Serve: My Lost Years at the Heart of Ireland's Opus Dei: ‘Catholicism on cocaine'
Author
:
Anne Marie Allen
ISBN-13
:
978-1804582862
Publisher
:
Gill Books
Guideline Price
:
€18.99
Young Anne Marie Allen thought
Robert Redford
was 'a fine bit of stuff altogether'. She inadvertently swore while watching her native
Cork
lose the 1982 All-Ireland
hurling
final on television. She wondered aloud why no money could be found to replace her only pair of shoes when the soles started flapping off.
For all these 'mortal sins', Allen's strikingly angry memoir recalls, the
Opus Dei
members who had made her their unpaid skivvy warned that she and her family were on a one-way road to hell.
Opus Dei has often been depicted as a sinister cult, most notoriously in Dan Brown's thriller The Da Vinci Code, which accuses its murderous leaders of suppressing Jesus Christ's marriage to Mary Magdalene. Serve's key message, however, is that the global Catholic organisation's brainwashing techniques can also damage lives on a much more mundane level.
In plain, forceful prose, Allen explains how a modest village childhood in 1970s
Ballyvourney
left her ripe for exploitation. The headstrong 15-year-old hotel worker and her friend were seduced by an alluring newspaper advert: 'Cookery school, Galway, no fee, job guaranteed.' At Ballyglunin Park, she soon discovered that her new reality involved constantly preparing meals and washing clothes for Opus Dei's lofty 'numeraries' while receiving zero education or wages.
READ MORE
Allen's anguished account suggests she suffered a severe case of Stockholm syndrome. 'You have a vocation as big as a house,' she was repeatedly told, persuading her to adopt a drab, lonely regime she wryly calls 'Catholicism on cocaine'.
She describes a litany of physical and psychological abuse, including being ordered to self-flagellate with a cilice (a spiked wire) that bit into her thigh for up to two hours a day. The story ends relatively happily with Allen leaving after six torrid years to forge a successful career in the Irish Prison Service, but she accepts that the mental scars from her own captivity may 'never fully heal'.
Serve has some limitations. Allen often reconstructs decades-old conversations word-for-word, a technique that adds immediacy but feels deeply artificial. Today she is pioneering an international campaign of ex-Opus Dei domestic servants who want redress from the Vatican, but there is disappointingly little detail about that here.
Allen's unvarnished testimony still makes for an urgent, powerful memoir – and a timely reminder that Pope Leo (who reportedly views Opus Dei benignly) has inherited a church with many sins left to confess.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Irish Times
31 minutes ago
- Irish Times
‘We grew up with them': Oasis fever hits Mayo as locals hope for visit after Croke Park concerts
The sun is shining across Market Square in Charlestown, Co Mayo, as a small gathering in the shade of Murray's Bar embraces the subject of the Gallagher brothers. The pub is one of the three watering holes in the east Mayo town that has regularly hosted the Oasis boys over the years. The discussion between Pat Flatley and Padraig Durcan is, like any good Irish debate, lubricated by early-afternoon pints of Guinness and the possibility of a tune or two. There is a resident guitar hooked up on the wall. Not that the details of their pronouncements about Noel and Liam Gallagher's maternal roots in the area, the recent sale of the family's holiday home and the last time the brothers visited will go unquestioned. READ MORE Barmaid Olive Durcan is a bit of an Oasis expert and, indeed, the only one of the three who happens to have a picture to prove her credentials. It is of herself with the younger Gallagher, Liam. Olive Durcan with Liam Gallagher in Charlestown in 2015 It may be from a decade ago, but what is the passing of time when you are talking about the most famous people to put this remote area on the world map? That is, other than the children who witnessed the apparition in Knock and Msgr James Horan who had a vision about 'a foggy, boggy hill' and an airport. 'I clearly recall that Liam did the three pubs they liked to visit that weekend,' Durcan tells The Irish Times. 'Johnny Finn's first of all, around the corner here; then ours, Murray's, it's a pub since 1868; and then over across the square to JJ Finan's, that would be their home pub. It's where their granny used to bring them after Mass on a Sunday because it's a shop too. 