A Visitor Clarifies Pope Francis's Move On Opus Dei

As I hoped might happen, a visitor with more knowledge than I have of Opus Dei e-mailed me to provide additional context on his apostolic letter Ad Charisma Tuendum:

This is mostly a canonical move that puts OD under the dicastery of clergy rather than under that of bishops. Under the bishops, OD wanted to be treated as its own diocese---just as a diocesan bishop makes an ad limina visit to the pope every 5 years, so did the prelate of OD. Now OD will give a yearly accounting of its activities (& not to the pope). Also, OD has to put together a constitution which OD has avoided all these years. OD has operated under its statutes in the public arena but behind closed doors the "members' of OD have been trapped by one instruction after another. (Interestingly, there seems to be no verification of when the statutes were approved by Rome, if they were.)

There has been confusion about the 'members' of OD. As the code is written now, only clergy are members of OD, but it very apparent with this letter that ONLY clergy are members. OD has been able to cloud that distinction by pointing to its position in the hierarchical structure of the Church---kinda like it's a worldwide diocese. One of the consequences of that distinction has allowed OD directors to tell those who wanted to leave OD that they only way they could do so without incurring mortal sin was to be released from their contract by the prelate. (ODers don't take vows or make promises; they have a contract with OD. Contracts are not a part of religious or diocesan life so it's a curiosity that's been allowed. Hopefully, this new letter will clear things up for those on the outside, as well as, for those on the inside.)

I don't know if you've seen some of the concerns being voiced by those attached to the Tridentine Mass. They're afraid this is one more way Francis is going to keep them from perpetuating the rite they feel they have a right to. This takes away any possibility of orders like the Priestly Fraternity of St Peter to continue its ability to exclusively say the TM. There is a lot of conspiracy surrounding this letter. (Francis has been clear for a while that he would like to see the Church united in the Mass of Vatican 2. Best of luck to him. I'm afraid his stand is making the TMers more intransigent.)

I don't know if you've heard this take on the letter, but I saw it mentioned in an article. Some who are affiliated with the ordinariate are fearful that Francis is coming for them next. I still have a hard time wrapping my head around people who want to be Catholic but want to keep their former litugrical practices. How would it be if an entire Calvary Chapel decided to convert & wanted to keep their worship as it was but just insert the consecration somewhere? (I know the Anglican rite isn't like that: it's just for absurd comparison.) Probably the saddest reality for the ordinariate is the amount of disaffected Catholics who have wandered (or run) to an ordinariate parish because they don't want to deal with their local parish....liturgical abuses or not.

So broadly, there are two issues here. One deals with the legal basis of Opus Dei practices, especially those which have been characterized as "cult-like". Over the medium-to-long term, it looks like Opus Dei will need to provide a more transparent, legal, and constitiutional basis for its activities, which strikes me as a justifiable move. The second issue applies to Catholic "restorationists" or "pre-Conciliarists", who tend to interpret any move Francis makes as detrimental to their interests.

I think the visitor is correct that this is a canonical move related to the unique standing of Opus Dei as a personal prelature and directed toward placing it on a more solid constitutional foundation subject to review and accountability. Francis has issued separate policies related to the Latin mass, and other than his stated overriding goal of preserving the Second Council, there is no relationship between the two moves. (I can't disagree with Bp Barron's point that you can't get a higher Catholic authority than an ecumenical council.)

As I pointed out yesterday, Opus Dei and the Anglican ordinariates are juridically different animals, and insofar as the military ordinariates are on a canonically more solid foundation, so are the Anglican ordinariates. The threat against the Anglican ordinariates is primarily one of failed execution. The first generation of mostly married former Anglican clergy who were grandfathered in via instant ordinations has begun to retire, but there's been no second wave of celibate candidates in formation sufficient to replace them.

Our diocesan parish for some years has had a number of the archdiocese's vocation staff in residence, and this has given me an opportunity to learn a little about how the process works in a successful diocese. Vocations come from supportive, actively Catholic families and sympathetic parishes. Candidates are normally formed throughout adolescence by parish clergy and diocesan vocation staff even before they enter seminary. (There are exceptions, but they're exceptions.)

The Anglican ordinariates aren't necessarily made up of those families, and especially if the groups attract mainly the disgruntled, they aren't those sorts of parishes. And that leaves out the need for full-time diocesan vocation staff. If for no other reason, I don't see much of a future for Anglicanorum coetibis, notwithstanding the posture of the current pontiff or his successors. Opus Dei has nothing to do with this.