Durante la década que precedió al Concilio Vaticano II, los sacerdotes Joseph E. Haley, C.S.C., de la Universidad de Notre Dame, y José Luis Múzquiz, sacerdote del Opus Dei, se convirtieron en referentes de los institutos seculares en los Estados Unidos. La historia de sus encuentros y desencuentros pone de manifiesto diversas interpretaciones en torno a la nueva figura canónica, ligadas a diferentes nociones en tono a la secularidad y al modo de entender la vocación y la misión de los laicos en el mundo. Durante estos años, el Opus Dei pasó de considerarse el modelo de los institutos seculares, a comprender que esa figura no se adaptaba a su naturaleza. Se abordan también las dimensiones trasatlánticas que tuvieron los encuentros y desencuentros entre Haley y Muzquiz en torno a los institutos seculares.

El estudio ofrece una visión de conjunto de la expansión internacional del Opus Dei, entre 1950 y 1956, que se llevó a cabo desde España; y una prosopografía de los miembros de la Obra que la realizaron. Asimismo se abordan las circunstancias inmediatas que llevaron a comenzar en cada una de esas naciones.

The study offers an overview of the international expansion of Opus Dei and a prosopography of the members of the Work who made it happen. It also offers a chronology of the different phases of this expansion and lists the most outstanding characteristics of each of them.

Between February 1949 and the fall of 1957, Opus Dei in the United States went from a small group of five pioneers, based in Chicago, to one hundred and fifty members with centers in six cities in the Midwest and on the East Coast. This article focuses on the apostolic work of the men of Opus Dei and endeavors to establish the timeline, geography, and the demographics of this period. The article also seeks to address some of the institutional dimensions of these beginnings. Three stages are observed: the beginnings (1949-1953), the first maturity (1953-1955), and the growth that gave way to the division into two Regions (1955-1957).

On October 19th, 1954, the Archbishop of Boston, Richard Cushing, appointed Guillermo Porras the first Opus Dei priest to settle in Boston, as chaplain of the Harvard Catholic Club. This article investigates the reasons that led the Archbishop to make that decision. The article also looks at Fr. Porras' role in various events, such as the beginning of the regular celebration of Mass at Harvard, the first personal meeting of the Boston Archbishop and the President of Harvard, and the establishment of the Charles Chauncey Stillman Chair of Catholic Studies. Finally, the author addresses the chaplain's vision of how Catholics should live and make their Catholicism present in an institution such as Harvard in the lead up to the Second Vatican Council.