OPUS.APPROVAL
*****
(TITLE) Cardinal joins in honoring founder of Opus Dei

    Five American archbishops, including Cardinal Bernardin, recently
joined thousands of Catholics in honoring and praying for Msgr.
Josemaria Escriva de Balaguer, Opus Dei's founder, at memorial Masses
throughout the country.  The occasion was the 10th anniversary of Msgr.
Escriva's death.

    The other prelates were Cardinal Bernard Law of Boston, Archbishop
James A. Hickey of Washington, Archbishop John Quinn of San Francisco,
and Archbishop Rembert Weakland of Milwaukee.  Other church leaders
around the world issued statements on the anniversary.

    Cardinal Bernardin, addressing a packed Holy Name Cathedral in
Chicago, referred to Msgr. Escriva's message and commented: "It is
essential to the vocation of Christians in the world that they carry on
Christ's mission in and through their involvement in the secular order,
contributing to its sanctification, to the restoration of all things in
Christ."

    "Msgr. Escriva was an innovator, but he also stood firmly and
squarely with the Christian tradition.  His message was a call to return
daily to the roots of the Christian way of life and to live it
creatively and courageously in our contemporary world."

    "It is an honor for me to be present today with the members,
friends and benefactors of Opus Dei in the Chicago metropolitan area as
you honor the memory of your founder and pray for him..."

    "I wish to take this opportunity to thank you for your dedicated
service to the Church, especially to the people of this vast city and
its suburbs.  I wish to affirm your efforts to bear witness to the
message of the Gospel in the ordinary circumstances of your daily
lives,"  he said.

PHOTO CAPTION:
Cardinal Bernardin welcomes some of 2,000 worshippers at Holy Name
Cathedral who took part in memorial Mass for Opus Dei founder, Msgr.
Josemaria Escriva de Balaguer.

    Cardinal Law, who first became acquainted with Opus Dei during his
student days at Harvard University, said: "How do we engage in that
work of God (Opus Dei)?  We engage in that work of God in prayer, as
you so well know, and the highest expression of prayer is what we are
engaged in now in the celebration of the Eucharist.  Here is the heart
of the Church's life.

    "This is the work of God. But this work of God is not to be
contained within the walls of the church, and surely that was the
overriding concern of Msgr. Escriva," he said.

    "His deep-felt conviction was that the work of God belongs to the
whole Church, is the responsibility of the whole Church. And he
understood the Church well.  He reveled in the mystery of the Church."

    In Washington, at the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception,
Archbishop Hickey thanked the approximately 2000 people present for
being there, "all of you who aspire to be `contemplatives on Main
Street.'"

    He quoted Msgr. Escriva's thought that "we discover the invisible
God in the most visible of material things.  There is no other way...
Either you find Christ in ordinary, everyday life or you will never
find him."

    Archbishop Weakland spoke to Opus Dei members about the central
role of prayer in their work: "That work which you must do out there
for the Church in the Church, in the world, that work has to be also
inspired by, and anointed by, and nourished by and fed by, that life of
prayer, so that the Opus Dei is the totality of it...  It's the
deacon's role now to send you into that world that must be sanctified
through your loving action."

    Opus Dei's vicar for the United States, Father Raphael Caamano
celebrated the anniversary Mass at St. Patrick's Cathedral in New York,
urging a crowd of 1,000 not only to pray for, but also turn to, Msgr.
Escriva for help and inspiration in their daily lives and in serving
the Church in New York. Msgr.  Escriva's cause of beatification was
formally introduced in 1981 with Vatican approval.

Reprinted from "THE CHICAGO CATHOLIC", July 12 and July 19, 1985.




