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BEYOND THE THRESHOLD -- A LIFE IN OPUS DEI |
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Desde el llano
adentro vengo Far from the
plains I came 1. Although
literally "Cantaclaro" means to sing clearly, to a Venezuelan it means
to tell the truth. Similarly to the minstrels, Cantaclaro represents the
popular singer from el llano (the Venezuelan plains) at village
celebrations. In his songs he relates stories, events, romantic
involvements, and even political gossip of other places in the area.
When the feast is over he leaves at the break of the day. Acknowledgments The affectionate support of relatives and friends made this book possible. Each played a special role as the book appeared in different languages. To Dr. Roberto de Souza, professor of the University of La Plata, and to Dr. Carlos Albarracin-Sarmiento, professor of the University of California, goes my deepest gratitude for their generosity in dedicating their yearly vacations to reading, evaluating, and correcting the Spanish manuscript. Hector Chimirri, editor of Ediciones B in Spain, with his personal and enthusiastic collaboration made possible the first Spanish edition, which also owes its existence to the intelligent direction and guidance of Blanca-Rosa Roca, director of Ediciones B. My friend Laura Showalter-Astiz accompanied me in search of many of the documents included in this volume. Matilde de Urtubi corrected and clarified the text with her acute criticism. Despite an ocean between us, my oldest nephew, Javier, supplied constant data from the Spanish media. The Portuguese edition was born in the marvelous city of Lisbon, thanks to the warm and efficient supervision of Tito Lyon de Castro, my editor at Publicacacoes Europa-America, and to his colleague Ana Sampaio. To both of them my deepest appreciation. In Germany this book appeared so satisfactorily thanks to Markus Fels, editor at that time of Benziger Verlag. He fully understood the book's message. To him goes my gratitude for his efficient work, his enthusiasm, and his understanding. I am also grateful to Dr. Tulio Aurelio, the current editor at Benziger, for his perseverance in the new German editions as well as to Klaus Eck, of Goldmann Verlag in Munich, who launched the German paperback version. The understanding and collaboration of very dear friends in Italy, some of them lawyers and scholars from Milan, who knew well the importance of the topic, encouraged and helped me to have the book published in Italy. I keep the warmest memory of my encounter in Milan with Dr. Alessandro Delai, editor of Baldini & Castoldi, who from the very beginning saw the importance of the book for the Italian reader and successfully brought it out just a few months ago. The Italian edition awoke many personal memories and a special thought for the late Professor Enrico Castelli Gattinara, of the Institute of Philosophical Studies of the University of Rome, who told me, many years ago, of his fear that Opus Dei would cause serious problems within the church, giving rise to unnecessary controversies among Catholics. On his advice, I visited Cardinal Gabriel Maria Garrone, prefect of the Sacred Congregation for Christian Education, who told me that he had never received any information about Opus Dei's plan of studies. At long last the English-language edition! My intention was to publish it many years ago, before the Spanish version, as Christine Hopper Warsow and Professor John Roche, of Oxford University, well know. Both helped me very much at that early stage. Subsequently, without the assistance of several friends from the United States, who prefer not to be mentioned at this time, I could hardly have had access to important sources of information. I have to thank particularly Rosalie Siegel, my agent, whose advice and encouragement I dearly appreciated. Last but not least, I owe Frank Oveis, my editor at Continuum, profound gratitude for his efforts in undertaking this English edition. He endured with admirable patience and professionalism the shortcomings of an author expressing herself in a language acquired as an adult. Once more my heartfelt gratitude and affection go to Dominique de Menil to whom I dedicate this book. When I met her many years ago for the first time, she understood my concerns and, because of her deep love for human rights, encouraged my idea of bringing the experiences described in this book to the printed page. To know how to say thanks properly is an art. But to know how to be thankful in matters of the spirit entails a very special sensitivity. I would dearly wish to master both art and sensitivity and to be able to offer them to all my friends around the world who helped me bring this book into being so long awaited and so much needed.
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