BOB ABERNETHY: Now, a profile of Opus Dei, the controversial organization of highly committed Catholic lay men and women. Many Catholics admire it. Others say it has cult-like tendencies. But even though it has just 3,000 core members in the U.S., it is considered widely influential. In Rome and the U.S., Kim Lawton talked with Opus Dei members and critics.

KIM LAWTON: It's six a.m. Mary Beth Burger is deep in prayer on her deck in suburban Virginia. Her husband has left for work; her two children are still asleep. This is the time Mary Beth has set aside for a half-hour of prayer and 15 minutes of spiritual reading. She does this every day, part of her commitment as a member of Opus Dei.

MARY BETH BURGER, Opus Dei Member: Opus Dei is a wonderful way to help you put meaning into your life, to everything that you do, to every ordinary activity that you do, to help sanctify yourself and to bring you closer to our Lord Jesus Christ.

LAWTON: In Western Massachusetts, Dianne DiNicola and her daughter Tammy, also devout Catholics, have a radically different view. Based on their family's experience, they say Opus Dei is secretive and controlling, with cult-like tendencies.

DIANNE DINICOLA, Opus Dei Awareness Network: I still to this day am feeling the disbelief that this was something from our own faith, and it was so harmful. Because Opus Dei harms people.

LAWTON: Few, if any, other groups within the Roman Catholic Church generate so many passions, both positive and negative. Opus Dei, Latin for the "Work of God," was founded in Spain, in 1928, by Monsignor Josemaria Escriva. Escriva was beatified by Pope John Paul II in 1992. He preached that lay people had a special vocation, or calling from God, to live out their faith in their everyday lives.

REV. THOMAS BOHLIN, Chancellor, Prelature of Opus Dei: Many people shunt aside the challenges of ordinary life and they dream about doing great things, great penances, great missionary work, and they miss the point that right there, in their family, in their work, people need them. They can serve. And right there is where God wants them to serve.

LAWTON: That's what Mary Beth Burger tries to do, both as a mother, and as a part-time physical therapist.

BURGER: You know, when I go in to see a patient, I say a prayer for that patient, but I also look at them as I'm serving God by doing the best I can by helping that person with their pain. You know, ideally, we're all struggling to become saints.

LAWTON: In 1982, Pope John Paul II granted Opus Dei a special status, what is known as a "personal prelature," within the Church. While most church jurisdictions are organized geographically, Opus Dei is overseen by its own prelate, a bishop, who reports directly to the pope.

REV. JAMES MARTIN, S. J. AMERICA MAGAZINE: Opus Dei is the only personal prelature in the church, and it's difficult to say if that was set-up for Opus Dei, but they are the only ones with that status in the church right now.

LAWTON: Opus Dei has its own priests as well, but the majority of its more than 80,000 members worldwide are lay people, who participate in varying ways. Seventy percent of Opus Dei members, like Mary Beth Burger, are known as "supernumeraries." They are married, or hope to be, and have made personal and financial commitments to Opus Dei while they raise their families and pursue their careers.

Mary Beth has been an Opus Dei member for more than ten years. As part of her lay vocation, she observes what are called "the norms": in addition to meeting the needs of her children, she prays in the morning, at noontime, and in the evening; she attends Mass daily, goes to weekly confession to an Opus Dei priest, and also meets weekly with her Opus Dei spiritual director; she attends regular study meetings and retreats and makes a "sacrificial" donation to the group.

BURGER: The beauty of it all is that it enables me to have everything that I do, moment to moment, it brings it all to our Lord to give him glory. Having the norms throughout the day helps; it brings everything back to him -- and I need that.

LAWTON: Nearly 30 percent of Opus Dei members give an even more rigorous commitment to what they call "The Work." They are known as numeraries. They are celibate, give Opus Dei their entire salaries, and typically live in group homes.

ELIZABETH HEIL, OPUS DEI INFORMATION OFFICE, ROME: A numerary has complete and total availability for The Work, or for Opus Dei. Really, to do anything, really, at anytime, of course, barring your health.

MARTIN: They are in fact like a religious order in that their full members take what they call commitments, which are very close to vows: poverty, chastity, and obedience. So it's very much like a religious order, although they stress that they are not a religious order, that they are a lay institution.