*****
ROMERO LAUDS ESCRIVA

    On May 17 of this year, Spain's ABC newspaper reprinted the
following letter from El Salvador's Archbishop Oscar Romero to the
pope, originally written in Santiago de Mara on July 12, 1975: "Most
Blessed Father, I regard the still-recent day of the death of Monsignor 
Josemaria Escriva de Balaguer as contributing to the greater glory of
God and to the well-being of souls, and I am requesting of Your
Holiness the quick opening of the cause for beatification and
canonization of such an eminent priest.

    "I had the good fortune of knowing Monsignor Escriva de Balaguer
personally and of receiving from him support and fortitude to be
faithful to the inalterable doctrine of Christ and to serve with
apostolic zeal the Holy Roman Church and this land of Santiago de
Maria, which Your Holiness has entrusted to me.

    "I have known, for several years now, the work of Opus Dei here in
El Salvador, and I can testify to the supernatural sense that
animates it and to the fidelity to the ecclesiastical magisterium that
characterizes the work.

    "Personally, I owe deep gratitude to the priests involved with
the work, to whom I have trusted with much satisfaction the spiritual
direction of my life and that of other priests.

    "People from all social classes find in Opus Dei a secure
orientation for living as sons of God in the midst of their daily
family and social obligations.  And this is doubtless due to the life
and doctrine of its founder.

    "In this stormy world overrun by insecurity and doubt, the superb
doctrinal fidelity that characterizes Opus Dei is a sign of special
grace from God.

    "Monsignor Escriva de Balaguer was able to unite in his life a
continuous dialogue with Our Lord and a great humanity; one could tell
he was a man of God, and his manner was full of sensitivity, kindness,
and good humor.

    "There are many people who since the moment of his death are
privately entrusting him with their needs.

    "Most Blessed Father, I humbly repeat my petition for a quick
opening of the cause for the beatification and canonization of
Monsignor Escriva de Balaguer, for the greater glory of God and for the
edification of the Church.

    "With filial affection and submission, I kiss Your Ring."

Reprinted from CRISIS magazine - SEPTEMBER 1992, p 3.




*****
A BENEFIT FOR THE WHOLE CHURCH

  By Cardinal Sebastiano Baggio

    Solicitude for the whole Church: it was from this standpoint, which
serves as a cornerstone for the entire section 10 of the Decree
Presbyterorum Ordinis, that the Fathers of the Second Vatican Council
deliberated on the apostolic usefulness of personal prelatures, which
were to be established by the Holy See to meet particular pastoral
objectives at a regional or national level, or indeed worldwide.
The apostolic and pastoral impetus which thus moved the Episcopal
College gathered together cum Petro et sub Petro (with Peter and under
Peter) in the assembly of the Council, to introduce into Church law
this new jurisdictional structure which has a distinctly personal and
secular character, led the same Council Fathers to give two further
directives which are full of prudence and legal insight.  First the
setting up of such personal prelatures was to be "in accordance with
norms to be established for each individual institution" - this hints
at the possibility of a variety of purposes and structures and second,
"the rights of the local ordinaries must always be respected", as is also
the case with military vicariates and religious orders which, though
they are a different kind of institution, also represent forms of
personal jurisdiction harmoniously integrated with the territorial
jurisdictions.

    All these principles were taken up and developed later by Pope Paul
Vl when he authentically interpreted and applied the above-mentioned
conciliar decision in the more detailed norms regarding personal
prelatures "ad peculiaria opera pastoralia vel missionaria perficienda"
(to carry out particular pastoral or missionary works), which are
contained in Part 1, Article 4 of the Motu Proprio "Ecclesiae Sanctae",
of 6 August 1966.

Decision described as historic

    These brief remarks can help to explain the purpose of the
Declaration of the Sacred Congregation for Bishops.  In it are
illustrated the significance and the juridical and pastoral scope of
the establishment of Opus Dei as a personal prelature, together with a
summary of the "chief characteristics" of the prelature (as is pointed
out in the preamble).  This also explains why there was such a long
period of study and consultation before this decision of the Holy
Father, who already on 17 October 1978 had said, in the first
allocution of his pontificate: "We wish to draw attention to the
perennial importance of the Second Vatican Council, and we accept that
it is our inescapable duty to put it carefully into practice".  We can
therefore describe as historic this decision which transforms into
concrete reality a new, fertile and promising possibility envisaged in
the pastoral legislation of the Second Vatican Council.

