Opus Dei

Father Jose María Casciaro, Associate Professor of Semitic Philology at the University of Madrid, died in Pamplona on March 8. He had lived in Madrid with the founder of Opus Dei during a considerable part of the years between 1939 and 1942. His recollections of those years crystallized in a book published in 1998, whose title “It’s worthwhile” is even more relevant today.

Are the members of Opus Dei supposed to do outstanding work and seek to be the best? Does one have to stand out in order to be a saint?

New York is legendary for its fast pace of life. Like everywhere, people here have trouble finding time to reflect on the meaning of life, or on what it takes to live a fulfilled life. But that is exactly what a group of college students and young professionals did recently at Schuyler Hall, an Opus Dei center in Manhattan, at a seminar entitled “The Examined Life: Philosophical Reflections on Ordinary Life.”

What is Opus Dei doing to promote the welfare of young people in the struggling countries of Africa so as to open more hopeful horizons?

How does the Opus Dei Prelature, given the current condition of the world, influence events, particularly in the Church?

With respect to the human condition in the past century, St. Josemaría Escrivá maintained that “these world crises are crises of saints.” What is your view of that? Is it still true now that we have entered a new century?

Following the attack of March 11 [in Madrid], you spoke of praying for the terrorists. Is it possible to pray for people who are capable of such savage acts?

What are the fundamentals of the spirit of Opus Dei?

If you were able to save only one of his maxims, which one would you choose?

Is Opus Dei a conservative institution?