May 10, 2006 / 22:00 pm
As part of its communications blitz to counter the negative image of Opus Dei in Dan Brown’s “The Da Vinci Code”, Opus Dei has authorized the reprinting of their founder’s most well-known book, "The Way.”
Doubleday and members of Opus Dei gathered to celebrate the publication of a new edition St. Josemaria Escriva's book at a reception in New York on Tuesday, reported Reuters. The release was timed to coincide with the film's May 18th release.
Doubleday, which also happens to be Brown's publisher, has set a first print run of 10,000 for the North American market, reported Reuters.
Opus Dei was founded in 1928 in Spain by Fr. Josemaria Escriva to teach Catholics to strive for holiness through work. It has 85,000 members worldwide, of which 2,000 are priests. St. Escriva was canonized in 2002. “The Way” has was first published in Spain in 1939. It has since been printed in 46 languages, with 4.6 million copies in print.