Paderanga, Cory's NEDA secretary; Jose "Boy" Kalaw, now head of Technology and Livelihood Resource Center (TLRC); and Manila Standard economist and columnist Calixto Chikiamko -- most of whom were active in the Student Catholic Action, but never joined the Opus Dei. (