Opus Dei to restructure for efficient apostolic work

Opus Dei, is a Roman Catholic organization of laymen and priests founded in Spain in 1928 with the aim of re-establishing Christian ideals in society, is to restructure towards reducing the organizational and governmental structures towards greater agility and efficiency in the apostolic work.

This was the outcome of the recently concluded extraordinary general congress of Opus Dei convened in Rome by Fernando Ocáriz, the Prelate of Opus Dei, with 126 women and 148 men in attendance.

The restructuring project of the Opus Dei is to give more attention to caring for people. It will also allow for each person’s apostolate in his or her own professional, family and social environment, in tandem with the formational activities organized in and from the Prelature’s centers.

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“While the good that is done in many places is abundant, we would like our Lord to be able to rely on more hands to help make the joy of the Gospel reach the furthest corner of the world. To date (2023), various circumscriptions in Europe, Africa, Latin America, and Asia have been reorganised. The project will continue for a few years to come,” the Opus Dei disclosed in a press dossier made available to BusinessDay.

Ocáriz in his homily at the beginning of the congress asked for God’s grace to enable the congress to work in consonance with the dictates of the Church, just as he commented on the Gospel of the Mass, referring to the way the disciples of Emmaus wanted the Lord to remain with them.

“In full fidelity to the spirit received from St. Josemaría, which necessarily includes union with the Roman Pontiff, the visible principle of the Church’s unity: this holy Church, of which Opus Dei is a part and which following St. Josemaria’s example it wishes to serve as the Church wants to be served,” Ocáriz stated.

About 274 faithful of Opus Dei met with Ocáriz and his vicars in Rome during the congress to adapt the Prelature’s statutes to the motu proprio “Ad charisma tuendum”. Furthermore, the motu proprio added that the Statutes of Opus Dei “shall be suitably adapted upon the proposal of the Prelature itself, to be approved by the competent bodies of the Apostolic See”.

According to the dossier, the motu proprio Ad charisma tuendum (14-VII-2022) modified two articles of the Apostolic Constitution Ut Sit, by which the Prelature was erected in 1982, to adapt them to the norms established by the recent Apostolic Constitution Praedicate Evangelium (19-III-2022), on the Roman Curia.