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About St. Josemaría Escrivá, Opus Dei's Founder
Josemaría Escrivá was born in Barbastro, Spain, on January 9, 1902. He
had one older sister, Carmen (1899-1957); three younger sisters who
died very young; and a younger brother, Santiago (1919-1994). His
parents, José and Dolores, brought up their children with a devout
Catholic faith.
Josemaría’s father’s textile business failed in 1915, so the family
relocated to Logroño, where José found other work. It was in Logroño
that Josemaría sensed his vocation for the first time. After seeing some bare footprints left in the snow by a friar who had
walked that way a short time earlier, he felt that God wanted something
from him, though he did not know exactly what. He thought that he could
more easily discover what it was if he became a priest, so he began to
prepare for the priesthood, first in Logroño and later in Saragossa.
Following his father’s advice, he also studied for a law degree at the
University of Saragossa. His father died in 1924 and Josemaría was left
as head of the family. Ordained on March 28, 1925, he began his
ministry in a rural parish, and afterwards in Saragossa.
In 1927, with the permission of his bishop, Fr. Josemaría moved to
Madrid to work on his doctorate in law. There, on October 2, 1928, God
showed him clearly the mission he had been hinting to him for several
years; and he founded Opus Dei. (To read more, click here) |
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All the baptized, men and women alike, share equally in the dignity,
freedom and responsibility of the children of God. There exists in the
Church that fundamental unity which St Paul taught to the first
Christians... 'Now there is no distinction between
Jew and Greek, nor between slave and freeman, nor between man and
woman' (Gal 3:26-28).
For many reasons, including some derived from positive law, I consider
that the distinction between men and women with respect to the
juridical capacity for receiving Holy Orders should be retained. But in
all other spheres I think the Church should recognize fully in her
legislation, internal life and apostolic action exactly the same rights
and duties for women as for men. For example, the right to do
apostolate, to found and direct associations, to give their opinion
responsibly on matters which affect the common good of the Church. I
fully realize that all this, which is not difficult to admit in theory
when we consider the theological arguments in favor, will in fact meet
with resistance from some quarters. I still remember the surprise and
even the criticism with which some people reacted to the idea of Opus
Dei's encouraging women who belong to our Association to seek degrees
in theological studies. Now instead they are tending to imitate us in
this, as in other things.
Nevertheless I think resistance and misgivings will disappear little by
little. Basically it is only a question of understanding the Church, of
realizing that the Church is not composed only of clerics and
religious, but that the laity also, men and women, are People of God,
and have, by divine law, a mission and responsibility of their own. But
I would like to add that, as I see it, the essential equality between
men and women demands an understanding of the complementary roles which
they play in the Church's growth and in the progress of society. Not in
vain did God make them man and woman. This diversity should be
considered not in a 'patriarchal' sense, but in its full, rich depth of
tones and consequences. In this way men are freed from the temptation
of 'masculinizing' the Church and society, and women from seeing their
mission in the People of God and in the world as no more than showing
that they can do equally well the tasks which were formerly reserved to
men. I think that both men and women should rightly consider themselves
as the protagonists in the history of salvation, but each complementing
the work of the other. - St. Josemaría Escrivá in Conversations, #14
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