The Diocese of Phoenix continues to foster missionary growth beyond its territory. For the second time in the past five years, a ministry at the Diocese of Phoenix’s Diocesan Pastoral Center has grown to the point of expansion, serving members beyond the diocese.
On the heels of their largest and most successful event to date in summer 2024, featuring globally renowned speaker Fr. Mike Schmitz from the Diocese of Duluth, Minn., which drew a capacity crowd at the Sheraton Hotel in downtown Phoenix, the John Paul II Center for Theology of the Body made the decision to transition from a diocesan office into a fully active non-profit organization by July of 2025.
The announcement came on April 3 during the John Paul II Center for Theology of the Body’s annual Witnesses to Hope Celebration and Fundraiser at the Orpheum Theater in Phoenix, which featured world-renowned speaker, Christopher West.
The John Paul II Center for Theology of the Body, then called The St. John Paul II Resource Center for Theology of the Body and Culture, was founded by Bishop Emeritus Thomas Olmsted and Fr. Charlie Goraieb in January 2006 to keep the legacy of St. Pope John Paul II alive in the Diocese of Phoenix.
This office of 19 years, fostered by the leadership of many including Michael Villanueva, the current coordinator, has ignited the hearts of men and women with St. Pope John Paul II’s teaching on the Theology of the Body. Thousands of teens, young adults, married men and women, religious, priests and lay persons have had their hearts set ablaze by the good news of love, sex, marriage and the body through numerous immersion courses, retreats, speaking engagements, leadership programs and other events.
This building momentum led to Villanueva’s discernment and decision to bring this flourishing outreach beyond the Diocese of Phoenix to make an impact in the broader global Catholic community. The John Paul II Center for Theology of the Body has the full support of Bishop John Dolan in this endeavor.
“The JPII center was meant to serve the Diocese of Phoenix and beyond. This is the next step that God has revealed to grow the work of the center… and to focus in on the mission that has been growing especially in these past three years,” said Villanueva.
“I’m really grateful to Bishop Dolan for his openness to this request and seeing it too as the right opportunity to grow what I like to call ‘the Gospel fleshed out.’”
In 2019, then-diocesan office Tepeyac Leadership Initiative took a similar step. Now a global Catholic apostolate, Tepeyac Leadership, Inc., has expanded to the Archdiocese of Los Angeles and Orange and is present all over the country and beyond, reaching as far as Pakistan, Lebanon, Uganda, Singapore and France, where it continues to foster dedication to civic leadership development for lay Catholic professionals.
The John Paul II Center for Theology of the Body hopes to follow a similar trajectory.
“The John Paul II Center has been a rich gift to the Diocese of Phoenix,” said Bishop Dolan. “Its expansion fits right into the ongoing efforts of evangelization. I pray the Holy Spirit continues to guide this ministry as it expands beyond our local Church, impacting countless hearts, minds and souls along the way.”
