St Mary’s Cathedral was packed this week for a Mass to mark the 50th anniversary of the death of St Josemaría Escrivá, the founder of Opus Dei. About 1100 people, young and old, filled the pews at the Mass, which was celebrated by Broken Bay Bishop Anthony Randazzo.
Perhaps the oldest there on the chilly evening was 96-year-old Frank Casadesus, one of the first eight members of Opus Dei to arrive in 1963 in Australia. He is the only one still living in Sydney.
A native of Barcelona, Casadesus was a lawyer in the Spanish air force when St Josemaria asked him to help in the arduous task of beginning Opus Dei in Sydney.
“He was a very fatherly, humane priest who radiated holiness,” Casadesus told The Catholic Weekly.
“I met him several times before coming to Sydney. He had an amazing gift for speaking about the most exalted spiritual things and then sending us into gales of laughter with his jokes and good humour. I really loved him a lot.”
Casadesus worked for many years as honorary consul and chancellor of the Spanish consulate and also as secretary of Education Development Association, which runs Warrane College at the UNSW and the Kenthurst conference centre.
The basic theme of Opus Dei is that ordinary life, especially professional work, can be a pathway to genuine holiness. The relevance of this message is one reason why St Josemaria was canonised by John Paul II in 2002.
Around the time of the Second Vatican Council, Cardinal Norman Gilroy asked St Josemaria if Opus Dei could take responsibility for a residential college at the UNSW.
By 1970 Casadesus, together with many others, had raised the money and built the College. Since then, centres of Opus Dei have been established in Melbourne and Brisbane and in Auckland and Hamilton in New Zealand.
Regular formation is offered in cities such as Perth, Newcastle, Wollongong, Wagga, Albury, Canberra, and Hobart. A number of schools inspired by St Josemaría’s insights have been established by parents in Sydney and Melbourne.
How did Casadesus feel about his past 61 years in Sydney as so many young people gathered in the cathedral? The median age, in fact, seemed to be about a third of his 96 years.
“Well, I give thanks to God, and I pray that this continue,” he said. “St Josemaria always told us that the reality would turn out to be far better and far bigger than our dreams for Opus Dei in Sydney in the 60s. It’s really amazing.
“It’s all about helping people to be closer to God and to be happier on this earth. Yes, and even about having more faith for when they are going to die, because obviously, we will. But we are going to be much happier there.”
In his homily, Bishop Randazzo noted that this is the Jubilee Year of Hope in the Catholic Church.
“This Holy Year also marks two significant anniversaries in the life of St Josemaría: the centenary of his priestly ordination in 1925, and the 50th anniversary of his death in 1975. Remarkably, each of these years: 1925, 1975, and now 2025, are Jubilee Years in the life of the church.
“In the light of faith, we know that such alignments are never mere coincidences. They are signs, humble signs, that God uses to teach us something essential: that holiness often walks quietly through the ordinary days of our lives.”
And he emphasised the relevance of the idea of everyday holiness.
“The message of St Josemaría is as urgent now in 2025 as it was in 1928,” he said.
“Holiness is not a distant ideal. It is your baptismal calling. It is God’s invitation to you, today, in your marriage, in your family, in your friendships, in your classroom, at your office desk, behind the shop counter, or in the hidden sacrifices of daily life. That is where sanctity is found.”
The Mass finished at about 9pm, and Wollongong resident Martin Carolan told The Catholic Weekly that he still had more than an hour’s drive ahead of him. But it had been worthwhile.
“My wife and I adopted Josemaría as our patron as we prepared to marry almost 30 years ago, and now 30 years later, we always make a point of coming to this Mass to give thanks and to ask for help to keep going with our project of ten children,” he said.