'I remember clearly when word got round that the boys were back in town; even if it was only Liam, everybody followed him. He played the guitar in JJ's and there was a big singsong.' Pat Flatley is strumming the tune of Wonderwall on his guitar as he waits for his pint. He says there is definitely a recording of Liam's session on YouTube, and he is correct. The video shows Liam playing his solo single, Bold, at a rowdy session in July 2015 to shouts of 'Go on, Gallagher.' Bold was subsequently on his hit solo album, As You Were. Of course, this was six years after the big split of Oasis in 2009. Older brother Noel had formed his new band High Flying Birds by the following year. There might have been rancour between the Gallagher brothers, but there was always hope, peppered with sentimentality, in this town of a reunion. It's where their mother Peggy was from and the place she fostered their Irish roots. It was, as Noel once confirmed drily, a place of haystacks, nettles and lots of childhood friends. 'Oh, we were so delighted to see them coming back together when it was announced last year,' Durcan says. 'People are expecting them to come to town either this week or next week. I have an inkling they'll come next week after the concerts.' Padraig Durcan, her brother-in-law, says: 'They have an aunt living out the road, so maybe they'll bring Peggy to see her.' He was a neighbour of their grandmother, Margaret Sweeney, and remembers them all attending her funeral in September 2000. 'She is long gone and her cottage in Sonnagh was sold, but they used to come into town with her and hang around with the local lads. Sure, they knew everybody,' he says. Across the street, Siobhán Brennan is busy in her boutique, Fashion Scene. Her eldest daughter, Sinéad, had flown in through Ireland West Airport Knock from London the previous night, Monday. It was a whistle-stop visit home. 'My three daughters are big Oasis fans, but they've already been to their concert in Wembley because they live in the UK now,' she says. 'Of course, they'd go again here if they could get tickets.' Sinéad Bailey is already in the queue back to London at Knock airport when The Irish Times catches up with her. 'It was so lovely to head to Wembley with my two younger sisters, Stephanie and Shona, and Billy my husband,' she says. 'Being from Charlestown, we've all loved Oasis from when we were younger. Well, basically we grew up with them, really.' She cherishes a grainy picture of herself in a Charlestown pub, aged about 11, with Liam. Almost 30 years later, it was off to an Irish pub in London for a few drinks before the Wembley concert. Sinéad, then 11, with Liam Gallagher in pub in Charlestown 'Obviously everyone who was in there were Irish and I was talking to a couple of lads living in Portsmouth and Kent and some people even travelled over from home to the concert as well,' she says. As they made their way to the stadium there were Oasis songs being played to the sound of all sorts of Irish accents in the queues, she says. 'As soon as the boys came out on stage the energy was absolutely electric. I've been to lots of concerts, but never to one like that. Everyone was on their feet and knew the words of every song,' she says. 'They might be two lads in their 50s now, but they sounded exactly the same. What you see is what you get – I think that is why people love them so much.' Sinéad Bailey with husband Billy and her sisters Stephanie and Shona at the Oasis gig in Wembley, London Just before the call-out is announced to board her plane to London Luton, she says: 'I used to listen to Oasis as a kid and the fact that they are doing this reunion means so much, especially when you are from Charlestown and feel that deep connection to them as emigrants.' . Knock airport is bracing itself for an influx of fans this weekend, its communications chief Donal Healy says. 'We are seeing a particular increase in numbers travelling from Manchester and Liverpool this Friday in anticipation of the big concert,' he says about the Oasis gigs on Saturday and Sunday in Dublin at Croke Park . Some might say Mayo is mad for Oasis Airport staff members have often welcomed the Gallagher brothers over the past 20 years when they visited relatives in Charlestown. 'They have always been very good with their time for both staff at the airport and passengers when passing through. And who knows we are hopeful they might take a trip to Mayo after their concerts,' he says. Where better for the brothers to solidify their reunion and enjoy an auld seisíun in the pub where their grandmother Margaret used to bring them after Mass on a Sunday.
