LAY ASSOCIATIONS I.

What's New? Any Good News?

Catholic Lay Associations in the New Millennium

Ann Wilson

I had to call Fr. de Valk at home one Saturday and he mentioned that he'd spent a quiet morning reading the papers. "Any good news?" I asked ingenuously. We know the answer to that question. The news media, ours included, seldom report good news.

Catholic Insight is beginning a new series on movements of the Holy Spirit in the Catholic Church that has at its heart "Good News". There are fair winds blowing in this new springtime of Jubilee. They are sometimes subtle and we miss their gentle urgings to new faith and hope. Is it the hardening chagrin of seeing our Church home on earth swept by icy winds of dissent and unfaithfulness? Yet underground, the seeds of new life have been sprouting and putting down roots. O yes, the groundhogs are busy at work undermining the fields and gardens at times. But we must remember that these same destructive groundhogs are known as a sign of prophecy in the pre-spring season.

This new life of the Spirit has become visible of late in vibrant new ecclesial communities and movements that are spreading rapidly. Though many have a number of priests for spiritual guidance, these are primarily lay groups. They were officially gathered in Rome at Pentecost in 1998, the year of the Holy Spirit, with the Holy Father presiding and thousands from around the world in joyful attendance. The Pope invoked the Holy Spirit to "Come, renew the face of the earth" through the groups there gathered, a vast array of nationalities, founders, charisms and apostolic works. "Go and preach the Gospel," he exhorted. "The Lord says 'I am with you--every day--even to the close of the age'."

These lay apostolates provide support and formation to their members as well as a venue for organized apostolic work. The methods and means to do so are as broad as human ingenuity and imagination.

This past June at the Marylake Shrine, the Toronto Archdiocese invited members of these groups new and old to gather for a day of prayer and celebration. At the opening of the Mass, Cardinal Ambrozic, smiling warmly, quoted from the words of Peter on the Mount of the Transfiguration--"It is good for us to be here!" Then the Cardinal added, "But there wouldn't have been enough room for us all on that mountaintop!" Several sources reported 7000 in attendance, many carrying colourful banners and insignia; Our Lady's picture was frequently prominent, with a multiplicity of spiritualities, nationalities and age groups again evident. Nonetheless, there was a natural, tangible sense of unity and family charity rooted in their common mission to vigorously further and prosper Christ's work in the Church.

LAY ASSOCIATIONS - I

Fr. Leonard Kennedy, c.s.b.

Some of the better known ones are the St. Vincent de Paul Society, the Legion of Mary, Cursillo, the Charismatic Movement, and Madonna House. Some of the ones more recently brought to our attention are Opus Dei, Focolare, Communion and Liberation, Catholic Christian Outreach, Regnum Christi, the Community of the Beatitude, Miriam Bethlehem, the Neo-Catechumenal Way, Witness, Youth Teams of Our Lady, Couples for Christ, Heralds of the Gospel, and El Shaddai. We know that there are many, many more, and that the differences amongst them are numerous. If you would like to have an article on your organization, send such an article (750 words) to Catholic Insight, or at least information about the organization which can be put into an article, either by itself or in conjunction with another organization. The type of information needed is an account of the beginning of the organization, its history, its distinctive characteristics, its numbers throughout the world, its numbers in Canada, its locations in Canada, and an indication of where a reader can obtain further information about it.

Opus Dei

The following has been written by Fr. Fernando Mignone, a priest of Opus Dei, most of whose members are lay persons.

A few days after the death of Blessed Josemaria Escriva on June 26, 1975, several hundred people attended a funeral Mass in the cathedral of Montreal. They were, for the most part, from the province of Quebec, as it was there that the first Opus Dei members had arrived, in 1957. Twenty-five years after the death of Opus Dei's founder, and eight years after his beatification, Masses have been celebrated in his honour in Toronto (at St. Michael's Cathedral, with Bishop Nicola De Angelis as main concelebrant), Montreal, Ottawa, Vancouver, and elsewhere. The faithful of Opus Dei seek to spread among their fellow Canadians the example of Christ's hidden life: thirty years of work as a craftsman, in an ordinary home in Nazareth. They seek to "imitate Christ, who plied his hands with carpenter's tools and is always Working with the Father for the salvation of all" (Lumen gentium, 41).

What is Opus Dei?

