Javier Echevarria Rodriguez
Encyclopedia
Most Reverend
Bishop Javier Echevarría Rodríguez (born June 14, 1932) is a Spanish
bishop
of the Roman Catholic Church
. He is the current head of the Prelature of the Holy Cross and Opus Dei
. He holds doctorates in both civil and canon law.
Within the Roman Curia
, the governing body of the Catholic Church, he is a member of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints
, and the Supreme Tribunal of the Apostolic Signatura.
He has written a number of books on spirituality: Itinerarios de vida cristiana, Para servir a la Iglesia, Getsemaní, Eucaristía y vida cristiana. He has also written his reminiscences of St. Josemaria: Memoria del beato Josemaría.
, on June 14, 1932, and began work as the personal secretary
of Father Josemaría Escrivá before being ordained to the priesthood
for Opus Dei
on August 7, 1955.
He was appointed the Secretary General of Opus Dei in 1975 upon the succession of Msgr. Escrivá by Father Álvaro del Portillo
as Prelate, or head, of Opus Dei. Echevarría later became Vicar General
in 1982, when Opus Dei became a personal prelature
.
With the death of Bishop Álvaro del Portillo on March 23, 1994, a period of mourning followed. Father Echevarría Rodríguez was elected by Opus Dei's General Council as the second Prelate of Opus Dei. He was subsequently confirmed by the Holy See
on April 20, 1994, and Titular Bishop
of Cilibia on November 21, 1994. He was consecrated a bishop
by Pope John Paul II
with Bishops Giovanni Battista Re and Jorge María Mejía
as co-consecrators on January 6, 1995.
Bishop Echevarría serves as the chancellor of the prestigious University of Navarra
in Spain, the University of Asia and the Pacific
in the Philippines, and various other universities under the spiritual care of Opus Dei.
He participated in the General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops
for America
in 1997 and of Europe
in 1999, and also of the General Ordinary Assembly of 2001 and 2005.
On July 9, 2005, Benedict XVI greeted Bishop Echevarria on the 50th anniversary of his ordination, expressing his "esteem and affection" for the prelate of Opus Dei. Further, the Pope commented on the work being done by Echevarria:
Most Reverend
The Most Reverend is a style applied to certain religious figures.*In the Roman Catholic Church , all bishops are styled "The Most Reverend", as well as monsignors of the rank of protonotary apostolic de numero.*In the Roman Catholic Church , archbishops are styled "The...
Bishop Javier Echevarría Rodríguez (born June 14, 1932) is a Spanish
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
bishop
Bishop (Catholic Church)
In the Catholic Church, a bishop is an ordained minister who holds the fullness of the sacrament of Holy Orders and is responsible for teaching the Catholic faith and ruling the Church....
of the Roman Catholic Church
Roman Catholic Church
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the world's largest Christian church, with over a billion members. Led by the Pope, it defines its mission as spreading the gospel of Jesus Christ, administering the sacraments and exercising charity...
. He is the current head of the Prelature of the Holy Cross and Opus Dei
Opus Dei
Opus Dei, formally known as The Prelature of the Holy Cross and Opus Dei , is an organization of the Catholic Church that teaches that everyone is called to holiness and that ordinary life is a path to sanctity. The majority of its membership are lay people, with secular priests under the...
. He holds doctorates in both civil and canon law.
Within the Roman Curia
Roman Curia
The Roman Curia is the administrative apparatus of the Holy See and the central governing body of the entire Catholic Church, together with the Pope...
, the governing body of the Catholic Church, he is a member of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints
Congregation for the Causes of Saints
The Congregation for the Causes of Saints is the congregation of the Roman Curia which oversees the complex process that leads to the canonization of saints, passing through the steps of a declaration of "heroic virtues" and beatification...
, and the Supreme Tribunal of the Apostolic Signatura.
He has written a number of books on spirituality: Itinerarios de vida cristiana, Para servir a la Iglesia, Getsemaní, Eucaristía y vida cristiana. He has also written his reminiscences of St. Josemaria: Memoria del beato Josemaría.
