Our Purpose
A stroll through the mall or a glance at the magazines in the check-out line will give you a clear idea of what our culture promotes as the ideal image of womanhood. The plunging necklines and disappearing hemlines of clothing in store windows tell you that to be a woman you must expose yourself to the world. Mainstream women’s magazines encourage this message by upholding edgy and provocative women celebrities as images to aspire to. These messages combine with hundreds of others to portray an ideal of womanhood that when tested proves unfulfilling, unattractive, and ultimately untrue.
Our Catholic faith presents a nobler image of womanhood. Founded on the revealed truth that we were created in the “image and likeness” of God, the Church teaches that we posses immense dignity. Christ’s redemption further elevates our identity by making us God’s adopted daughters and calling us to live a life of holiness for Him. Knowing and living these glorious truths will deepen and transform our lives as women in ways we never dreamed. The truth about our dignity from God gives us a powerful incentive to say “no” to fashion trends that expose our bodies, and the beauty of Christ’s call to holiness motivates us to abandon the ugly provocativeness of our culture’s ideal womanhood. In their place, we discover the joyful challenge of dressing attractively yet modestly so as to affirm the worth of our bodies, as well as the fulfilling pursuit of an authentic life of virtue, especially the virtue of chastity. As witnessed by countless women saints, especially our Mother Mary, striving to live this way results in an image of womanhood that is radiantly beautiful and entirely fulfilling – because it is femininity as God intended.
The purpose of Dignitas Magazine is to seek the truth about womanhood as God intended it to be, to encourage Catholic women to authentically live this truth, and to promote it in the world. We look to Sacred Scriptures and the teachings of the Church for our instruction. We strive for authentic holiness by seeking concrete ways to practice virtue. We eagerly look for relevant, winsome ways to promote the goodness of God’s image of womanhood in a world so hungry for the truth. Nourished by prayer and the sacraments and inspired by the example of the saints we joyfully embrace this task – and invite you to join with us!
In Him,
Abby & Catherine Pelicano
Founders, Dignitas Magazine
Dignitas Magazine 
Best of luck with this super endeavour! I will be following with interest,. The site isn’t coming up properly on the phone but I’ll check it out on the computer later.
Jennifer x
Thanks, Jennifer! We’re excited to see where God takes Dignitas Magazine. Just curious, how did you find us?
I found your link on Twitter: Stacey Trasancos gave you a little plug. I I’l repost your articles. You should definitely open a FB page for your site, my own blog really took off when I did that.
Jennifer (Ireland)
Pure in Heart Boston linked this blog/magazine on Twitter – definitely sharing it with my friends! Keep up the great work!
Why does Dignitas want to focus on “especially the virtue of chastity?” I–and so many women in college (like me)–get the message that chastity is important from almost every Christian organization I’m in and in lots of homilies. I love that you want to celebrate all the virtues (Thank you for doing this!!!), but for me, chastity is a virtue that doesn’t need to take up that much conscious mental space–I really get excited about and frustrated about other spiritual struggles–trying to love family members, developing a strong, moral conscience, trying to value my intellectual and emotional gifts and not just my ability to look pretty, struggling with how to encourage and correct my friends or, what is even harder, my elders, appropriately, and pursuing the virtue of charity especially (isn’t this, both in the sense of “love” and of “giving” really the most important virtue, anyway?). Please know I’m very enthusiastic about your magazine’s celebrating of all the virtues, but an “active” one that I can focus energy on and strive toward and would be interested in reading about would really appeal to me and many others I know much more than focusing so heavily on chastity. Plus, it seems like many women like me are already decided on where we stand on the virtue of chastity, so reading about it may confirm our beliefs, but it won’t help me (us) grow spiritually as much as reading about some of these other topics, which I really feel could use a lot more informed commentary on. Thank you for your work and for offering us the space for comments like these. I am very excited about your project!