    Three and a half years of painstaking work have been needed since 3
March 1979, when John Paul II entrusted the S. Congregation for Bishops
(to whom it belongs to erect personal prelatures, in accordance with n.
49, 1 of the Apostolic Constitution "Regimini Ecclesiae Universae")
with the task of examining whether it was possible and, if so, how to
erect the first personal prelature, indicating further that in such a
task it was necessary to take into careful account "all the data of law
and of fact".  Data "of law", because since the above-mentioned Motu
Proprio contains norms which make up a real general law or fundamental
statute for personal prelatures, what was being requested was not the
concession of privilege (which, moreover, Opus Dei had not asked for),
but an attentive evaluation of those general norms to see whether it
would be correct to apply them in the specific case we were studying.
Data "of fact", because the setting up of the prelature was to be the
result not of an abstract doctrinal speculation, but rather, and above
all, of a careful consideration of an already existing apostolic and
pastoral entity, Opus Dei, the legitimacy and soundness of whose
foundational charism had been recognized on numerous occasions by
ecclesiastical authority.  In fact the institute already had, from as
far back as 1947, the juridical powers proper to clerical institutions
of pontifical right, including the faculty of forming and incardinating
its own priests, but it had not yet found its appropriate ecclesial
configuration within the organizational structures of the People of
God.

    Such a task inevitably took some time to complete.  The study
carried out in these years went through four stages: 1) a general
examination of the matter by an Ordinary Assembly of the Sacred Con-
gregation for Bishops, which took place on 28 June 1979; 2) a technical
committee was appointed to fulfil the directives of the Fathers and the
mind of the Holy Father, this committee evaluated all the aspects of
the matter, historical, juridical, pastoral, institutional and
procedural, in twenty-five working sessions between February 1980 and
February 1981; 3) a special committee of cardinals, appointed by the
Holy Father, examined the conclusions of the technical committee and
the statutes of the prelature to be erected, taking into consideration
the purpose, composition and diffusion of Opus Dei; this committee
submitted its views on 26 September 1981, 4) the bishops in all the
countries of the different continents where Opus Dei had erected
centres were sent a note outlining the essential characteristics of the
prelature, to inform them and allow them to make observations which
were then carefully studied by the appropriate body.

    Finally, there was the announcement of the Holy Father's decision,
on 23 August 1982.

             An operative reality

    The Council has reminded us, paraphrasing the words of St Paul to
the Ephesians (4:16), that "the social structure of the Church serves
the spirit of Christ who vivifies it, in the building up of the body"
(Lumen Gentium, n. 8).  One can indeed say that we have now seen this
happening once again just as it was an eminently pastoral and apostolic
reason, a need of development and growth, which led to the
establishment in law of the personal prelatures, so too the primary
purpose of the pontifical act by which the Prelature of the Holy Cross
and Opus Dei is formally erected is that of turning into a living and
operative reality a new ecclesiastical structure, foreseen by the
Council but which had hitherto remained simply a theoretical
possibility.

    This act of the Pope also perfects further the harmonious insertion
of Opus Dei in the organizational structures of the universal Church
and in the organic pastoral activity of the local Churches ensuring
a most careful respect for all the legitimate rights of the diocesan
bishops (as the previously mentioned Declaration amply shows).  At the
same time a suitable ecclesial framework is provided, with norms of
public and pontifical law (that text of which will in due course be
placed at the disposal of all interested local ordinaries), for an
institution of sound doctrine and praiseworthy apostolic vigour.

