The University of Mary and the Diocese of Phoenix launched a new initiative to train mental health professionals grounded in Catholic teaching on human dignity. The initiative, called the Photina Center for Catholic Counseling, will be located in Phoenix. The center aims to address rising mental health challenges by offering clinical training integrated with Catholic principles. Beginning this fall, the center will provide courses for the university’s counseling master’s degree program to diocesan employees. The center will also coordinate practicum and internship opportunities within diocesan schools and with Catholic mental health practitioners.
12 days ago
The University of Mary in Bismarck, North Dakota, and the Diocese of Phoenix have launched the Photina Center for Catholic Counseling.1
This initiative aims to train mental health professionals who are clinically skilled and grounded in Catholic teachings on human dignity.1
It responds to escalating mental health challenges in the U.S.1
Starting this fall, the center will provide master's degree courses in counseling for diocesan employees.1
It coordinates practicum and internship opportunities in diocesan schools and with Catholic practitioners.1
Additional offerings include a Catholic anthropology for counselors graduate certificate, professional development, and community resources.1
The center backs the Diocese of Phoenix's Office of Mental Health Ministry through education, accompaniment, and advocacy.1
It will co-sponsor an annual conference on Catholic mental health ministry.1
Bishop John P. Dolan emphasized reaching those struggling with mental health or suicide loss, affirming their place in Church life.1
About 1 in 6 Americans report poor mental health, per a National Alliance on Mental Illness poll.1
A West Health-Gallup survey shows U.S. adults rating their mental health as "excellent" below 30% for the first time.1
Msgr. James P. Shea, University of Mary president, highlighted the need for Catholic-trained professionals in schools, charities, and private practice.1
The diocese plans to place counselors in every grade school system.1
Interns from the M.S. program will assist children directly.1
Bishop Dolan views this as culminating efforts to accompany youth, addressing shortages in the growing Phoenix area.1
The University of Mary's M.S. programs in clinical mental health and school counseling are CACREP-accredited.1
The Phoenix offering seeks similar authorization.1
This builds on partnerships like Mary College at ASU and formation for Nazareth Seminary.1
Named after St. Photina, the Samaritan woman at Jacob's Well, symbolizing transformation from shame to evangelization.1
Msgr. Shea described her encounter with Jesus as a model for the healing the center hopes to foster.1
Explore Catholic teachings on human dignity and mental health
Catholic doctrine affirms that human dignity is inherent and inalienable, rooted in each person's creation in the image and likeness of God. This dignity transcends physical or mental condition, encompassing the capacity for self-knowledge, self-possession, free self-gift, and communion with others. It is fulfilled through vocation to divine beatitude, deliberate actions conforming to God's good, growth in virtue, and reliance on grace. Every human—man or woman, regardless of status—possesses equal dignity as a person who is "someone," not a mere object, called to integral development in love and freedom. This dignity demands respect for life, spiritual openness, and rights like religious freedom, forming the basis for ethical norms in society.
Being in the image of God the human individual possesses the dignity of a person, who is not just something, but someone. He is capable of self-knowledge, of self-possession and of freely giving himself and entering into communion with other persons.
The Church views health holistically, beyond mere absence of disease to include positive spiritual, social, corporal, and eternal well-being essential for peace and dignity. Mental health is not simply the lack of abnormality but integral to human flourishing, intertwined with moral, religious, and social dimensions. Illness, including mental illness, presents a spiritual opportunity to deepen faith, hope, and love amid suffering. Pope Pius XII emphasized that health requires religious and moral forces, numbering among conditions for complete human well-being.
In crises like pandemics, mental health challenges—such as anxiety, depression, isolation, and suicidality—highlight human frailty and social inequalities, demanding integral solutions addressing body, mind, relationships, and transcendence. Pope Francis underscores this interconnectedness: health crises require comprehensive visions considering natural and social systems.
Mental illness profoundly tests human dignity, often impairing self-direction, leading to isolation, stigma, or despair. Yet, it does not diminish inherent worth; persons retain their image-of-God status, calling for compassionate care that upholds equality and rights. The Church links mental health to ethical principles of social responsibility and solidarity, urging actions like support networks, healthy lifestyles, and an "ecology of daily life" (environmental, economic, social, cultural, spiritual). This includes benevolence, hope, and security to meet psychosocial needs, especially for the vulnerable.
Particularly distressing is the phenomenon of mental illness which may deprive someone of the ability to direct their own lives. People suffering from mental health problems will often isolate themselves, even seeking to end their lives violently.
Substance abuse, gravely damaging mental and physical health, exemplifies offenses against dignity, constituting cooperation in evil.
The Church provides sacraments of healing—Penance and Anointing of the Sick—as Christ's ongoing work for souls and bodies. Anointing unites the sick to Christ's passion, grants strength, peace, courage, sin forgiveness, possible health restoration (if salvific), and preparation for eternal life. These affirm dignity even in frailty.
Pastoral care emphasizes empathy, listening, and professional support, exemplified by St. Dymphna, patron of therapists and those with mental illness. Her life of compassion amid madness inspires resilience, therapeutic guidance, and recovery. Solutions must never violate dignity, rejecting materialistic views that reduce persons to utility.
Catholic teaching calls for concrete actions: promoting mental health through community solidarity, reducing inequalities, and fostering environments of care, encouragement, and fidelity. Investors and societies must measure progress by human flourishing, not economic gain alone. Families and parishes support integral development, enhancing endurance and dignity.
In summary, Catholic teachings inseparably link human dignity—grounded in God's image—with mental health as part of integral well-being. Challenges like illness invite reliance on grace, sacraments, solidarity, and saints like Dymphna, urging compassionate, ethical responses that honor every person's transcendent value.