Nothing sinister about this new hostel

IF there is anything sinister about the new £383,000 Opus Dei hostel for overseas students in London's Hampstead, I fail to see it.
Evidence to support a leftwing Catholic writer protesting to Clarence House about the Queen Mother's agreement to perform the opening or to justify such a Catholic lay organisation being singled out for criticism in a recent issue of the Sunday Times was conspicuously absent when I visited the hostel last week.
Notwithstanding the fact that the Queen Mother would not be remotely associated with anything that was "suspect", Opus Dei has its critics and will, no doubt, continue to do so. The Chaplain, Fr. Cormac Burke, says he is quite used to answering allegations that Opus Dei is fascist, right-wing and secret. "Of course, it originated in Spain, but so did the Jesuits," he says.
The new multi-storied hostel replaces an old Victorian house which Opus Dei acquired in 1952. Hitherto it has accommodated students from some 70 countries.
£600,000 COST Its popularity demanded a more modern building, and when the Queen Mother visits Hampstead on November 1 she will be opening Stage One of an ambitious project, estimated to cost eventually more than £600,000.
Initially 50 students will be housed in the new building, but the completed scheme will accommodate nearly 200 in one of the world's most modern hostels. Meanwhile a further 50 students will remain in the old "hostel building" which is eventually to be pulled down.
Apart from £65,000 raised by Opus Dei members and supporters, the project is being financed through the Government's Overseas Students Welfare Expansion scheme to the tune of £75,000. The Inner London Education Authority (formerly the L.C.C.) is providing a further £5,000.
People like Cardinal Heenan and the principal of London University have given the project every encouragement. But still Opus Dei's critics continue to take the occasional swipe.
Some claim the movement, which has its London head quarters in Bayswater, draws suspicion because members tend to remain anonymous. Fr. Burke replies: "The very name, Opus Dci, the Work of God, can be misinterpreted by the uninformed and thus the reluctance on the part of some members to proclaim being members. To tell someone, completely devoid of any knowledge about Opus Dei, that you are working for God, that in effect, you are trying to be saintly, sounds just too pompous.
"Once an Opus Dei member feels that he has a sympathetic inquirer, he will try to explain in detail what this laymen's movement is all about."
The Hampstead hostel is one of three for university students run by Opus Dei in London. Altogether there are some 200 Opus Dei university centres and residences throughout the world. In cities like Vienna, Boston, Buenos Aires, Mexico City, Kioto and Madrid they are daily enhancing — rather than blighting the Christian image.
HEAD IN ROME The movement is directed from Rome by its founder and President General, Mgr. Josmaria Escriva de Balagver whose work has been commended by Pope Paul.
His book "The Way", alone has sold almost two million copies in ten languages and is being translated into a further 18.
Opus Dei has been doing since 1928 many of the things which have only become "fashionable" since the Vatican Council.
Fr. Burke says Vatican II was in fact, an endorsement of Opus Dei's ideals and recog nition that a Christian does not have to engage in public lay action activities to "spread the word". It is first and foremost a lay organisation.
In offices, factories and on farms Opus Dei members give witness by their ordinary secular activities. Projects such as the hostel, Netherhall House, at Hampstead are a special expression of the movement's work as a whole.
SENSE OF SERVICE
At Hampstead, as at Opus Dei centres in Oxford and Manchester, there is a special effort to develop the "spirit" of students, to develop a sense of service. But there is no attempt to impose Catholic, or for that matter, Christian beliefs on students, who include Buddhists, Marxists, Muslims and Hindus.
"Our hostel has a special atmosphere," says Fr. Burke. "You could call it homely. We try to give students maximum freedom. "Until recently we didn't have any written rules relying on the example of the olderestablished resident. Such things as having radios turned down low and bathrooms kept clean didn't have to be written on the bedroom door to be observed.
"Now, however, we do issue a guide to newer students, as it sometimes saves embarrassment if they know what is expected of them."
E6 A WEEK
Students at Netherhall House pay about £6 per week_ This includes two meals per day, bed-sit accommodation and access to the hostel's facilities, which include tastefully furnished lecture-room, chapel, coffee room, music room, and library. When Stage Two of the development is complete there will also be a squash court and gymnasium.
A special task of Netherhall House is to develop a sense of service and leadership among the resident students, plus some 600 to 700 pre-university students who go there for special seminars and courses.
"Students should regard their university training not as an entitlement to privilege but as a qualification for service to society and should feel proud to give this service," says Fr. Burke.
"It's a pity if the university students during his stay in London doesn't experience some sense of community. Without it, he can so easily become detached, wrapped up in his own horizons and lose his sense of social purpose. The overall result may largely offset the benefit of his academic training."
Behind the new development at Hampstead is an inter-denominational commit t e e, which numbers among its members Sir William Carron, of the A.E.U. and Mr. Robert Mellish, the Labour M.P. closely linked with housing.
STUDY GROUP The new centre, which is an architectural triumph, will be used mostly by first-year students, about 40 per cent of whom will be from the United Kingdom. As well as a hostel, it will be a centre for study groups, which in the past have been associated with subjects, ranging from Shakespeare to computers.
Commenting on a general Criticism that Opus Del is Right-wing and has been closely linked with the Franco government (recently there was criticism in Slant magazine) Fr. Burke says Opus Dei has no political affiliation. "Members both support and oppose General Franco. We have in Britain members who follow the Left just as much as the Right."