Fact or fiction? Secret Societies.

I have heard of Opus Dei and The Knights of Saint Columba and read reference to an aura of mystery around certain orders like the Jesuits.

But really, aren't these organisations all above board and side from the Dan Brown effect or are there ground to suspect there are secret societies at work within the Catholic Church?

The Knights of St Columba are pretty much above board, at least in my experience. They do good works and carry the canopy over the Blessed Sacrament in outdoor processions, are often a tad old-fashioned, and like a bit of ritual in their meetings, but I know many members who are just ordinary committed Catholic men who like to help father. A sort of Catholic version of Lions or Rotary rather than Freemasons.

Opus Dei is a little less benign, in my view, but hardly a secret society any more, and certainly not what Dan Brown would have it be.

2

Opus Dei is a little less benign, in my view

Why do you say so?

>3 LesMiserables: Knights of St Columbus is a bit like joining a club, or joining the Society of St Vincent de Paul, the Catholic Women's League or the parish bar committee. Opus Dei is an organisation that demands a deeper level of commitment and includes practices which in some cases might be considered harmful or divisive. I'm not necessarily making a judgement on Opus Dei, but simply pointing out that it is a different animal from the Knights and that if it does have a negative side then that side will manifest itself in a more significant manner.

4

Thanks. I know as much about Opus Dei as the the next man: not much at all. I do suspect however that they would be victim of conspiracy theorists and the like simply because they are what they are: a committed group.

Interesting article--salary of K of C director is >$2 million? One of my grandfathers was K of C, and the other was a Mason, so I've wondered about their workings, similarities, enmity, etc.

Knights of Columbus' financial forms show wealth, influence
Tom Roberts | May. 15, 2017
https://www.ncronline.org/news/people/knights-columbus-financial-forms-show-weal...

In my opinion the only remaining halfway secret organization in the Catholic Church is the Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem - Ordo Equestris Sancti Sepulcri Hierosolymitani (OESSH), and that may have to do with its illustrious membership, as it is pretty much a money club with a membership that consists of men with a often very dubious Catholic track record - kind of a Catholic version of Bohemian Grove / Bilderberger.

Actually I was confirmed by the Grand Prior of the Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem, Franz Cardinal Hengsbach, Bishop of Essen.

Knights' monetary influence skews our church (NCR)

Hm, seems there's much more to the US Knights of Columbus than I was ever aware of in the UK Knights of St Columbus. I'm more familiar with "the friendly uncle of the family who oversees the Friday fish fries, occasionally going off to secret ceremonies and, at a certain level of membership, breaking out odd costumes replete with cape, sword and plumed hat for special occasions that often involve members of the hierarchy" (except that we didn't have "Friday fish fries" - it would more likely have been overseeing the bar in the parish club in our case).

>8 John5918:

Although unmentioned, I don't think someone versed in Catholic media could fail to recall that NCR's main competitor, Crux, is now funded by the KoC.

Uh oh?

William Barr and Opus Dei, the Secretive Ultra-Conservative Catholic Organization That Poses an Existential Threat to Democracy and Pluralism
Bill Berkowitz | August 2, 2019

It is no secret that Attorney General William P. Barr has ties to Opus Dei, the highly secretive, ultra-conservative Catholic organization. Opus Dei, which literally means "The Work of God," “is known for recruiting very influential members, especially those simpatico with culturally conservative causes,” veteran journalist Frank Cocozzelli recently explained. Barr’s connections to Opus Dei – it is unclear how deep it runs -- might in part explain, as Cocozzelli pointed out in an early May story headlined “Did Opus Dei Teach A.G. Barr to ‘Puts Away His Scruples’?,” Barr’s “apparent ‘ends justifies the means’ strategy” regarding his testimony about the Mueller Report before the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee.

“Before his Senate Judiciary Committee confirmation hearing in January, Barr had completed a questionnaire,” Betty Clermont reported. “On page 4, he listed positions he’s held as director of the Catholic Information Center which is managed by priests from Opus Dei, (2014-1017), director of the decidedly right wing think tank Ethics and Public Policy Center (2004-2009) and director of the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty (1994-2015).

In her blog, The Open Tabernacle, Clerment, the author of The Neo-Catholics: Implementing Christian Nationalism in America, wrote: “the Opus Dei Catholic Information Center’s ‘members and leaders continue to have an outsize impact on policy and politics. It is the conservative spiritual and intellectual center … and its influence is felt in all of Washington’s corridors of power,’ the Washington Post stated recently.”

...In a 2006 article posted at Talk to Action titled “The Catholic Right, Part Two: An Introduction To The Role Of Opus Dei” (veteran journalist Frank) Cocozzelli noted that “The danger that a politically active Opus Dei membership currently represents to liberal democracy is not from assassinations by imaginary albino monks (for the record, there are no Opus Dei monks), but in its very Plutocratic attitude in abhorring dissent.”

Cocozzelli ended his Daily Kos story writing: “What is it about Republicans such as William Barr who are willing to destroy the norms of both justice and American democracy; what drives men such as him? To this observer, it seems it is the overwhelming desire to impose both a theocratic cultural agenda coupled with a laissez-faire-tinged brand of capitalism rapidly devolving into a new feudalism.”

https://buzzflash.com/articles/william-barr-and-opus-dei-the-secretive-ultra-con...

Last year I had the opportunity to find out more about the Knights of Columbus in the USA, and even to visit their HQ and meet one of their senior officials in the company of one of my bishops. I realise now that they are very different to the Knights of St Columba that I used to know in the UK. While their roots might have been the same, working to empower Catholic men in societies where being a left-footer could be disadvantageous, their routes diverged in very different directions. I learned that the US KOC has now become a multi-million dollar insurance giant which can use its funds to peddle influence.

>9 timspalding: contd. Scapegoats will be required. Hope not ordinary Catholics.
Responses to this tweet make me think it's possible...

Cheri Jacobus @CheriJacobus (former GOP) | 11:05 PM · Oct 15, 2019
https://twitter.com/CheriJacobus/status/1184304267072606208

So Bill Barr is a member of Opus Dei.
I'd like to know which other Trump staff (or their spouses) are also members of this creepy, disturbing and secretive Catholic society.

Americans have a right to know what the influences are in our White House.