Professional Documents
Culture Documents
INTRODUCTION
Opus Dei is the first Personal Prelature in the Catholic Church, a new figure of government which was established by Vatican II.
Opus Dei is immediately and directly subject to the Holy See (N 171) and resides in the Congregation for Bishops.
The 1983 Code of Canon Law dedicates a sparse four canons to Personal Prelatures, NN 294 to 297. These canons say,
basically , the Personal Prelatures can be established by the Church for specific pastoral purposes, but their purposes, their
law, regulations and relationships are to be defined and set forth in their statutes.
Prior to 1982, Opus Dei was a Secular Institute, governed by statutes approved in 1950. The statutes of 1950 faithfully
represented the reality of Opus Dei, but since they had to correspond to the figure of a secular institute, they contained
elements unsuited to the secular reality proper to the charism of Opus Dei. These elements disappeared in its statutes as a
prelature.
HISTORICAL BACKGROUND
Origin The idea of the juridical structure known as the personal prelature was introduced by the Second
Vatican Council.
The Council decree Presbytorium Ordinis stated that, among other institutions, special dioceses or
personal prelatures could be established to carry out special pastoral task in different regions or
among any race in any part of the world.
The Council laid down that this new juridical figure was to be flexible in nature, in order to
contribute to the effective spreading of the Christian message and Christian life. In this way the
Church could more aptly respond to the demands of its mission in the world.
The Code of Canon Law of the Catholic Church stipulates that each personal prelature must be
regulated by general Church law and by its own statutes.
Concept Most jurisdictions in the Church are territorial, as in the case of a diocese, where the faithful who
belong to it are determined according to their territory or domicile. However, jurisdiction is not alwas
linked to territory, but many depend on other criteria, such as employment, religious rite, immigrant
status or agreement with the jurisdictional body in question. The last mentioned applies in the case
of military ordinates and personal prelatures.
Personal Prelatures, as envisaged by the Second Vatican Council, are made up of a pastor, a
presbyterate consisting of secular priest, and men and women lay faithful. The prelate who may be a
bishop, is appointed by the Pope and governs the prelature with the power of governance or
jurisdiction.
The Church has the power of self-organization in order to pursue the aims set for her by Christ.
Exercising this power, she has established personal prelatures within her hierarchical structure, with
the special feature that the faithful of the prelature continue to belong to their local church and to
the diocese where they live.
For these and other reasons, personal prelatures are clearly different from religious institutes and
consecrated life in general, as well as from associations and movements of the faithful.
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Historical On 6 August 1966 Pope Paul VI opened the way for the creation of the personal prelatures which
Development has been envisaged by the Second Vatican Council. He specified that lay faithful should be able
to bind themselves to personal prelatures by means of a bilateral agreement between the lay
person and the prelature.
One year later, on 15 August 1967, Paul VI stipulated that personal prelatures should report to
the Congregation for Bishops, and that they should be established by the Roman Pontiff after
consultation with the relevant Episcopal conferences.
Opus Dei already formed a single organism made up of laity and priest cooperating in a pastoral
and apostolic task which was international in scope.
Pope Paul VI and his successors wanted a study to be undertaken of the possibility of giving Opus
Dei its definitive juridical form, corresponding to its true nature.
In 1969, a joint task force consisting of representatives of the Holy See and of Opus Dei started
investigating this possibility.
In 1981, the work was completed. The Holy See then sent a report to over 2000 bishops, in the
dioceses where Opus Dei already had a presence, so that they could add their own observations.
Once this latter phase had been completed, Opus Dei established by John Paul II as a personal
prelature of international scope. The document effecting this was the apostolic constitution UT
SIT of November 28,1982 which was formally executed on March 19, 1983. At the same time
Pope promulgated the Statutes which constitute the particular pontifical law of the Opus Dei
Prelature. The Statutes were the same as those prepared by the founder years before, with some
minor amendments necessary to adapt them to a new legislation.
Successors
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STRUCTURAL ORGANIZATION
a) Structure
The prelate and the vicars who represent him, have jurisdiction in Opus Dei.
The prelate is the proper Ordinary of the prelature.
Character of structure collegial type of government
The prelate and his vicars are assisted in their work by councils, made up largely of laity.
