What does this mean?

At the heart of Roman Catholic moral teaching is the affirmation of the dignity of the human self.  That said, I have always had trouble figuring out what this really meant.  That Rome has historically attributed dignity to the human person is abundantly clear but what this actually means has not been quite so clear and is now even more muddled.  The affirmation of human dignity has become intertwined with the somewhat difficult relationship between the Church and the social and political order of the day -- in particular, with the liberal focus on sexual desire and gender identity as the now primary defining markers of that human identity and personhood.

The dignity of the human person sounds great as a phrase but has become increasingly incoherent as a tenet of Roman Catholic faith and life.  This dignity is defined as status within a social and political hierarchy and the respect due those who have such status.  Perhaps it was clearer in the past when the acknowledgement of the dignity possessed by all people and the affirmation of their place within the whole were not skewed by the rampant individualism or distorted by the lack of a common truth and morality.  What does it mean now?

A distinctly Christian anthropology of human nature and personhood cannot simply be defined in terms of what is not.  Indeed, the claim of rights that follows such dignity falsely posits that dignity within the realm of what is owed to the individual person instead of also what is expected of him or her.  It is precisely in the matter of rights that the Christian finds hollow the secular echo of this Christian teaching.  For the Christian, such dignity is not merely a value given by reason or assigned philosophically but inherent in the incarnation, obedience, suffering, and death of our Lord Jesus Christ.  This dignity is not merely a matter of duty or rights owed but what God has done to rescue and redeem humanity and restore us as His own children and what it means to be His children and to live under Him in His kingdom now and forever.  Furthermore, if such dignity finds no conflict with abortion, sexual promiscuity, the devaluation of marriage and family, the right to make and define your own truth, and the right to die painlessly at the time you choose, this dignity is nothing but secular and has abandoned all pretense of Christian faith and roots.

This is what confuses me most about how this terminology has been used in Roman Catholic moral and social teaching.  Either it has a deep and abiding connection to what we stand for as Scripture informs us or else it contradicts that Word of God.  I find it inconceivable that a church body could find a way to support or affirm such things as the UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights while at the same time keeping silent about the greatest threat to that dignity both in our failure to hold sacred life from its natural beginning to its natural end and the abandonment of the social structure and order clearly intended by God in creation.  It is like speaking with a forked tongue.  That, by the way, seems to be a common complaint I have against Rome of late.  They say the right words about what they hold to be true and then empty those statements of meaning and power by saying other words that contradict what they have affirmed.  In this respect, it is hard to take Rome seriously.  Are you having the same problem?