In Maria Del Carmen Tapia’s autobiography, "Beyond the Threshold," we find men and women of sacrifice, prayerfulness and courage, who lived under the kind of stress that could and did break many members’ spirits.

When Tapia was corrected for a minor transgression before the entire community, Monsignor Escriva told her t hat for her penance he would not talk to her for two months, which was awkward, since she was one of his secretaries at the main house in Rome.

Tapia says, " More than two months went by, when one fine day, he began to speak to me with the greatest ease as if nothing had happened. Remembering these events nowadays, I confess my astonishment at the capacity for suffering a person endures when he or she follows a leader blindly. I also wonder what kind of sentiment could be in Escriva’s heart when he permitted himself to play with our feelings so insensitively."

Later, she would write, "I am forced to recognize that it (the silence) has an alarming resemblance to Stalin’s tactics when he required party members to confess errors of "wrong interpretations" of Communist dogma. Making those persons feel guilty created a kind of dependence on the source of truth – in our case, Escanita and Escriva."

Escriva didn’t tolerate any criticism from the outside, either, especially not from the Jesuits, of whom he stated: "I prefer a thousand times that one of my daughters should die without receiving the sacraments rather than they should be administered to her by a Jesuit."

On September 23, 1956, a new life opened up for Tapia when she left Rome for Venezuela to become regional directress of Opus Dei women, and a successful one at that.

During her first year, six young women joined her community. Four were sent to study in Rome, among whom was Maria Teresa Vega, intelligent, refined and well-read. Her father openly opposed Opus Dei and publicly treated Tapia with hostility for encouraging his daughter to enter the group.

It wasn’t long before Tapia received a telegram from Rome saying that Maria Teresa was to return to her father’s home. When Tapia met Teresa at the plane, she found the woman disconnected, as though sedated, so Tapia, instead of taking the woman to her family, brought her to the house and put her in the quietest room available. Later, Rome informed Tapia that Maria Teresa had suffered a nervous breakdown.

What Tapia couldn’t comprehend was how they could have put a sedated person on a plane without telling anyone and without sending a companion to assist her. She said the incident raised serious doubts about the central government’s sense of justice and charity.

Money was not easily come by for Tapia and the women’s houses, yet, for 10 years, Tapia sent at least $10,000 a year to Rome in checks made out to "Alvaro del Portillo, for the Works of Religion." Later, Tapia learned that Alvaro del Portillo had a personal account in Rome’s Bank for the Work of Religion, far removed from the poor and their needs.

In contrast to the house in Rome, Tapia decided that her women would be kept informed of the news with an evening TV broadcast, and if a ballet or good movie followed, she pretended she didn’t notice they had gone over the stipulated half-hour.

Tapia had the newspaper delivered daily and expected the women to read it, as well as books, which they discussed. Beyond that, everyone was required to learn to drive and to earn a license.

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