Mònica Terribas: "I have never had the need to occupy a position or a seat"

BarcelonaEven with enormous difficulties, we live in a time in which attempts are being made to dismantle systemic abuses. Mònica Terribas has just released The heroic minute, a docuseries by Max made by The Mediapro Studio that shows the coercive control of women of different ages and places belonging to Opus Dei. We take advantage of the interview to talk calmly about her life, the controversies she has experienced, leaving the radio and the passage of time.

All witnesses ofThe heroic minute They are women, but there are also men who have had bad experiences in Opus Dei. Why did you want to focus on them?

— We address the figure of the numerary auxiliaries who, according to the statutes of Opus Dei of 1982, are only women. They are the ones who do the domestic work and, as the founder said, the mothers of the work. It seemed to me that this had conditioned their lives much more because they were inside the structure, without much contact with the outside world. But if we were to mirror the experiences of the male numeraries and associates, we would have a very similar picture of psychological coercion. And with very serious consequences in the workplace, because the ties when you leave Opus Dei are radically cut off.

There are thirteen witnesses, but I assume that there are many more than those who have wanted – or been able – to come out.

— Many witnesses have not been able to come forward because family, work or circumstances around them would make the pain come back again. And I have respected this. Many women who have recently come forward are still not sufficiently psychologically recovered, and I was very clear that I did not want to put anyone in a vulnerable situation on screen, or harm any open legal case.

Beyond showing a concrete reality, would you like to provoke some change?

— You and I, who have been dedicated to this profession for years, do things to make people think, right? And to transform reality. My will is that this does not happen again, point number 1. That minors under fourteen and a half years of age do not enter as has been happening until four days ago, point number 2. That they do not enter without the knowledge of their parents, point number 3. I hope that there is material and economic reparation on the part of the prelature of Opus Dei. It is not enough to say "forgive me" or to send them to the Listening Channel. When there has been a systemic violation of rights, a thorough internal investigation must be carried out and it must be determined how many cases we are talking about. And, if Opus Dei does not act, then the responsibility falls on the Vatican, because Opus Dei depends on the Vatican.

Do you have faith in this change? The statement published by Opus Dei following the documentary series does not seem to be going in the direction of making these reparations.

— Well, Opus Dei has issued a statement in which it acknowledges that there are things that have not been done well.

But they complain that you didn't give them enough notice to explain themselves.

— It has already been proven that they were given four months to participate and the prelature refused to do so. But the important thing here is what the Vatican is going to do. We have to see what the response will be, because this is neither the first, nor the second, nor the third time that these people have contacted it. There are many people explaining their dysfunctions for decades, and nothing has been done.

Have states looked the other way so as not to upset an organisation with so much power?

— An important person in the world of the judiciary in El Salvador explained it to me: in the end, when the prosecutor's office intervenes, Opus Dei comes out from Rome saying that they do not have to give explanations and that the law protects them. The states clash with the law of the Church. It also happens that you cannot say that Opus Dei has not made a certain person pay: it is that specific institute, that specific foundation, that specific school. But this is where the administration must intervene. It cannot be that in the end they override the laws of the states, as when you see that the degree in domestic sciences that they grant does not correspond to any institutionally recognized degree.

Can what Opus Dei practices with its assistants, from whom it demands a donation of the salary it pays them, be equated with semi-slavery?

— There are people who are talking about slaves, about maids... I believe that it is equivalent to what, in our country, has always been known as servants. Slavery, in our society, is right next door today, with many women doing jobs that are poorly contracted and who work many more hours than they are supposed to, and for little money. Situations of abuse are not exclusive to Opus Dei, but it is evident that in Opus Dei there have been contracts through third parties without regularizing them. And, furthermore, in the case of auxiliary numeraries this is disguised as a vocation. And don't you have the woman Josep Maria Escrivá de Balaguer, eh? God has the woman. And if God has chosen you to be an auxiliary numerary, there is no other world for you.

This is what is defined in the series as spiritual abuse.

— Spiritual abuse is when you, at 14 years old, are induced to take on a vocation and are told that it is God who is calling you to be a numerary, an auxiliary or an associate. Or a supernumerary and, therefore, to marry and have all the children that come along. All those rules, giving all the money you can afford, locking you up with your family, separating you from your friends... everything comes because God asks you to. Spiritual abuse is using God to establish rules that restrict your freedom. Of course, you think "If it is God who asks me to do it, and I don't do it, I am failing God." This is where this situation occurs, which is insurmountable and, for that reason, they break down so much with guilt when they leave. One of the witnesses explained to me that they told her that she was going to die if she left, but that she preferred to die than to spend another day there.

Are control techniques typical of a sect?