Hi Laura, thanks for your reply. We feel that chastity is a vital part of our focus because it is so closely connected to the dignity of the human person. If you hear a lot about it in college, homilies and Christian organizations that is wonderful because chastity is a complex and very in-depth virtue!! Chastity is the successful integration of sexuality within the person and it requires a life-times work of striving for self-mastery and training our human freedom. Our dignity requires us to act out of conscience and free choice, not dominated by our passions. We gain this dignity by ridding ourselves of all slavery to passions and this happens day by day, building ourselves up through free decisions and accomplishing moral good by stages of growth. Our application and call to chastity changes as our state in life changes; whether single, consecrated or married we are called to chastity in every stage and it requires constant learning, striving and prayer. We all know that it is an important virtue and that our stance on it is to obtain it, but the application is vast, changing, and requires what may be one of the most difficult things to do: know and master ourselves. In the first issue of Dignitas, we actually didn’t address the virtue of chastity explicitly, but like I said, it is so much connected with honoring the dignity of the human person that it definitely makes an implicit appearance. I like your thoughts on other topics that you want to hear about and we will definitely be diving into those!! Thank you for your input, comments and suggestions!!
Love where this is headed! I found out about this from my mom, don’t know where she heard it from…..
I personally believe that the chastity is a strong point to discuss. Who knows who might pick this up? Any woman over the age of about 18 already has decided, but what about us teens and preteens who might pick this up? For them (me), that is a thing that they are trying to figure out their stand on. Some may have already decided based on society which is why a magazine like this might be helpful. This magazine shows us that there is another side to the coin that we originally thought was only one sided.
Keep up the good work!
I’m so glad that your mom came across the magazine and sent it your way! And yes, chastity is such an important and often misunderstood topic. We hope to keep delving into the topic and really explore how to apply it in our lives. God bless!
You should pray to God if he is calling you to a paper magazine as well! ;) who knows? Mother Angelica did it! God bless!
We would LOVE to do a printed version! We are completely relying on prayers and donations to get us there. Print is expensive but it is definitely our goal.
. Please get an app for IPad. . How about designing a step by step program in book or app form so others can have a group as yours in other states. Suggestions on where to meet, how to form the group, names of books to read etc…Will pray for you daily.
AJ – there will actually be an article about forming women’s groups in our summer issue! Thank you for the prayers! God bless
I listened to you ladies on Catholic Radio today and I am interested in promoting this to my Catholic friends, as well as getting my hands on one of your issues soon! Thanks for sharing and for your mission to help women understand who we are called to be in the image and likeness of God! God bless your work! Amy
Thank you Amy! Please help spread the word by liking our Facebook page!
I am very interested in your magazine! Please send me emails .
Thank you and God bless you
I’ve added your address to our mailing list, Nancy. Thanks for your interest and God bless!
I am very interested in the magazine, and as wondering if you would ever consider submissions from women readings (articles, features) who also seek to express themselves, and perhaps add something to the magazine.
Please send me emails. Thank you :)
Awesome ! Keep up the good work. I would order a printed subscription for my daughters and nieces if one was available. Have you thought of raising money through Kick Starter on line. This would be a fast way to earn the money you need to start your printed version of the magazine. I would email many of my contacts to help support you mission through Kick Starter. We saw your article in Lifesite news the other day.
God bless you and your work.
Julie Courville
Julie,
Thanks for the suggestion! We’ll definitely look into Kick Starter, and let you know if we decide to go that route.
God bless,
Catherine P.
What is your target market for your magazine? It is just 20 somethings or more mature women as well? Will you have links or advertising included with your magazine? I have designed a custom copyrighted Catholic medal devoted to the rosary. My website is http://www.graceandmercymedal.com. The story of it’s inspiration to a physical reality is an idea for your magazine as well. Please check out my website at http://www.graceandmercymedal.com Thank you for your consideration. Blessings on your new endeavor, Angela T.
Angela,
We believe any woman from late high school and older can find something of interest in our magazine, and the responses we’ve received from our readers seem to confirm that.
We’re considering adding advertisements to our website and magazine, so I’ll definitely look into your website and rosary medal. Thanks for sharing it!
God bless,
Catherine P.
I visited this magazine from a link from Jason and Crystalina Evert through Facebook, and I love what I see! I’m only in high school, but there are definitely articles that interest me. It’s so good to see a magazine that celebrates womanhood that way God made it, and even better when it ties in with my Catholic faith. Thanks for all the work you put in; it is definitely paying off!
God bless!
Maria