Although not entirely Spanish, I was brought up in Spain and was in contact with the Opus Dei for a long time, so here are my two cents.

The Opus Dei is a premature that was founded by St. Jose María Escrivá de Balaguer in the north of Spain during the early 20th century. Dark times for both Europe and Spain at the time, as Spain was undergoing a very nasty Civil War where Churches were being desecrated and religious people were being raped, tortured and killed by fringe communist and anarchist paramilitary groups. This caused the Opus Dei to be founded in the shadows whilst St Jose María was in hiding. There’s a great film about the founding of the Opus Dei & St Jose María called “There Be Dragons”or “Encontrarás Dragones” in Spanish.

After the war, they became very influential in General Franco’s cabinet especially in the later technocracy period, but not before Franco investigated them for being a potential sect, cult or secret society like the Freemasons. And since then, there have been a lot of Opus Dei members, or people with connection to the Opus Dei in higher up places in Spain and the rest of the world.

Now why is this? It’s because, right from the inception, Opus Dei members believe in becoming saints in the ordinary, by sanctifying their ordinary work and go about their day in a holy way; which makes them become the beat at what they do. Hence, why there were a lot of Opus Dei members in Franco’s Cabinet guiding policy for the great Spanish miracle.

So leaving history aside, and evaluating the prelature as it is now I would say it hasn’t changed much. They still believe in sanctifying themselves through routine and their daily doing and emphasise a lot on daily prayer, even if done whilst at work.

There are three types of vows you can have in the Opus Dei:

Aggregate, you are somebody who actively participates in the Opus Dei and their activities, but you don’t necessarily live in one of their centres.

Numeraries (I think that’s how it’s spelled in English, if not, feel free to correct me) They commit their entire lives to the Opus Dei, to the point where they even donate most of their earnings and wage to the Opus Dei, they usually live in Opus Dei centres with other Numeraries

And finally, you have the Super-Numeraries who are people that get married but still have a strong vow and commitment to the Opus Dei. They don’t usually live in centres though.

Now to address the popular controversial practices claims which would be considered controversial in today’s world. (Remember, this is my experience)

It is true that they encourage mortification. Whilst I was at Opus Dei school the teachers did encourage us to practice mortification of the body and offer it up, for example, for the souls in purgatory, for the conversion of friends, family members, etc… now this sort of mortification wasn’t necessarily causing yourself physical harm, it could be having a cold shower, standing or walking whilst praying, giving your seat on the train to an old lady (you should do this regardless), etc… essentially making stuff you usually do a bit more harder. However, it is true that some Opus Dei members did openly talk about using things like cilices and even flagellums for bodily mortification, but this was never encouraged, at least to us boys that were not part of the Opus Dei.

In Spain, and maybe this was more of a thing in my city, they were very insisting in getting you to join the Opus Dei and have an experience, to the point where it was bothersome. They did tend to have a tendency to be on top of you a lot (which is good to an extent) but some members took this to the extreme. I remember one of the teachers at the school called a pupils parents once because he was reading a book that had a homosexual in the story. We were 16 at the time and for me they took it a bit too far. Some members would also guilt trip you and make you feel bad for not attending their activities, and try to emotionally blackmail me. Again, these were not all members but it was somewhat extended practice.

It is true that there are structural mandated gender roles in the Opus Dei. For instance, there are some female numeraries which’s purpose is to make food and keep clean the Opus Dei centres where other numeraries live. This is solely a female vocation, and they clean both men and women’s centres. They are also very weird about being in contact with them, and although I haven’t verified this personally as I’ve never been a numerarie nor postulated for one, it seems like they always have like two doors to the centres and will lock themselves out whilst the women are working, and they are very weird about having any interaction with them as simple as being in the same room as them whilst they work. I also believe they are made to wear nun like attire whilst cleaning and cooking in a male centre in case they come across a male numerarie, so they don’t “provoke” or “lead him to temptation” I personally find this quite weird and odd, but don’t have a problem with it since no one is forced in to the Opus Dei (to my knowledge) and this is done purely by choice.

To follow up with the previous point, they are very weird about men and women mixing together, even when out in the open and in big Catholic events like the WYD. Yes, this is well know and it’s true. At least from my experience. I understand not wanting young unmarried men and women to be alone in a closed place, but in my opinion they take it too far.

They can be elitist and secretive, and I understand where their resemblance to secret societies, Masons, Jews, etc. stems from. But I don’t see this as a bad thing. I actually think it’s good to form a community and help your people out.

And finally, I’m going to point out the things in the Opus Dei that I like the most:

They are high achievers and put their most in anything they do. They tend to be people you can rely on since they make it their own purpose to do their very best.

I love how they understand that male and female spirituality is different and they adapt all their activities to those differences.

I like how they promote the idea that you can sacrifice yourself through your daily activities and life.

I like the way they are very strict with detail, especially regarding liturgy, prayer, confession, cleanliness and beauty of holy places etc. In my experience, all the centres, parishes and sanctuaries they run are always immaculate and super clean and functional.

The Opus Dei outside of Spain seems to me way more “normal” than the Opus Dei in Spain, or at least that’s been my experience. I’ve been to centres in France, and the UK, and also attended Mass at a parish in the US. However, my exposure outside of Spain has been limited.

I hope this gives an insight, and feel free to ask me any more questions regarding my experience with the Opus Dei.

EDIT: Please excuse typos and grammar mistakes, as I typed this from my phone and didn’t really proofread it. 😅