Opus Dei, a Catholic institution made
(in)famous by the 2003 mystery novel “The Da Vinci Code,” will provide
spiritual guidance to Christian pilgrims in a new visitors’ complex
being constructed outside Jerusalem.
Saxum,
a project comprising a conference center and multimedia resource
center, is located between Kibbutz Maaleh HaHamisha and the Arab village
of Abu Ghosh, 15 kilometers (10 miles) west of Jerusalem.
Construction
on the site began in 2013, and is scheduled for completion in 2015.
Founded by Spanish priest Josemaría Escrivá in
1928, Opus Dei describes its mission as “helping people turn their work
and daily activities into occasions for growing closer to God, for
serving others, and for improving society.”
Opus Dei was approved by the
Catholic Church in 1950.
According to the Saxum website, the conference
center will include 50 guestrooms, two chapels, and classrooms. The
multimedia center will serve to train tour guides and use state-of-the
art technology to introduce visitors to Jerusalem’s Christian sites.
One of Saxum’s goals is to promote Christian
pilgrimage to Israel.
The Saxum Foundation, an Italian nonprofit,
estimates that some 30,000 visitors will pass through the center every
year.
Latin for “work of God” and comprising mostly
laypeople, Opus Dei has been criticized for its secretiveness and
recruitment methods, especially with regards to the recruitment of
minors.
The practice of corporal mortification, or the
endurance of a minor amount of suffering, is considered one of the more
controversial practices of Opus Dei.
Some celibate members of the
institution wear the cilice, a metal chain with prongs strapped to the thigh.
However, some 70-75% of Opus Dei’s estimated
90,000 members are supernumeraries, or non-celibate laypeople who lead
regular professional lives.