Irish Times
4 hours ago
- Irish Times
Secret Byrd at Kilkenny Arts Festival review: Exquisite singing, quietly searing playing
Secret Byrd Black Abbey, Kilkenny ★★★★☆ Secret Byrd, an immersive music event, explores the idea that your music can get you in trouble. The stories of musicians ranging from Kneecap, Pussy Riot and (formerly) the Dixie Chicks to Stravinsky, Mahler and Shostakovich show the kinds of popular or official consequences that can arise when music is mixed with faith or opinion. It was the same for the great English Renaissance composer William Byrd. Being Catholic but writing music – notably church music – for the Protestant English court meant the defiant Byrd relied on the favour of Queen Elizabeth I to shield him from the worst of the punishments others suffered for failure to attend weekly Anglican Communion services or for participating in underground Catholic Masses. Secret Byrd converts the Black Abbey, Kilkenny's 13th-century Dominican priory, into the interior of a well-off Catholic household, centred on a large round table, the entire space lit only by candles, representing the kind of domestic setting where illicit Masses took place. The all-male vocal ensemble the Gesualdo Six appear in 16th-century servant costumes and move around, separating and regrouping, or sitting at the table. The audience also move about, some taking up invitations to join the singers at the table. READ MORE Despite this carefully engineered atmosphere the audience feel free to chat during the 20 minutes before the action proper begins, this while the outstanding viol consort Fretwork is giving quietly searing performances of music by Byrd and his contemporaries. Conversation ceases, however, the minute the singing for the outlawed worship begins, in this case the opening Kyrie from Byrd's Mass for Five Voices. It's no wonder. The sound is breathtaking. This Mass – as with Byrd's other two, for Four Voices and Three Voices – is exquisite, and in this moment it's hard to imagine a more compelling performance. The near-flawless unanimity of vocal sound in tone and vowels, as if a single brain were controlling the vocal production of five people, is in beautiful contrast with the individuality of musical shaping that each of Byrd's polyphonic lines requires. Instrumental pieces separate the Mass movements, with voices and instruments eventually joining together for the motet Infelix Ego, which recounts a martyr's preparation for death, and the solo countertenor Guy James in the consort song Ye Sacred Muses, Byrd's elegy on the death of Tallis. The presentation of important historical context – printed on a series of wall hangings – is a little hit and miss given restrictions on light and time. But there is no mistaking the central message when the Mass's closing Agnus Dei is abruptly interrupted by ferocious pounding on the abbey door. The singers panic, hushing each other, extinguishing all candles, and then hiding from view before the one acting as the priest is spirited away to safety, presumably to a priest hole. Secret Byrd's staging is directed by Bill Barclay, who says, 'We artistic types tend to look at the world and vainly wonder how we could improve it. Why not look to Byrd and consider what he is still saying today?'
Irish Times
5 hours ago
- Irish Times
Oasis fans warned no public parking allowed around Croke Park
There will be no public parking around Croke Park this weekend as tens of thousands of Oasis fans head to the long-awaited Irish leg of the Oasis Live '25 world tour. Before the tour Oasis had not performed live in Britain or Ireland in 16 years and crowds are expected to be significant on both Saturday and Sunday nights. Transport for Ireland has warned concertgoers not to bring cars to the stadium and parking will be prohibited in a wide area, including residential streets around the stadium. On the Dart and commuter rail network, there will be extra trains before and after the concerts on the Maynooth line, serving Drumcondra Station directly, while the northern commuter line and city centre routes will have additional Dart services to cater for demand. READ MORE Concertgoers are encouraged to travel early and to expect trains to be busy. Alcohol is not permitted on any train services. [ Oasis at Croke Park: Stage times, set list, ticket information, how to get there and more Opens in new window ] Irish Rail has announced additional intercity train and commuter services. But the company warned that many trains on intercity routes are already sold out – on Friday, as well as for the Saturday and Sunday concert dates – with remaining tickets selling fast. Irish Rail urged those planning to travel long distances for the gigs or for other reasons to book their travel as soon as possible at or the Iarnród Éireann app, as tickets will not be available at intercity stations on the day. Customers must travel on the specific train booked. Extra intercity trains are as follows: Saturday August 16th 08.00 Cork to Dublin Heuston 10.15 Waterford to Dublin Heuston 00.30 Dublin Heuston to Galway (departs after midnight so check August 17th for ticket sales) 00.40 Dublin Heuston to Cork (departs after midnight so check August 17th for ticket sales) with connection at Limerick Junction for Limerick [ Oasis in Cardiff: This was emotional. For the Manchester-Irish diaspora, it's like family Opens in new window ] Sunday August 17th 07.45 Cork to Dublin Heuston 10.45 Waterford to Dublin Heuston 14.15 Du in Heuston to Waterford 00.40 Dublin Heuston to Cork (departs after midnight so check August 18th for ticket sales) with connection at Limerick Junction for Limerick There will be a 23:59 Dublin Connolly to Belfast both nights. Concert goes have been advised to check for the full list of services.