             Two other reasons

    This measure has been taken for the good of the whole Church, and
this not only as a matter of principle, but also for two other very
specific reasons which are worth stressing.  The first is that among the
thousands of priests and laity of the prelature there are faithful of
87 nationalities and of all races, cultures and social conditions,
who now see their unity of vocation and government and their foun-
dational identity as secular priests and ordinary lay faithful fully
approved, without in any way implying a lack of appreciation for the
validity and worth of the consecrated secularity proper to the secular
institutes and approved by solemn papal documents.  The other
consequence of benefit to the entire community of the Church is that
this clear recognition of the foundational charism and the genuine
characteristics of the spirit, organization and apostolic methods of
Opus Dei cannot but further facilitate and strengthen the specific
pastoral service which this well-deserving institution has now been
providing for over half a century in hundreds of dioceses all over the
world.

    A common good which will be ensured by the specifically pastoral
purpose of the prelature: that is, the work of the prelate and his
clergy in assisting and sustaining the laity incorporated in the
prelature to fulfill the particular commitments they have undertaken,
and the apostolic activity which the clergy and laity of the prelature
together carry out to help the Church communicate to all circles of
society the practical demands of the universal call to holiness and
more specifically the supernatural, sanctifying and apostolic value of
ordinary professional work.  In the exercise of their responsibility
towards the People of God entrusted to them, the pastors of the local
Churches know full well that they can count here on a resource which
the new statute makes even better qualified and effective.

    St. Paul includes joy among the fruits of the Spirit (cf. Gal 5:22).
And Jesus himself, with a beautiful and tender literary image, which
is at once deeply human and supernatural, speaks of the joy of giving
birth (cf. Jn 16:21).

    The members of Opus Dei will be bubbling over with joy and praise
for God at this happy ecclesial event; but they are not alone, because
the reasons for their happiness are a motive of joy for all men of good
will all over the Church.

L'Osservatore Romano - Weekly Edition in English, 17 January 1983




*****
ADDRESS OF POPE JOHN PAUL II AFTER THE MASS OF THANKSGIVING
  FOR BLESSED JOSEMARIA ESCRIVA

On Monday, May 18, 1992, the Prelate of Opus Dei, Bishop Alvaro del
Portillo, concelebrated with his regional vicars from around the world a
Mass of Thanksgiving in St. Peter 's Square.  After the Mass, the Holy
Father made the following remarks about the newly Blessed Josemaria
Escriva, founder of opus Dei, as reported in L'Osservatore Romano:


     I want to express my heartfelt gratitude for the filial devotion
expressed to me by Bishop Alvaro del Portillo in the name of all those
who fill St. Peter's Square and the many faithful, cooperators and
friends of Opus Dei.  To him I express special, affectionate greeting,
which I extend to the other members of The Episcopate and all those
present.

    You are filled with joy over the beatification of Josemaria Escriva
de Balaguer because you trust that his elevation to the altars, as the
Prelate of Opus Dei mentioned just now, will be of great benefit to the
Church. I too share this confidence.  In fact, I am convinced, as I
wrote in the Apostolic Exhortation Christifideles laici, that "the
entire People of God, and the lay faithful in particular, can find at
this moment new models of holiness and new witnesses of heroic virtue
lived in the ordinary everyday circumstances of human existence." 
(Christifideles laici, n.17).  How could one fail to see in the
example, teaching and work of Blessed Josemaria Escriva an eminent
witness of Christian heroism in the exercise of ordinary human
activity?

    The universal call to holiness and the apostolate is, as you know,
one of the points on which the Magisterium of the Second Vatican
Council insisted more strongly (cf. Lumen gentium, nn. 442; Apostolicam
actuositatem, nn. 1-4).  Like others before him, Blessed Josemaria,
thanks to God's light, understood this universal call not only as a
doctrine to teach and spread particularly among the lay faithful, but
also, and above all, as the very center of an active commitment in his
pastoral ministry.  The young priest Josemaria Escriva found himself
working with a generous response to divine grace in a field fraught
with difficulty. His fidelity allowed the Holy Spirit to lead him to
the heights of personal union with God, which resulted in an
extraordinarily fruitful apostolate.  Indeed, the Lord allowed him,
already in his earthly life, to see the comforting fruit of his
apostolate, which Josemaria attributed entirely to the divine goodness,
always considering himself an "inept and deaf instrument", giving proof
of an extraordinary humility, so much so that, at the end of his life,
he saw himself "as a stammering child".

