Opus Dei - Not Happy (Again)

LONDON (CNS) – The director of Opus Dei in London has formally complained to the British Broadcasting Corp. over an alleged "defamatory portrayal" of the organization in a television police drama.

The director, Jack Valero, said two episodes of "Waking the Dead," shown on the BBC One channel Jan. 21-22, depicted Opus Dei members as violent and hypocrites.

"In these programs Opus Dei was portrayed as an organization of murderers, thieves and adulterers who justify and cover up evil actions while hiding behind a veneer of hypocritical piety and penitential rituals of self-flagellation," Valero said in a Jan.23 letter to the BBC.

Valero told the BBC it was wrong to name Opus Dei and then attribute fictional characteristics to its members. He said it would have been more fair to invent an imaginary organization for the storyline.

He said the BBC's depiction appeared to have been lifted straight from the pages of "The Da Vinci Code," the international bestseller by U.S. author Dan Brown. The book, which Opus Dei members felt depicted them in a negative way, was made into a 2006 film starring actor Tom Hanks.

Opus Dei, founded in 1928 in Madrid, aims to spread throughout all sectors of society an awareness of the call to holiness in ordinary life.

Valero also accused the publicly funded BBC of breaching its own guidelines committing it to avoid the perpetuation of "prejudice and disadvantage which exist in our society."

"We hope that the BBC will investigate the matter and apologize," Valero said in a statement Jan. 23. "But more importantly, we want the corporation to think carefully before choosing again to portray us in this irresponsible way."

"Waking the Dead" is one of Britain's most popular police dramas about unsolved cases.
A BBC spokeswoman said Jan. 25 that the complaint had not yet been received.

"We will be replying directly to whoever has complained," she said. "We won 't be making public the findings of our inquiries straight away."

- - -Copyright (c) 2006 Catholic News Service/U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops

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