Opus Dei is a Rome-based personal prelature of the Catholic Church, founded in Madrid on October 2, 1928, by Blessed Josemaria Escriva. Nearly 80,000 people from around the world now belong to it. Its mission is to promote a life fully consistent with their faith among Christians of all social classes and to contribute to the evangelization of every sphere of society. Opus Dei's message is at the core of the Second Vatican Council (cf. Lumen gentium, 32, 33): all the baptized are called to seek holiness and evangelize. To this end, the Prelature provides spiritual, educational (formational), and pastoral care to its faithful, as well as to many others, each one in his or her own state in life, profession, and situation in the world. This pastoral attention thus encourages them to put into practice the teachings of the Gospel by living the virtues and by sanctifying work. The latter means: - Working with the greatest possible competence; - Carrying out their work with the fullest respect for law and ethics; - Seeking union with God in work; -Working to serve their fellow citizens and to contribute to the progress of society.

When many men and women commit themselves to an authentic Christian life, the world will be sanctified, and all temporal realities will be permeated with the spirit of the Gospel (cf. The Canonical Path of Opus Dei, Scepter Publishers, Princeton NJ, 1994, pp. 34-41). The faithful of the Prelature carry Out the work of evangelization in every sector of society. Their apostolic work is not limited to specific fields, such as education, care for the sick, or help for the handicapped.

What is a Prelature?

A personal prelature is a canon law configuration foreseen by the Second Vatican Council, which stipulated that to carry out special pastoral tasks special dioceses or personal prelatures could be established (cf. Presbyterorum ordinis, 10). The Council intended to outline a flexible new juridical entity aimed at contributing to the effective spread of the Christian message and life.

Personal prelatures belong to the pastoral and hierarchical structure of the Church. They are composed of priests of the diocesan clergy, lay faithful who may be incorporated into the prelature by means of an agreement, and, of course, a prelate named by the Pope as its ordinary. Bishop Javier Echevarria was named Opus Dei's prelate in 1994; Msgr. Frederick Dolan is his Montreal-based Canadian Vicar.

Personal prelatures are analogous to but not the same as dioceses: the jurisdiction of a prelature is not bound to a particular territory; the faithful of a prelature continue to belong to the local church where they live just as they did before they made an agreement with the prelature. Personal prelatures are clearly differentiated from religious institutes and the consecrated life in general, as well as from movements or other associations of the faithful.

Opus Dei in Canada

By their very nature, the struggle for sanctity and the effort to evangelize do not lend themselves to statistics. Some of the many manifestations of the work of evangelization done by Opus Dei faithful together with many others in Canada are the following:

Ernescliff College is a student residence for thirty young men in the heart of the downtown campus of the University of Toronto. It complements the university experience by helping residents and other students grow in all aspects of their lives, including the Catholic faith, should they so desire. These students are helped to serve society with creativity and energy, inspired by human and Christian ideals. Ernescliff is open to students from all social, ethnic and religious backgrounds. The College's activities of doctrinal and spiritual formation are entrusted to Opus Dei. There are, for example, talks and seminars on the Christian faith, and the resident chaplain, Msgr. Gregory V. Haddock, is available for spiritual guidance.

Edges is a girls' club, for high school students, which runs out of Lancemore Centre, in Toronto. Edges' programs include discussions, sports, outings, and visits to seniors homes.

The ASE (Academic and Sports Enrichment) Program, an initiative started by a group of Ernescliff residents and their friends in 1994 in Toronto's Regent Park area, has by now taken on a life of its own. Since violence, drugs, and unemployment are part of everyday life in Regent Park, ASE helps youths break out of the vicious circle. The program goals are high academic achievement and character development, through tutoring and other means.

Le Manoir de Beaujeu and Cedarcrest are two conference centres near Montreal and Toronto respectively, whose spiritual activities are entrusted to Opus Dei. In the year 2000, there will be fifteen weekend retreats for women, ten for men, and eight for university or older high school students. Other initiatives have been promoted, above all in Quebec, Ontario, and British Columbia, by parents for parents, by youth for youth (participation in university congresses, World Youth Day), by parents for young people (summer camps), etc.

Further information about Opus Dei may be obtained from Monsignor Greg Haddock, 156 St. George St., Toronto, ON, M5S 2G1, tel. [phone].