A Catholic counseling formation center will open in Arizona this fall as a project of the University of Mary and the Diocese of Phoenix.
The Photina Center for Catholic Counseling will offer in-person courses for the University of Mary’s Catholic Anthropology Certificate and limited courses in the master of science in counseling as well as professional development resources.
University of Mary President Monsignor James Shea said counseling should recognize “the spiritual element of our being.”
“The difficulty with modern, secular mental health training is that it often considers the human person in a very limited way, largely through an un-Christian lens, and increasingly through a lens that is openly hostile to the Christian understanding of the human person,” Shea told EWTN News.
“To have Catholic anthropology woven throughout our counseling formation is important for resetting that un-Christian lens,” he continued. “It allows therapists to see, truly, what the actual good is for our fellow human beings and thus truly to serve their well-being completely, protecting and affirming their essential dignity as one created in the image and likeness of God.”
This is not the first partnership between the Diocese of Phoenix and the University of Mary. The university recently began to provide courses at the newly-established Nazareth Seminary and also operates a satellite campus, Mary College, at Arizona State University.
“Something near and dear to Bishop [John] Dolan’s own heart and vision for the Diocese of Phoenix has been to provide better access to Catholic, mental health counseling services, something so desperately needed not only in Arizona but throughout the country,” Shea said.
Dolan, who has lost four family members to suicide, is known for his mental health advocacy.
Bishop John Dolan of the Diocese of Phoenix is collaborating with Monsignor James Shea, president of the University of Mary in North Dakota, to open a counseling education center in Arizona. | Credit: Brett Meister/Diocese of Phoenix
“Catholic universities exist to serve the Church,” Shea said of the partnership.
The University of Mary and the Diocese of Phoenix will host an open house on March 29 from 1 to 3 p.m. at the Diocese of Phoenix, 400 E. Monroe St., Phoenix.
“Therapy, at its best, aims at providing for the well-being of the person,” Shea said. “If your vision of the human person does not factor in the truth that every person is a created being in the image and likeness of God, with inestimable dignity, then it will fail to provide for the ultimate well-being of the one receiving therapy.”
The center is named for St. Photina who, according to Eastern Christian tradition, was the Samaritan woman at the well in John 4:4-42.
“The center draws inspiration from her encounter with Christ, which is the longest conversation Jesus has with anyone in the New Testament,” read the University of Mary press release shared with EWTN News.
“In Jesus, she finds truth, healing, and courage for joyful witness,” the press release continued. “Photina means ‘light,’ embodying the center’s goal to illuminate paths of hope and healing for individuals, families, and communities.”
“If there’s no recognition that the spiritual element of our being flows in and out of the physical and mental elements of the human person, then it’s impossible to fully account for the therapeutic needs of the human person, or even how to best administer care,” Shea said.
From EWTN News
This is really good news. Thanks for sharing it. And, what a great patroness! Saint Photina (“the enlightened” or “radiant,” Svetlana for Eastern Europeans) and her sons, daughters and sisters became missionaries and martyrs, According to tradition, the Emperor Nero ordered that the skin be flayed from from Saint Photina’s body, and she was then thrown into a well. Sebastian, Photinos and Iosḗs had their legs amputated, and they were thrown to dogs. Saint Photina’s sisters also suffered terrible torments. Nero ordered soldiers to cut off their breasts, and then to flay their skin. An expert in cruelty, the Emperor prepared the most painful tortures and executions. The Emperor ordered the others beheaded and Saint Photina was removed from the well and locked up in prison for twenty days. After this Nero had her brought to him and asked if she would now relent and offer sacrifice to the idols. The courageous Photina spat in the Emperor’s face. Mocking him she said, “O most impious of the blind, you profligate and stupid man! Do you think me so deluded that I would consent to renounce my Lord Christ and instead offer sacrifice to idols which are as blind as you are?” After hearing such words, Nero ordered that the martyr be thrown into the well again. There she surrendered her soul to God (+ ca. 66). I don’t think I’m as courageous as this great and holy woman. Saint Photina and family, pray for us.
Long ago, I took a psychology course in college, but did not believe that much of it was really true– or even useful. Surely a mother would never want a “Dr. Freud” to examine her child, through the lens of his unnatural sex theories, on which he based his stages of child development. Many students expressed religious objections to the material. I said that I believed that once a child is born, their basic focus is actually on adjusting to a new life, and survival. And the basis of all life, is the Divine Love of God– our Creator.. As it turned out, the professor revealed that he did not find the “Freud” and other material to necessarily be true– but it is just part of the field of psychology– all a bunch of unproveable theories. I think that to have genuine, intuitive insight into people, to understand human nature, and to help people with emotional problems, is a gift of God.