List of members of Opus Dei
This is a list of prominent Opus Dei members. It is intended to include people whose membership is documented in published sources.
Government
- Ruth Kelly - Minister for Women and Equality (2006 - Present), Labour Party (center-left) in the United Kingdom. John L. Allen, Jr. states that she is a supernumerary member in his book, Opus Dei.
- Paola Binetti - Senator-elect in Italy (2006). A numerary member. According to John Allen in 2006, although Opus Dei is accused of favoring a right-wing and anti-woman agenda, two of the most visible politicians connected to Opus Dei in 2006 (Kelly of UK and Binetti of Italy) are from the center-left and are women. [1]
- Antonio Fontán - President of the Senate in 1977. He helped draft Spain's new democratic constitution after Franco. A journalist who advocated free elections and trade unions, he was persecuted by Franco. "He was elected to the Senate as a member of the Unión de Centro Democrático coalition in the first democratic general elections in June 1977. Before he became a politician, as the International Press Institute notes, Fontán was the editor of the independent national daily Madrid from 1967 to 1971. He was prosecuted on 19 occasions and fined some 10 times before the government demanded his resignation and shut down the paper over its calls for democracy and an end to authoritarian rule." [2]
- Alberto Ullastres (d. 2001) - Minister of Trade (1957-1965). He is one of the several members of Opus Dei who were appointed by Franco as ministers (Spain under Franco). These ministers are generally acknowledged to have introduced to Franco's rule a capitalist, technocratic ideology which contrasted with previous Falangist, Carlist and military influences. (See Berglar 1994 p. 186).
- Laureano López Rodó (d. 2000) - Technological Secretary of the State Department (Spain under Franco)
- Mariano Navarro Rubio (d. 2001) - Treasury Department (1957-1965; Spain under Franco)
- José María Albareda (d. 1966) - Secretary General and head of the Higher Council for Scientific Research (Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas) (1939-1969?). He was close friend of Escrivá and one of the first numerary members of Opus Dei. He was also close friend of José Ibáñez Martín, Minister of Education (1939-1953). Albareda was asked by the minister to write some of the legal text that allegedly broght Nationalcatolicism into the Spanish education system in the 1940s. Albareda was appointed soon after the Spanish Civil War as staff in the Ministry of National Education.
- Jesus Estanislao - Secretary of Economic Planning and subsequently Finance Secretary of the Philippines under Corazon Aquino (1989-1992)
- Joaquín Lavín - politician in Chile. He is a member of the Independent Democrat Union (UDI) party and former mayor of Santiago and Las Condes municipalities of capital Santiago.
- Robert Hanson - convicted FBI spy
Journalism
- Robert Duncan - a journalist; an ombudsman for foreign press in Spain; an executive board member for Spain's oldest and largest foreign press body, the Club Internaciónal de Prensa; and honorary vice-executive president for the Organización de Periodismo y Comunicación Ibero-Americana. Robert was the bureau chief for Dow Jones in Madrid for many years, and was published regularly in Dow Jones Newswires, with articles appearing in The Wall Street Journal, WSJE, Barron's and Smart Money. He has also been published in World Catholic News, National Catholic Register, Renew America, Lifesite.net, and others. He is the editor in chief for Spero News, and blogs at Pelican Press. [3]
- Rafael Calvo Serer - editor and founder of Diario Madrid who was hounded into exile for his criticism of Franco, who closed the publication. Although Messory (1997, p. 30) states that Calvo, by working underground, helped to bring democracy to Spain, some historians explain that he was fired from his position in a governmental agency for supporting the throne pretender Don Juan (father of today's King Juan Carlos). He did not oppose Francoism, but Franco himself about Franco's succession (see Preston 623-3, 663 and 671).
- Antonio Fontán - journalist who advocated free elections and trade unions. Persecuted by Franco. After the death of the latter, he returned as President of the Senate in 1977. He helped draft Spain's new democratic constitution. (Messori 1997, p. 30) The International Press Institute notes, Fontán was the editor of the independent national daily Madrid from 1967 to 1971. IPI says: "Fontán's staunch defence of the principles of free expression during those five years as editor of Madrid earned the paper and the men and women on its staff a unique place in the annals of Spanish journalism."
Academia
- John F. Coverdale, law professor at Seton Hall University.
- Scott Hahn, Assistant Professor of Theology and Scripture at Franciscan University of Steubenville[4], Founder and Executive Director of the St. Paul Center for Biblical Theology[5] and director of the Institute of Applied Biblical Studies. A former ordained Presbyterian minister who converted to Catholicism after an exhaustive study of scripture. One of the most renowned Catholic apologists today.
- Tony Shannon, Master of Warrane College at the University of New South Wales, in Sydney and Provost of KvB Institute of Technology, at North Sydney.[6]
Medicine
- Dr. James Egan, child psychiatrist.
Clergy
- Saint Josemaría Escrivá, founder of Opus Dei (d.1975)
- Alvaro del Portillo y Diez de Sollano, (d. 1994), Prelate of Opus Dei and Titular Bishop of Vita
- Javier Echevarria Rodriguez, Prelate of Opus Dei and Titular Bishop of Cilibia
- Juan Luis Cardinal Cipriani Thorne, Archbishop of Lima, former Archbishop of Ayacurcho o Huamanga, Peru
- Julián Cardinal Herranz Casado, President of the Dicastery for the Interpretation of Legislative Texts
For other members of the clergy, please see Opus Dei: Priestly Society of the Holy Cross
Business
- Eduardo Guilisasti - chief executive officer of Santiago, Chile-based Viña Concha y Toro SA, Latin America's biggest winery [7]