The slashing and burning of Opus Dei

READING HIS review of Saints and Schemers (Catholic Herald, August 9) I was amused that Peter Stanford appears to think Joan Estruch's new book about Opus Dei is even-handed, to the point of making him think again (at least for a while).
The author in fact makes his intentions quite clear with his "methodology of suspidon" of anything Opus: Dei might have to say in its defence, coupled with an over-trusting acceptance of many of the stories in the anti-Opus Dei collection. He does rebut a few groundless criticisms in the mythology, but he is guilty of some new and original mistakes himself.
The central thesis that Opus Dei was founded„ not in 1928, but at the end of the Spanish Civil War flies in the face of so much evidence that one hardly knows where to begin. Documents written by the founder (Blessed Josemaria Escriva) in those early years, the writings of contemporaries, the living witness of the oldest members of Opus Dei and the first students' centres all testify against Estruch's theory. Much of this evidence was examined by the Vatican during the process of beatification of Escriva.
The book is undoubtedly on a higher plane than one or two recent "slash and burn" tracts against Opus Dei, but it is somewhat less than impartial.
Andrew Soane Opus Del Prelature London W2
PETER STANFORD's attempt, in his review of Saints and Schemers, to portray Mgr Escriva as "a charlatan if ever there was one", amounts, in my opinion, to nothing more than a rather futile exercise in nit-picking. If this devil's advocate cannot do better than this, then Escriva's canonisation will be in no danger.
I would heartily recommend, to no one in particular, one piece of advice from amongst the sayings of Mgr Escriva: "If you don't want to regret it, don't say it". Joseph B Lakeland Wolverhampton
I WAS PLEASED to read Peter Stanford's Opus Dei book review.
It is certainly true to say that the Prelature attracts young people front the appropriate backgrounds, by `welcoming' them into seemingly warm and loving communities.
I, personally, know this to be the case. Needless to say, after a period of involvement with the organisation, some people, especially those who are vulnerable, find it difficult, emotionally speaking, to extricate themselves from the tentacles they find surrounding them.
As regards the founder, he seems to have lacked hmrsility. During his priestly life he did embellish his family name, somewhat by reviving a title (de Balagser) which had been 'dormant' in his family for centuries. Gerard Hanratty Workington, Cumbria