A special issue of this excellent ‘zine…an a review of DVC by a numerary

Naturally, I was curious to see how Howard would deal with Opus Dei, which had complained politely, but persistently, of being defamed in the book. He responded, all right — by turbocharging the defamation. Not only is the masochistic Silas the Mad Monk Assassin a member of Opus Dei, but Howard made the sadistic cop, Bezu Fache, one as well. Apparently we’ve a complete range of S&M in our outfit.

I felt like raising my hand to explain that Opus Dei is normal men and women, mostly married, just trying to do everyday things for the love of God. Unhappily Ron Howard beat me to it: he inserted a scene in which an Opus Dei bishop (also mealy-mouthed, two-faced and vicious) says precisely that to a reporter. Any similarity to real persons or institutions is unintentional, say the credits at the end. Well, that gets my vote for the greatest lie ever told.

And the most cowardly, as well. You might remember last year’s film The Constant Gardener, in which the villain was the pharmaceutical industry. An evil drug company sends out assassins to knock off whistleblowers. Which drug company? Pfizer? GlaxoSmithKline? AstraZeneca? None of them, of course. The producer would have been taken to the cleaners. But Ron Howard and his producer Sony knew that the Catholic Church can’t fight back and he could tip garbage all over Opus Dei without losing a cent.

There are countless historical errors and distortions in The Da Vinci Code. They offer a great opportunity for Christians to explain what their faith is all about. We have nothing to fear or hide, for the story of Christianity is based four-square on demonstrable facts, not — like Dan Brown’s — on 1066 and All That. In particular, I’m going to be highlighting a core theme in Opus Dei, that love of God is a 24/7 affair which should fill your whole life, not just church on Sundays. In other words, you should bring your faith to work with you.

Dan Brown and Ron Howard & Co must be nice enough guys in real life. But if so, there’s a chasm between their personal values and their work values. In the publicity lead-up to the film’s launch, Paul Bettany, who plays Silas, told the London Telegraph: “There’s something nice about being able to leave your sense of morality at the door when you come to work in the morning and just be cruel to people all day.” If you want to define what Opus Dei is all about, it’s the precise opposite of that revealing comment.