Untold: Opus Dei Podcast By Financial Times cover art

Untold: Opus Dei

Untold: Opus Dei

By: Financial Times
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Financial Times reporter Antonia Cundy uncovers how a little-known group within the Catholic Church has come to wield outsized cultural and political influence in America. Opus Dei exists to help people get closer to God, but some members say they found other agendas – and unexpected harm – entangled in that spiritual mission. In this series, Antonia hears stories from insiders who describe how boundaries within Opus Dei are often blurred: how guidance becomes control, how privacy becomes secrecy and how spiritual belief becomes political ideology.

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Financial Times Politics & Government Social Sciences
Episodes
  • Introducing Untold: The Retreat

    Introducing Untold: The Retreat
    Dec 21 2023
    Introducing Untold, a new podcast from the special investigations team at the Financial Times. In its first series, The Retreat, host Madison Marriage examines the world of the Goenka network, which promotes a type of intensive meditation known as Vipassana. Thousands of people go on Goenka retreats every year. People rave about them. But some people go to these meditation retreats, and they suffer. They might feel a deep sense of terror, or a break with reality. And on the other side, they’re not themselves anymore. Untold: The Retreat launches Jan. 24.

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    2 mins
  • The Retreat, Ep. 1: Dear Madison

    The Retreat, Ep. 1: Dear Madison
    Jan 24 2024

    Madison Marriage receives an email from a desperate father named Stephen. Over the past five years, he says, his twin daughters have changed drastically. They were bright and outgoing, with exciting plans for their future. But over their early twenties, they became increasingly distressed, struggling to eat or sleep and disassociating from normal life. Stephen believes the root of his daughters’ problems is a particular network of intensive meditation retreats.


    For support or more information about adverse meditation experiences, take a look at the Cheetah House website.

    If you are in need of urgent mental health support, please contact your local emergency services or reach out to a mental health helpline, such as the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline in the US or Samaritans in the UK.


    Note: This podcast previously included a YouTube clip that described a Vipassana meditation retreat that was not linked to the Goenka network, as originally implied.


    Read a transcript of this episode on FT.com

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    42 mins
  • The Retreat, Ep. 2: Ten Long Days

    The Retreat, Ep. 2: Ten Long Days
    Jan 31 2024

    Emily’s twin sister spirals after going on a Goenka retreat, and she’s not the only one. Madison Marriage hears multiple accounts of terror, hallucinations and psychosis. Was meditation just the catalyst that unleashed psychological problems? Or did this network of silent meditation retreats actually cause their suffering?


    For support or more information about adverse meditation experiences, take a look at the Cheetah House website.

    We also spoke to Miguel Farias and Jonny Say to corroborate claims in the podcast about adverse meditation experiences. You can find out more about Farias’s work here, and Say’s here.


    If you are in need of urgent mental health support, please contact your local emergency services or reach out to a mental health helpline, such as the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline in the US or Samaritans in the UK.


    Read a transcript of this episode on FT.com

    Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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    44 mins
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