What is Opus Dei? A CNA explainer

CNA Staff, Oct 2, 2024 / 05:00 am (CNA).

Founded on Oct. 2, 1928, by Spanish priest Father Josemaría Escrivá, Opus Dei was a movement borne of Escrivá’s vision to help lay Catholics understand the baptismal calling of holiness and evangelization. The priest desired to demonstrate that all Catholics are called by God to become saints, and he sought to develop programs of Catholic formation to assist them in his mission.

He called the organization Opus Dei to emphasize his belief that its foundation was a “work of God” — or, in Latin, “Opus Dei.”

The organization began as a program of Catholic spiritual and intellectual formation for laymen and began admitting women to its programs of formation two years after its foundation.

Technically, Opus Dei is a “personal prelature,” which, according to canon law, is a Church structure that “consists of presbyters and deacons of the secular clergy” joined together to “accomplish particular pastoral or missionary works.”

The priests and deacons of the prelature are not members of a religious order, like the Jesuits or Benedictines, and therefore they do not make public vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience as religious priests and brothers do. Instead, they are secular clerics, as are diocesan priests, which means that like diocesan priests, they are obliged to celibacy and to obedience, but they are not bound to poverty or to other aspects of monastic or religious life.

Opus Dei’s work and structure also involves lay Catholics who associate themselves to the mission of the prelature by means of individual agreements as defined by the organization’s statutes, or governing documents. In fact, the majority of those involved in the work and mission of Opus Dei are laypeople.

Lay association comes at different levels: Some unmarried Catholics collaborate with Opus Dei as “numeraries,” who dedicate much of their life and time to Opus Dei and its mission; “supernumeraries” are typically married and share in Opus Dei’s work and mission in the context of their families; “associates” are celibate collaborators who do not reside in Opus Dei centers; “cooperators” may be married or unmarried laity who collaborate with or support Opus Dei at a less-committed level. There are also diocesan priests and bishops associated with Opus Dei through an organization called the Priestly Society of the Holy Cross.

While they are formally connected to the prelature, numeraries, supernumeraries, and cooperators remain subject to the jurisdiction of their own diocesan bishops and pastors. The prelate, or head, of Opus Dei does not exercise ecclesiastical jurisdiction for those collaborators except in regard to specifically delineated matters related to collaboration in the prelature’s mission. The educational and spiritual work of Opus Dei, including formation, is subject to the oversight of the diocesan bishop in each place where the prelature operates.

In 2023, there were more than 2,100 priests and more than 93,000 laypeople directly affiliated with Opus Dei. The prelature is operative in approximately 90 countries and is headquartered in Rome.

In the United States, Opus Dei supports Catholic schools, generally segregated by sex, in several cities. The organization offers formation through spiritual direction, retreats, “evenings of recollection” at which priests offer spiritual guidance and confession, and through “circles,” small group meetings of spiritual formation.

Opus Dei has been criticized by some observers who say the organization is inconsistent in its practices in different regions, promotes secrecy about its practices and governance, and focuses its recruiting on persons of wealth or influence.

Opus Dei’s spirituality is rooted in the writings and thought of Escrivá, who was canonized by Pope John Paul II in 2002. Escrivá’s work focused on becoming holy in ordinary life by means of a deep prayer life, offering to God sacrifices and challenges, and the cultivation of virtue.

This article was first published on Jan. 8, 2019, and was updated on Sept. 30, 2024.