Amid the coffee shops and lobbyist watering holes of downtown Washington’s K Street is an unusual sight: a religious bookstore. The Catholic Information Center sells books, hosts lectures and offers Mass and confession to busy D.C. Catholics. Father Arne Panula directs the center. A member of the movement Opus Dei — a personal prelature of the Catholic Church famous for, among other things, its appearance in the fictional book “The Da Vinci Code” — Panula entered the priesthood with the encouragement of St. Josemaria Escriva, the founder of the movement. A native of Duluth, Minn., Panula led Opus Dei in the U.S. before directing the center. How did you become a priest?

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