    The beatification of Josemaria Escriva de Balaguer affords me the
occasion of this joyous meeting with all of you, dear priests and laity
who, in such large numbers, have come on pilgrimage to Rome to
participate in this heartfelt manifestation of faith and ecclesial
communion...  The figure of a Blessed represents a new call to
holiness, which is not a privilege, nor is it addressed only to a few
people; rather, it must be the common goal of all Christians.  Indeed,
in Baptism, by which we become God's children, we receive grace, that
seed of holiness which grows and matures with the help of the other
sacraments and the practice of piety; it must be manifested in the
fruits and witness of life which the Spirit fosters in those who love
him.  Thus one can reach that fullness which the Apostle Paul speaks of:
"This is the will of God, your sanctification" (I Thes. 4:3).

    This call to holiness was set forth and repeated many times by
Blessed Josemaria.  Present here today are many people who, on more
than one occasion, have heard from his own lips this same exhortation
of St. Paul; others have received it through his writings or from
eyewitnesses.  Now, each one, immersed in the concrete activity of
his own life and profession, can count on the help of the Holy Spirit
in following this path towards Christian perfection.  This is what the
same Blessed reminds us of in one of his Conversations: "Christians,
working in the midst of the world, must reconcile all things with God,
speaking with Christ in the midst of all human activity" (n. 5).

    In this regard the Second Vatican Council urges all Christians,
each according to his personal calling, "to perform their duties
faithfully in the spirit of the Gospel" (Gaudium et spes, n. 43).  When
people fail in this obligation, they cease to fulfill the will of Cod
who expects each person to cooperate in the work of creation; however,
they also offend their neighbor, with whom we are united by an
unbreakable bond of solidarity.  Therefore, the Council notes that "one
of the gravest errors of our time is the dichotomy between the faith
which many profess and the practice of their daily lives" (ibid.).

    Particularly in our day, Christians are called to cooperate in a
new evangelization which imbues the home, professional life, centers of
culture and work, mass media, and public and private life with those
Gospel values which are the source of peace, beauty, understanding and
harmony among all people.

    To those of you who are from English-speaking countries I extend a
warm greeting.  This visit to Rome, where the founder of Opus Dei chose
to spend a large part of his life, must strengthen even further your
faith and your commitment to the life and mission of the Church.  Rome
is the place of the witness of the Princes of the Apostles, Peter and
Paul.  It is the place from which the Successor of Saint Peter calls
the entire Church to respond to the urgent need for a "new
evangelization" at the approach of the Third Christian Millennium.  In
many documents and on many occasion I have exhorted the laity to take a
decisive part in bringing the word of God to the millions and millions
of men and women who as yet do not know Christ the Redeemer of humanity
(cf. Christifideles laici, n. 35; Redemptoris missio, n. 71).  Sustained
by the holy zeal which you have learned from the newly Blessed founder,
may you he fully committed to the cause of evangelism through your
faithful witness to the Church's faith and doctrine in the vast world
of human affairs and through your generous participation in the
Church's mission.  As a leaven in society, bring your talents to bear on
public and private life at every level, proclaiming in word and deed
the truth about man's transcendent destiny.  Following the teaching
of your founder, respond generously to the universal call to the
fullness of the Christian life and the perfection of charity, thus
laying the foundation for a more human way of life and a more just and
equitable earthly society (cf. Lumen gentium, n. 40).  May God
abundantly fortify you for this task.