— These are coercive groups. Experts Laura Merino and Vega González explain that they also have clients who come from civil organizations, companies and places where these same methods of saying: "Stop thinking, I'll think for you" are applied. Coercive methods exist in all civil and religious organizations. I believe that in Opus Dei the fact that obedience is rewarded over discernment means that your criteria disappears. The fact that you don't have criteria is rewarded.

How do you consider yourself from a religious point of view?

— I am a basic Christian. Many people have been educated in Christian foundations and are not necessarily practicing. But I always think: who has built me up with values in life? Well, at home, obviously, there are my father and mother, practicing Catholics. But I have also been greatly influenced by my uncle Miguel Ángel, who was a Capuchin and founded the Telephone of Hope. I remember how I, with my brothers, would go to the apartment in Plaza Letamendi to answer the phone, because my uncle would turn around with a rickety two-horse car to help people. I identify with this, and many of the things I have seen with these girls were in contradiction. They themselves, at some point, see how Opus Dei collides head-on with Christian principles and, of course, it hits them in the head.

I asked you to see if the making of the documentary had caused you any crisis with Catholicism.

— No. The fact that there are malfunctions in all the institutions of the society in which we live does not cause me to have crises with all institutions. Does the education system work? Yes, it does. Could it work better? Yes. You at the ARA do a lot of research on the issue of abuse. Does this mean that we are all abusers? No: it means that there are things that do not work well and that we must resolve them. Therefore, the only crisis I have is when evidence is denied, or when no one shows up.

The heroic minute It is a title that is both sinister and liberating.

— Yes, that's right. I knew it had to be called that from the very beginning. According to Opus Dei guidelines, the heroic minute is the moment when the alarm clock rings and your body can't think for a second whether it's ready to get up or not. That means you have to deny your body the signals it gives you and immediately subject it to discipline. And from there come all the little mortifications. We like to talk a lot about the hair shirt and all that because it's always so spectacular, but the point is to subject the body, to always go against its will. And you weaken it so much that the mind ends up weakening. But the double meaning is when they tell of their heroic minute, which is the moment when they decide to leave. And they have to start from scratch, which is not easy.

I ask you then for an exercise of introspection to tell me what your heroic moment has been, in the sense of noticing that you were doing something against yourself.

— It's hard for me to answer you, because when I saw that something went against what I could do, I left. It was hard for me to do things that I didn't believe in.

Well let's do it the other way around: tell me the heroic minute that saved you.

— It happened to me on the radio. I decided to leave The morning of Catalunya Ràdio At a very specific moment in a very specific meeting with the director of the station at the time. At that specific moment I said: "I'm leaving." I was two days away from finishing the season but I thought that the conditions were not right to continue doing such a demanding job. Was the radio with me? Of course, I really enjoyed doing it. The morning of Catalunya RàdioBut the conditions in which I was doing it did not correspond to the way I thought a public broadcaster should operate. And then I thought that I was not performing well because I was psychologically affected by the pressure I was under at that time.

Is this the hardest moment, professionally speaking?

— Surely, yes. As director of TV3 I worked with a lot of freedom, and the governing council respected me a lot until, politically, the Convergència government wanted me out of the company. They changed the law and fired me, but it's not a big deal, because it was a very transparent process. In the case of Catalunya Ràdio, it wasn't due to any political movement but because the management wasn't comfortable with the programme I was doing. Or they didn't like the way I was. I still can't understand it right now.

Have you made peace with that moment?

— Totally. It is a decision I made for my health and I made it very consciously.The morning of Catalunya Ràdio It was a professional sacrifice, because it is a huge project. I would still be doing it today. I am somewhat resilient, in that sense, and I would have persisted. And I would still be doing it. Overnight If they hadn't offered me the position of director of TV3. I'm not one to go around doing things on the fly: I like projects that are built over time. I don't have any need to go from one place to another to prove anything.

The morning on Catalunya Ràdio Now it's not you who is doing it, but Ricard Ustrell, who four days ago had some critical words with you, telling you that you had labelled yourself.

— Freedom of expression. Everyone can say whatever they want in life, no problem.

He mentioned the cover in which you greeted "the citizens of the Catalan Republic." Do you consider yourself a distinguished journalist?

— I think it is important that someone one day hears the whole of that afternoon's cover, delivered in a legislative framework of interregnum. In any case, Òmnium Cultural has already responded. I did think that the girls fromThe heroic minute They did not deserve to waste time on this controversy, but he is neither the first nor the last to point this out to me: others have done so before.

So back to the series. Beyond hearing your voice for a few seconds, asking a couple of questions, you don't even appear as a voice in the series. off.

— It was a completely conscious decision, of course. I wanted them to be the ones to tell the story.

I don't know if this means that, at this stage, you are more comfortable in the background.

