The first group to be listed as a secular institute was Opus Dei, on February 24, 1947, with approval in 1950.Opus Dei was the prototype for the other institutes awaiting the approval of the Holy See, the one that met all the conditions required by Provida Mater.
The aims and goals of the members, men and women, in their distinct classifications who formed Opus Dei more than met the requirements for secular institutes.
However the coed nature of the group was not well received by legalistic officers of the Vatican who wanted to impose the classical male/female separation of other institutions.
The superiors of Opus Dei claimed that this conglomerate of members, as conceived by the founder, required that this diversity remain undivided: all are equal members of Opus Dei.
The work they were called to do in the secular world required both clerics and lay people, men and women, married and single, students of both sexes and of different ranks.
They felt that Opus Dei did not fit under the competence of Congregation for the Religious and Secular Institutes. They sought to be independent, as dioceses are.
The founder explained that Opus Dei aimed to promote an awareness among Christians that they are called to seek holiness and to contribute to the evangelization of every sphere of society, striving to put the Gospel into practice according to their constitution.
It appeared for a time that they would not be able to get approval. Opus Dei needed a new structure in the Church and a benevolent Pope, none other than Pope John Paul II.
He opened wide the gates of the Vatican to his dearly loved “opus deists” on November 28, 1982, seven years after the death of the founder. Some members say that this was the most desired miracle of their holy founder.
It was a decision of Vatican II that allowed the creation of an independent body called a personal prelature, which “is governed by the statutes established by the Apostolic See and is presided over by a prelate as its proper ordinary, who has the right to have seminaries, to incardinate students, and to promote them to orders under the title of service to the prelature” (Canon 295).
Just as the bishop is the head of his diocese, so the prelate of a personal prelature directs this entity-without-boundaries. Wherever an incorporated member of Opus Dei resides, his ordinary is the prelate, who may or may not be endowed with episcopal character. He needs to have his proper presbyteral council and a council of lay faithful who are recipients of its pastoral activity.
The lay faithful can dedicate themselves to the apostolic works of the personal prelature by agreements entered into with the prelature and can be incorporated into it through contracts in which mutual rights and obligations are determined according to its statutes (canon 296).
Today Opus Dei has expanded to most nations. Under the command of the prelate, Bishop Javier Echevarria Rodriguez, there are 1828 pastoral centres and 1956 priests. In 2007 37 priests were ordained, and there were 351 seminarians and 86,305 lay people.
Opus Dei has been criticized for limiting the free choice and the liberty of its members, who are said to be submitted to a harsh discipline. Without acrimony or discussion, the New Catholic Encyclopedia states, “The faithful of the prelature enjoy the same freedom as other Catholic citizens, their equals, in all professional, family, social, political, and financial activities. These activities do not fall under the prelature’s jurisdiction, which extends only to the ascetical and apostolic commitments that each one freely assumes by means of a contractual bond. The prelature’s faithful remain under the diocesan bishop’s jurisdiction in everything established by common Church law for the Catholic faithful.”
The only personal prelature that exists today is the Holy Cross and Opus Dei. The Priestly Society of the Holy Cross, inseparably united to the Prelature of Opus Dei, is governed by the prelate of Opus Dei as its president general. The prelature’s priests belong to the Priestly Society of the Holy Cross.
Diocesan priests who wish to seek holiness in the exercise of their ministry in this way may become associated with the institute as well. Their tie to the priestly society in no way compromises their loyalty to their own bishop, who continues to be their only superior.
The Prelature of Opus Dei also relies on co-operators, some of whom are non-Catholics or even non-Christians. Although not incorporated into the prelature, co-operators collaborate in its apostolate by their prayer, work, and alms.
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