Life
Echevarría was born in Madrid, SpainMadrid
Madrid is the capital and largest city of Spain. The population of the city is roughly 3.3 million and the entire population of the Madrid metropolitan area is calculated to be 6.271 million. It is the third largest city in the European Union, after London and Berlin, and its metropolitan...
, on June 14, 1932, and began work as the personal secretary
Personal assistant
A personal assistant or personal aide is someone who assists in daily business or personal tasks. It is common in design to have a PDA, or personal design assistant....
of Father Josemaría Escrivá before being ordained to the priesthood
Priesthood (Catholic Church)
The ministerial orders of the Catholic Church include the orders of bishops, deacons and presbyters, which in Latin is sacerdos. The ordained priesthood and common priesthood are different in function and essence....
for Opus Dei
Opus Dei
Opus Dei, formally known as The Prelature of the Holy Cross and Opus Dei , is an organization of the Catholic Church that teaches that everyone is called to holiness and that ordinary life is a path to sanctity. The majority of its membership are lay people, with secular priests under the...
on August 7, 1955.
He was appointed the Secretary General of Opus Dei in 1975 upon the succession of Msgr. Escrivá by Father Álvaro del Portillo
Alvaro del Portillo
Álvaro del Portillo, or Álvaro del Portillo y Diez de Sollano, , was a Spanish engineer and Roman Catholic bishop. He served as the prelate of Opus Dei between 1975 and 1994.-Life:...
as Prelate, or head, of Opus Dei. Echevarría later became Vicar General
Vicar general
A vicar general is the principal deputy of the bishop of a diocese for the exercise of administrative authority. As vicar of the bishop, the vicar general exercises the bishop's ordinary executive power over the entire diocese and, thus, is the highest official in a diocese or other particular...
in 1982, when Opus Dei became a personal prelature
Prelate
A prelate is a high-ranking member of the clergy who is an ordinary or who ranks in precedence with ordinaries. The word derives from the Latin prælatus, the past participle of præferre, which means "carry before", "be set above or over" or "prefer"; hence, a prelate is one set over others.-Related...
.
With the death of Bishop Álvaro del Portillo on March 23, 1994, a period of mourning followed. Father Echevarría Rodríguez was elected by Opus Dei's General Council as the second Prelate of Opus Dei. He was subsequently confirmed by the Holy See
Holy See
The Holy See is the episcopal jurisdiction of the Catholic Church in Rome, in which its Bishop is commonly known as the Pope. It is the preeminent episcopal see of the Catholic Church, forming the central government of the Church. As such, diplomatically, and in other spheres the Holy See acts and...
on April 20, 1994, and Titular Bishop
Titular bishop
A titular bishop in various churches is a bishop who is not in charge of a diocese.By definition a bishop is an "overseer" of a community of the faithful, so when a priest is ordained a bishop the tradition of the Roman Catholic and Orthodox churches is that he be ordained for a specific place...
of Cilibia on November 21, 1994. He was consecrated a bishop
Bishop (Catholic Church)
In the Catholic Church, a bishop is an ordained minister who holds the fullness of the sacrament of Holy Orders and is responsible for teaching the Catholic faith and ruling the Church....
by Pope John Paul II
Pope John Paul II
Blessed Pope John Paul II , born Karol Józef Wojtyła , reigned as Pope of the Catholic Church and Sovereign of Vatican City from 16 October 1978 until his death on 2 April 2005, at of age. His was the second-longest documented pontificate, which lasted ; only Pope Pius IX ...
with Bishops Giovanni Battista Re and Jorge María Mejía
Jorge María Mejía
Jorge María Mejía is an Argentine Cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church. He is Archivist Emeritus of the Holy Roman Church and Librarian Emeritus of the Holy Roman Church.-Early life and ordination:...
as co-consecrators on January 6, 1995.
