Opus Dei savours a 'taste of heaven'

ne Opus Dei priest said the atmosphere was so euphoric "it was truly a taste of heaven". Such was the joy at the end of a Rome seminar to celebrate 25 years since Opus Dei became the Church's first and so far only personal prelature an ecclesiastical juridical snucture established to carry out special apostolic tasks. In that time Opus Dei has been able to offer invaluable services to dioceses, leading the way for the creation of more personal prelatures in the future.
In November 1982, Pope John Paul II assigned Opus Dei the status of personal prelature with the apostolic constitution UtSit (-That It May Be"). This not only recognised the organisation within the hierarchy of the Church, but above all it gave Opus Dei the flexibility it needed to fulfil its mission to evangelise without being limited to geographical area. Today, Opus Dei is made up of 86,000 members throughout the world. including 21 bishops.
Speaking at the seminar Cardinal Camillo Ruini, the Vicar of Rome, praised the way the personal prelature has effectively carried out its service "in favour of dioceses worldwide and in a special way that of Rome". That has been achieved, he said, not only through the roles of priests and parish services, but above all in the striving for holiness and for the apostolate that each of the faithful promotes.
The current Prelate of Opus Dei, Bishop Javier Echevarrfa, reflected on how the juridical state of the personal prelature is perfectly suited to the vision of St Josemaria Escriva, Opus Des founder. Others remarked that John Paul II's establishment of Opus Dei as a personal prelature constituted a "key component" of his implementation of the insights of the Second Vatican Council, particularly its universal call to holiness and the need for the baptised to transform this world through their own personal sanctification in the world.
Formalising Opus Dei within the hierarchy of the Church wasn't an easy or speedy task, but now the wide consensus is that it has proved extraordinarily successful, leading the way for other such structures within the Church. There is no shortage of similar personal prelatures under consideration. from disaffected Anglicans seeking communion with Rome, to other groups such as migrants needing special pastoral care and attention. The adaptability and flexibility of a personal prelahire is a key advantage, but so too is the simple recognition of a group as a bona fide organisation within the hierarchy of the Church. That. say defenders of Opus Dei. should put an end to accusations that such groups are sects, cults or parallel churches. To have papal authority means they cannot, by definition, be such entities. Furthermore, they argue, to be made a personal prelature is the maximum papal authority any such group can receive. But a quarter of a century of very successful years as a personal prelature is still perhaps not long enough to pacify some detractors of Opus Dei who continue to accuse it of having cult-like characteristics.
The Vatican is not particularly perturbed by false media reports alleging the Church suddenly has a list of seven new deadly sins. Last week Bishop Gianfranco Girotti, regent of the Apostolic Penitentiary, listed a set of "social sins". such as drug abuse, pollution, and human embryo experimentation. It wasn't a particularly novel statement. let alone one establishing any new sins.
Mgr Juan Ignacio Arrieta, Prelate Canonist at the Apostolic Penitentiary, said he wasn't surprised the media misunderstood Bishop Girotti's words because -there is a lack of religious information on the distinction between sin and form. new ways of acting on those sins in today's civilisation". Moreover, rather than be irritated by the misrepresentation of the bishop's remarks, he and other officials are pleased that the dangers of sin are receiving attention. Society may have lost a sense of sin, but it's still real enough to warrant a few acres of newsprint.
Dusing his Angelus address on Sunday some observers noted that while the Pope spoke out forcefully against ongoing violence in Iraq, he omitted to mention upheavals in Tibet. The reason was simple, according to one Vatican official: "The Pope has the responsibility to parlicipate in the pain of humanity." he said, but he doesn't have "direct sources of information there, no nuncio or community that lives there from which he could obtain news and on which he could eventually make public appeals". It's different to Iraq, he said, where there is a Christian community that's under attack.