A family divided in two by Opus Dei

I WOULD like to make a few points in response to my father's letter (January 31).
I iove and respect my father and am therefore very sad that he does not have a favourable opinion of Opus Dei, to which I belong. I can understand the reason for this, since he evidently believes things said about Opus Dei which are a distortion of the reality.
Members of Opus Dei do not publicly advertise their membership, but this is not at all the same as keeping the fact secret. On the contrary, members are keen to tell anyone with whom they are acquainted about Opus Dci.
It is untrue that Opus Dei is elitist, only interested in those who have an influence on governments and not in the poor. For that matter, it is also untrue that Opus Dei is only interested in getting people to become members.
There are members of Opus Dei from all classes of society and levels of education.
The aims of Opus Dei are purely spiritual and have nothing to do with politics. Members of Opus Dei desire to help others live in a more Christian way and to improve society morally and materially. They are completely free, exactly as any other citizen, Christian or not, to exercise their political rights as they so choose.
Opus Dei avoids any dogma on temporal matters. Among members of Opus Dei are represented a very wide variety of political opinions and indeed varying degrees of interest in politics.
Memhers, motivated by Christian charity and following the example of the founder, regularly visit the sick and the poor.
RM Cron! TWO of your correspondents state (February 14) that there is nothing in Opus Dei that is not part of the church's teachings. If we are to accept that this is true, can they, or any other member of Opus Dei, explain why it is necessary to conceal their activities? Why is it necessary for Opus Dei to have its own priests? Why are members of Opus Dei "discouraged" from making confession to priests outside the organisation? Why do they recruit in secret, hiding their name and intention from those whom they initially contact?
In short, if they are part of the same church as all others, why Opus Del?