“Happy anniversary and many more! Ad multos annos!” was the closing exclamation of the Apostolic Nuncio to Trinidad and Tobago at a commemorative conference on the occasion of the 25th anniversary of the erection of Opus Dei as a Personal Prelature. 

Apostolic Nuncio, Archbishop Thomas Edward Gullickson, Fr Mark Georges and Dr Wilfred Chen at the reception following the conference at the National Library last Saturday.

Organized by Briar House Study Centre, the event was held on Saturday, November 24 at the National Library, NALIS Building.

The Apostolic Nuncio to Trinidad and Tobago, His Excellency Most Rev. Archbishop Thomas Edward Gullickson was the guest speaker.

The programme included a short film about the homily of the founder, “Passionately Loving the World”.

The cheerful celebratory note with which the Archbishop concluded, continued on into the short reception that closed the event. Several persons commented that they were very grateful for the well researched presentation which described in a simple “user-friendly” way a specific subject of canon law.

Pope John Paul II erected Opus Dei as the first Personal Prelature of the Catholic Church on November 28, 1982. Drawing from the Holy See’s 1982 “Declaration on Opus Dei” the Vatican ambassador explained that Opus Dei combines in a single worldwide institution priests and laity, women and men, sharing the same vocation of spreading the ideal of holiness in the world and the sanctification of ordinary work.

Being a personal prelature provides Opus Dei with an ecclesial configuration fully in keeping with its foundational charism and sociological structure.

The Second Vatican Council prepared the way for the establishment of the juridical form of the Personal Prelature. It was a significant event in the life of the Church as it introduced a new element in the pastoral and hierarchical structures of the Church.

Saint Josemaría did not live to see Opus Dei as a Personal Prelature. He left everything prepared before his death on June 26, 1975, the fruit of many years of unceasing prayer, heroic sacrifice and work. He attributed the steps along the way to the maternal intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary.