Opus Dei today.

British Prime Minister Tony Blair recently had to reshuffle his cabinet, following the sudden resignation of the Home Secretary David Blunkett. As a result, Ruth Kelly, a middle-rank Treasury minister, was made Secretary for Education at the age of thirty-six. This is very young for the Cabinet, though not unprecedented; Harold Wilson, a former Labour prime minister, got there in his early thirties. Kelly has been seen as a rising star in government, but this promotion makes her a shooting star. Her expertise so far has been in economics rather than education, but ministers have to learn fast. Kelly is what the press likes to refer to as a "devout Catholic" (are those of us who struggle through life as Catholics undevout?). She has shown this in a traditional way by having had four children since she entered Parliament in 1997.

Kelly is not just a devout and philoprogenitive Catholic (with exceptionally good childcare arrangements), but, it has been revealed, has associations with Opus Dei. She has declined to say precisely what they are, but has admitted she has found the movement spiritually helpful. On the face of it, she is the first senior member of a Western government known to have links with Opus Dei since the days of General Franco. In the past, Opus Dei has appealed to people on the political Right, rather than those on the Centre Left like Ruth Kelly. This association has aroused suspicion on the secular left, worried about her potential stance on what they call "reproductive rights" (though these are not the political issue in Britain that they are in the United States), and prompted unease among liberal Catholics, who do not like Opus Dei's record (or even the large claim implied in its name). The late Cardinal Basil Hume restricted the activities of the movement, but his successor, Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O'Connor, seems to be more accommodating.

Kelly has told interviewers that her religious beliefs are a private matter and do not affect her public life. She could hardly say anything else if she wants to be in government in the strongly secular society of contemporary Britain,but haven't we all been told from the pulpit that our religion is not just a private matter but should be boldly carried into our working lives? (I believe this is a particular requirement for Opus Dei members.) People scrutinizing Kelly's voting record have noted that she voted for a parliamentary amendment prohibiting same-sex couples from adopting children. She has also been prepared to serve in a government that many of us believe took Britain into an illegal war, for reasons that have since proved invalid. Like the rest of us, a rising young Catholic politician has to make some difficult decisions.

Bernard Bergonzi, a long-time contributor, writes from England.