Bishop Echevarría serves as the chancellor of the prestigious University of Navarra
University of Navarra
The University of Navarra is a private pontifical university based at the southeast border of Pamplona, Spain. It was founded in 1952 by St. Josemaría Escrivá de Balaguer, the founder of Opus Dei as a corporate work of the apostolate of Opus Dei....
in Spain, the University of Asia and the Pacific
University of Asia and the Pacific
The University of Asia and the Pacific is a private research university in the Philippines. It traces its beginnings to the Center for Research and Communication , which was established in 1967 as a private think-tank that conducted economic and social research and offered graduate courses in...
in the Philippines, and various other universities under the spiritual care of Opus Dei.
He participated in the General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops
Synod
A synod historically is a council of a church, usually convened to decide an issue of doctrine, administration or application. In modern usage, the word often refers to the governing body of a particular church, whether its members are meeting or not...
for America
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
in 1997 and of Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
in 1999, and also of the General Ordinary Assembly of 2001 and 2005.
On July 9, 2005, Benedict XVI greeted Bishop Echevarria on the 50th anniversary of his ordination, expressing his "esteem and affection" for the prelate of Opus Dei. Further, the Pope commented on the work being done by Echevarria:
- Governing your Prelature and contemplating in it the action of God’s grace, you never cease exhorting its members—with your example, with your writings, with your words and your pastoral trips—to remain faithful to the Lord with steadfast purpose (Acts 11:23).
- When you foster the eagerness for personal sanctity and the apostolic zeal of your priests and lay people, not only do you see the flock that has been entrusted to you grow, but you provide an effective help to the Church in her urgent evangelization of present-day society.
- In the terrain of culture and the sciences, you strive to spread the Christian message in all environments, as is clearly seen in the recently established Pontifical University of the Holy Cross.
- You bear in your heart the defense of life, the family and marriage, and the formation and pastoral care of young people.
Works
He has written works on spirituality such as:- Memoria del beato Josemaría - reminiscences of Blessed Josemaria
- Itinerarios de vida cristiana - reflections around the turn of the millennium on the ways of Christian life
- Para servir a la Iglesia - a homily on serving the Church
- Getsemaní — about praying in union with Christ in his passion
- Eucaristía y vida cristiana — about the centrality of the Eucharist in the life of a Christian
Some excerpts from his works
- Christianity is God’s nearness to man. It is a close friendship and an intimate relationship between God and man. It expresses the familiarity of a beloved son welcomed with indescribable joy, music, celebration and a great banquet (cf. Lk 15: 22-24).— from Eucaristia y vida cristiana
- Love is the substance of happiness. To love and to know oneself loved is the only true response to the ultimate anxieties of the human heart...Augustine of Hippo briefly expressed this in writing: “Pondus meus, amor meus”. My love is my weight, that which gives me solidity, attracts me and exalts me. It transmits to me height and depth, it is the origin of my peace.
- "To all who received Him, He gave the power to become sons of God" (Jn 1:12). For a Christian, this is not just a way of speaking or calling. Awareness of divine filiation is rooted in a divine gift that transforms a person from within. St. John puts it this way: "See what love the Father has for us, that He has called us sons of God, and so we are!...We are truly children of God" (1 Jn 3:1-2). St. Josemaria concludes that "whoever is unaware of this is unaware of his innermost truth;" he has not yet discovered the deepest reality of his being, nor the meaning of his existence on this earth.
- The secret of the apostolic zeal of a disciple of Christ is rooted in his love for the Master. This is what moves him to give his life for the others, to spend it in helping them know the divine Word and to live according to the imperatives of the Love of God. His zeal for souls is born from a love for Christ, which like all true love, implies identification with the person loved.
External links
- Mons. Javier Echevarría: Prelado del Opus - a brief biography and video (in Spanish)
- Monthly letter of the Prelate of Opus Dei to the faithful of Opus Dei and cooperators
- Catholic Hierarchy page on Bishop Echevarria