French Tutor Paris

French woman sues Opus Dei, claims brainwashing

PARIS — A French woman claiming to have been brainwashed by the secretive Catholic society Opus Dei is suing it for allegedly keeping her illegally as a domestic servant, she told AFP Tuesday.

Catherine T., who asked not to be identified by her family name, said she joined a hoteliers' school in northeastern France in 1985, aged 14, which she later discovered was run by associates of Opus Dei.

She said she was forced to take vows and made to work as a domestic servant for virtually no pay.

Opus Dei responded in a statement that it was "not involved in the charges being brought" and had "nothing to be guilty about."

It will be the first ever trial targeting the organisation, branded a sect by some, which came to wide attention after featuring in the blockbuster novel and film "The Da Vinci Code".

"They assigned me a 'tutor' who was actually a kind of conscience instructor," Catherine told AFP. "I entered into the system.... You were forbidden to talk about it to your parents."

She said the group compelled her to take vows of obedience, poverty and chastity and for the following 13 years gave her jobs with organisations that her lawyer Rodolphe Bosselut said were linked to Opus Dei.

She said she was made to work 14-hour days, seven days a week, cleaning and serving. Staff paid her a salary and then reclaimed money from her by making her sign blank cheques, supposedly to pay her room and board, she alleged.

She added that staff accompanied her wherever she went, including on visits to the doctor. On these occasions she was taken to see an Opus Dei doctor who prescribed tranquilisers that left her "senseless".

Catherine weighed only 39 kilogrammes (86 pounds) in 2001 when her parents rescued her from the group. Lawyers first took legal action that year alleging "mental manipulation" among other charges. A nine-year investigation followed.

Two Opus Dei leaders are now summoned to appear in a Paris criminal court on September 22 and 23 on labour law charges of undignified punishment and not declaring her as an employee, lawyers said.

The lawsuit also targets the University and Technical Culture Association (ACUT) which ran the school. It said it had nothing more than a "cultural link" with Opus Dei.

"There is nothing to this case," said the ACUT's lawyer, Thierry Laugier, insisting that Catherine T. "was paid according to the work she did.

French Lessons by Ellen Sussman / Review « Mrs. O'Dell Reads

In the mail. “Ah,” thought I, “a book about Paris. The perfect, bookish way to release post-school year stress.” Sadly, I was disappointed. Disappointed to the point of barely forcing myself to finish it.

Sussman’s novel is framed around three French tutors working for an agency.  Involved in their own little love triangle, the French tutors meet clients during the day, teach them a little (very little) French, and then rendez-vous for drinks.  On this particular day, each tutor meets a different student — an unwed, pregnant teacher whose married boyfriend has just been killed, a miserable American expat housewife, and the husband of an American movie star in Paris for a film.

For me, this book had little heart, and, thus, had a very difficult time holding my interest.   I think Sussman aims for poignancy but instead lands on maudlin. None of the characters were very interesting to me, and Sussman provides no resolution to the novel, killing any bit of interest I had left.

I am sorry to say that I really didn’t like this book. Nothing about it was well-developed, the characters were flat, and the novel ultimately felt very pointless. Like a sad day in Paris.

In spite of my lackluster review, thanks to the publisher for sending me an advanced copy of this book for review!