Local Catholics Head to Rome for Canonization

By Irene Lagan
HERALD Staff Writer
(From the issue of 10/3/02)

Members and affiliates of Opus Dei are a growing network of Catholics in the Northern Virginia area. This is evidenced by the sheer number of pilgrims from the diocese that will travel to Rome for the Oct. 6 canonization of Blessed Jose Maria Escriva, the founder of Opus Dei.

The size of the crowd that will attend the canonization of Blessed Jose Maria Escriva may well be the largest in history. Seating for the canonization will extend from the altar at St. Peter’s in Rome to the Tiber River.

According to Daniel Callahan, who organized the diocesan trip to Rome for World Youth Day, this may well be the largest crowd in history for a canonization. Callahan runs JMJ Tours, a Springfield-based travel agency that specializes in pilgrimages. JMJ is just one of several groups from the diocese that will travel to Rome for the canonization. Students from O’Connell, Oakcrest, The Heights and Seton high schools form about half of Callahan’s group.

Renaissance Travel, owned by Ezio de Filippis, also is hosting tours to Rome for the event. There is a special pilgrimage for priests, and three separate tours and pilgrimages for lay people around the country. Several hundred Catholics from Northern Virginia, including at least six priests will join Renaissance Travel for the pilgrimage.

The mission of Opus Dei is the "pursuit of holiness in ordinary, everyday life." According to Father William Stetson, the local chaplain for the men’s chapter of Opus Dei, there is a growing number of Catholics in the area who participate in Opus Dei as an effective means to live out their "desire to be a leaven of holiness in the Church and the world."

Father Stetson said that the number of people traveling to Rome from distant places for the canonization is unprecedented. Another unusual feature of Blessed Jose’s canonization is the Mass of thanksgiving that will be celebrated by Pope John Paul II in St. Peter’s Square on Monday, Oct. 7.

Father C.J. McCloskey, a noted speaker and director of the Catholic Information Center in Washington, D.C., will be the EWTN commentator for the canonization. In addition to live coverage of the canonization at 4 a.m. EST, EWTN will air the program three times on Oct. 6 and throughout the day on Oct. 7.

Father McCloskey noted that the canonization is the culmination of a year-long celebration of the life of the saint, beginning with the centenary anniversary of his birth on Jan. 2, 2002. On June 26, the anniversary of Blessed Jose’s death, a conference was held in his honor at the John Paul II Cultural Center. Two residents of the Arlington Diocese, Senator Rick Santorum and Jean DeGroot, a philosophy professor at Catholic University, were speakers at the conference, along with the noted Dominican theologian Father Romanus Cessario. June 26 will be celebrated as the feast of St. Jose Maria Escriva.

According to Father McCloskey, approximately half the people who attend daily mass at the Catholic Information Center are residents of Northern Virginia. The CIC chapel is the only one dedicated to Blessed Jose Maria Escriva in the United States. It was dedicated by Cardinal McCarrick on Sept. 7, 2002

Locally, St. John Parish in McLean conducted a holy hour followed by a movie on the life of Blessed Jose Maria on Oct. 2. Oakcrest School, also in McLean, celebrated Mass on Oct. 2. Oakcrest and the Heights, an Opus Dei boys’ high school in Potomac, Md., will be closed to accommodate the large number of faculty, students and parents who plan to travel to Rome.

Arlington Bishop Paul S. Loverde, a supporter of Opus Dei, was unable to attend the canonization due to a conflict with the annual Red Mass in Washington.

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