— Every job we do has its own language. I've spent a lot of time on screen or in front of a microphone.

But do you miss the camera?

— No, no. The camera is an instrument of communication. And, in the series, the instrument of communication and the force are the eyes of the women looking at the camera and telling the viewer that they are not one, nor two, nor three, but thousands.

A phrase you said to Albert Om, a couple of years ago, in an interview at the ARA: "When you are 55 years old, people start to stop thinking about you."

— Well now I'm 57!

You have presented Overnight and The morning of Catalunya RàdioYou have been an editor at ARA, director of TV3... Do you really feel that way, with this record of service?

— The thing is that our business is becoming more and more like a pelota court: that is, you have to bounce against the wall and bounce, bounce, bounce. This means that if you don't have the ability to be a fast ball and go at a different pace, you won't be very successful in the market. Because what generates clicks are people who say things because they know that it will generate controversy, and I have very little of that. It's so much so that when Twitter was born I wasn't going to join. I don't have the ability to be present all day, and this means that, on many occasions, people forget that you exist.

You mean?

— At first, when I left The morning of Catalunya RàdioThere were people who would say to me, "Oh, girl, I feel so sorry that you've retired!" And I thought, "Oh, my God! You've done it big time, marching!" It's interesting how, suddenly, it's as if you're no longer dedicated to the profession when the vast majority of our colleagues who do journalism don't do it in front of a camera or a microphone: they do it by writing or investigating.

In any case, are you thinking about retirement?

— No, man! Not yet. I don't think about it... and I can't even afford to. Look, there are days when I count how many years I've been contributing and how many I have left, because I started working when I was 17. And yes, I've been working for many years, but I'm not tired.

You are also at university, and collaborating with Òmnium, with the Institut Guttmann, with the Paco Candel Foundation and even with Dinder, an app for people with intellectual disabilities to date in a safe environment. Where does this concern come from to never stop?

— Well, doing more things that are useful to society. What Mr. Grande-Marlaska called multi-militancy, which means being active in social work. And I say being active in the positive sense, which goes beyond having a membership card. I don't understand any other way of living than getting involved in the lives of people who have fewer opportunities than you. Or greater difficulties.

You talk about being a soldier without a card, but politics tempted you. Artur Mas offered you the position of Culture Minister. Why did you decline?

— This is not the only time that I have been asked these questions. I have always believed that politics is done from many places. I am talking about well-understood politics, about nothing published. And public service can be provided through the media, through an entity and from many places. I am dedicated to public service through journalism to try to improve the society we have. I have never had the need to occupy a position, or a seat. In addition, we are in a very commercial dynamic of politics and also of communication, due to this 24/7 exposure of politics, which causes the capacity to develop long-term strategies to be very scarce.

You've heard a lot of things said to you, and some of them weren't very nice. In other words, you've been subjected to more than one campaign. Is there one that has particularly hurt you?

— Well, it always hurts when people speak badly of you, but when you have a public dimension it is inevitable that people will have opinions and criticize you. Now, it is not necessary to insult or get into personal matters. And yes, there is someone who has written something unpleasant about my son, or has done something that he may have regretted later, but it is okay. We have to live with this.

Is there any perception you think people have about you that you would like to change?

— No, because in the end you won't convince people who think you're undesirable and therefore it's a waste of time. When you get older you try not to waste time, because you're aware that you have less time left.

Are you very aware of the ticking sound?

— It is very important to be aware of who you are, what role you play, and how much time you have left at any given time. If not, you can make the mistake of fighting against the natural passage of time, physically or professionally. Life is about thinking about what things we should plan for when we are gone. And leaving as few problems as possible behind.

As the former director of Televisió de Catalunya, I cannot help but ask you how you see TV3 in 2025.

— There are many things that are difficult for a public television like ours. Even if you have a platform, you cannot compete against Netflix, because an episode of it is worth ten times more than an episode of a TV3 series and, instead, you are competing in that league. And then, our country still has not made a global pact for public-private audiovisuals. We see it at every Goya awards ceremony. Where does the talent come from? Who are the ones who go up on stage? There are many people from Chess, from the universities here... But this talent must be protected so that it can be created in Catalan and they can work in our language. Then, the rest is up to taste.

Well, tell me your tastes when it comes to TV3 today.

— I really like the bet on documentaries and dedicating two prime time weekly in non-fiction. And on the other hand, there is entertainment that I understand is powerful and, let's say, anthropological, but that, personally, doesn't interest me.

You see a second season ofThe heroic minute?

— I would like the series to be seen by many people around the world and for the men who have been part of Opus Dei and who are eager to speak out to be able to do so. If Max commissions Mediapro Studio to do it, The heroic minute, they have also left Opus Dei, it will be a pleasure to work on it.