Diocese of Phoenix / Facebook
CV NEWS FEED // Bishop John Dolan of Phoenix, Arizona, is creating a Diocesan Office of Human Dignity to promote the inherent goodness of each human person, according to a Jan. 27 article from The Catholic Sun.
Bishop Dolan appointed Father Andres Arango, pastor of St. William Parish in Cashion, Arizona, to be the first vicar of the new Office.
“This [Vicar of Human Dignity] position really focuses on a person’s general human dignity,” Bishop Dolan said, according to the Sun. “God found us to be good, and if we forget we have certain inalienable rights born out of the notion that we are good, that’s when Catholic Social Teaching has to kick in. And we have to teach people to get back to goal, to our goodness.”
Fr. Arango added that the Office will be a means of local effort to further promote the “equal dignity of all people,” as the Holy Father stated in 2024.
The Office will oversee established offices, including Mental Health, Respect Life, Prison Ministry, Ecumenism and Interreligious Affairs, and ministries for Native Americans and black Catholics, the Sun reported.
The Office will also promote the goals of Bishop Dolan’s recent seven-year plan for the Diocese on sharing the Good News of the Gospel, according to the Sun.
“If we are not evangelizing through the lens of human dignity, then we are not evangelizing,” Bishop Dolan wrote, according to the Sun.
The Bishop noted that supporting local communities is just the beginning of the Office initiative; other focuses may include the environment and immigration.
The Office will also work to protect life at all stages from conception until natural death, underscoring the intrinsic worth of all human beings regardless of their stage in life.
“The concept of Catholic Social Teaching is we can never ‘write off’ anyone,” Bishop Dolan said. “Human dignity is really this initial piece we always have to return to.”
