The Catholic organisation Opus Dei is made up of several different types of membership.
Types of membership
Opus Dei is made up of several different types of members. According to the Statutes of Opus Dei, the distinction derives from the degree to which members make themselves available for the official activities of the Prelature and for giving formation according to the spirit of Opus Dei.
Supernumeraries
Supernumeraries, the largest type, accounted for about 70% of the total membership . The term supernumerary is a civil designation for an additional member of a society, for example professors, judges, actors, etc.
Typically, the supernumeraries of the Opus Dei prelature are married men and women who have secular careers and lead traditional family lives. Supernumeraries devote a portion of their day to prayer, in addition to attending regular meetings and taking part in activities such as retreats. Due to their career and family obligations, supernumeraries are not as available to the organization as the other types of members, but they typically contribute financially to Opus Dei, and they lend other types of assistance as their circumstances permit. Unlike other types of members, supernumeraries are not required to be celibate.
Numeraries
Numeraries, the second largest type of members of Opus Dei, comprised about 20% of the total membership . Numeraries are celibate members who give themselves in "full availability" () for the official undertakings of the Prelature. This includes full availability for giving doctrinal and ascetical formation to other members, for staffing the internal government of Opus Dei if asked by the regional directors, and for moving to other countries to start or help with apostolic activities if asked by the Prelate. Because numeraries make themselves fully available to do whatever needs to be done for the undertakings of the Prelature, they are expected to live in special centers run by Opus Dei, and the question of which particular center a numerary will live in depends upon the regional needs. Numerary is a general term for persons who form part of the permanent staff of an organization. Therefore, in order to maintain a family atmosphere in the centers (rather than an institutional one), it is considered very important for numeraries to participate in daily meals and "get-togethers" in which they converse and share news. Both men and women may become numeraries in the Opus Dei prelature, although the centers are gender-segregated, with only minimal contact between male and female numeraries. Numeraries generally have jobs outside of Opus Dei, although some are asked to work internally full-time and many modify the way that they go about pursuing their professional goals in order to be available for the Prelature. According to Opus Dei's 1982 statutes, potential numeraries ordinarily "ought to have a civil academic degree or professional equivalent, or be able, at least, to obtain one after the admission".
Numerary assistants
Numerary assistants are a type of numerary that exists in the Women's Branch of Opus Dei. Their full availability for the Prelature is lived out as full availability for doing a specific type of work, namely looking after the domestic needs of the conference centers and the residential centers of Opus Dei. Therefore, they live in special centers run by Opus Dei and do not have jobs outside the centers.
Associates
Associates are faithful of Opus Dei who make themselves fully available to God and to others in apostolic celibacy, and stably take on at least one (sometimes more) apostolic assignment(s) from the Prelature in giving doctrinal and ascetical formation and/or coordinating activities. They differ from numeraries in not making themselves "fully" available to staff the official undertakings of the Prelature, instead giving themselves in additional social realities, such as through their profession or to their own families. Because of this difference in availability for the official activities of Opus Dei, unlike numeraries the associates do not live in Opus Dei centers but maintain their own abodes. Some of their family life (emotional and social support) comes from the centers of Opus Dei, some from other associates of Opus Dei, and some from their personal families and friends; the precise ratio of this distribution depends upon the circumstances of the individual associate.