The prelate is helped in his work of government by one council for women (Central Advisory) and another for
men ( General Council). Both are based in Rome.
General Congresses of the prelature are usually held every eight years, attended by members from the
countries in which Opus Dei is present. During the congress the prelate appoints new councils.
To appoint a new prelate, a general elective congress is convened. The prelate is chosen from among the
priest of the prelature who fulfill the conditions of age,length of time in Opus Dei, priestly experience, etc.
His election must be confirmed by the Pope.
The prelature is divided into areas or territories called regions. At the head of each region, is a regional vicar
and two councils: a Regional Advisory for women and a Regional Commission for men.
Some of the regions are further subdivided into delegations. Within the limits of ite territory , a delegation
has a corresponding governmental organization: a vicar of the delegation and two councils.
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Finally at the local level, there are centers of Opus Dei. Centers maybe for women or for men. Each centre is
governed by a local council which is headed by a layperson (director) and consist of two other faithful of the
prelature. For the priestly care of the faithful attached to each centre, the Ordinary of the prelature assigns a
priest from his presbyterate.
No office of government is held for life other than that of the prelate.
d) Characteristic Feature
A characteristic feature of Opus Dei is its Christian family atmosphere. This is present in all activities the
prelature organizes. It is evident in the family warmth found in its centers, in the simplicity and confidence
with which the members deal with one another, in the readiness to help , the understanding, and the
kindness they always try to display in daily life.
e) Membership Distribution
The prelature is made up of more than 87,000 people of whom about 1,900 are priest. The numbers of men
and women are roughly equal. The geographical distribution is approximately as follow:
Africa- 2,000
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f) Incorporation
In order to join Opus Dei a person must freely ask to do so, in the personal conviction, as stated previously,
of having received this divine vocation; and the request needs to have been accepted by the authorities of
the prelature.
The request is made in writing and admission is granted after a minimum of six months. After an additional
period of at least one year, the person can be temporarily incorporated into the prelature through a formal
declaration ofa contractual nature, which is renewable annually. After a minimum of five more years, the
incorporation can become definitive.
In accordance with the canon law , no one may be juridically incorporated into the prelature who has not
reached 18 years of age.
Incorporation into Opus Dei, on the part of the prelature, the commitment to provide the person with
ongoing formation in the Catholic faith and in the spirit of Opus Dei, as well as the necessary pastoral care
from the priest of the prelature. On the part of the person to be incorporated, it means the commitment to
remain under the jurisdiction of the prelate in all that concerns the aim of the prelature, to observe the
norms by which the prelature is governed and to fulfill the other obligations of its faithful.
The bond with the prelature ceases at the end of the term of the contract with the prelature or earlier if the
person so requests, by agreement with the authorities of the prelature. Lawful departure from the prelature
brings about the cessation of mutual rights and duties.
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c) Apostolic Initiatives
The faithful of the prelature and the cooperators, together with many other Catholics and non-Catholics
throughout the world, set up educational, charitable and cultural undertakings, with the clear aims of
providing formation and of rendering a service to society. These include schools, hospitals, universities,
centers for professional formation, and suchlike.
The Opus Dei Prelature can enter into various types of agreements with the apostolic activities:
1. In the case of the corporate works of apostolate, Opus Dei morally guarantees the Christian
orientation of the activities they provide;
2. In other cases, Opus Dei provides spiritual help, but without officially giving any moral guarantee
as regards the formation offered. This spiritual assistance can take a variety of forms, such as
priestly ministry or religion classes.
Such agreements with the prelature do not modify the civil nature of these entities in any way.
Responsibility for their functioning and government always rests with their directors and not with the Opus
Dei Prelature.
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7. Punlaan, in Manila is a specialist professional school for the catering and tourist industry.
Its educational system includes direct contact with hotels and restaurants.
8. Midtown Sports and Cultural Center in Chicago, situated in a multiracial neighborhood
where many young people live, offers programmes providing academic, human, spiritual
and sportinf formation.
9. Toshi, to the west of Mexico City, is an educational institute for women in a rural area
populated by numerous ethnic groups. It offers administrative training to help women find
positions in business and public life in nearby cities.
PERTINENT ISSUES
Aggressive Recruitment
Undue Pressure to Join
Lack of Informed Consent and Control of Environment
Alienation from families