Phyllis Zagano

Phyllis Zagano
Born (1947-08-25) August 25, 1947 (age 77)
Queens, New York, U.S.[1]
Education
Occupation(s)Researcher and adjunct professor
EmployerHofstra University
AwardsFulbright Fellow, Mary Immaculate College, Limerick, Ireland, 2009; Fulbright Senior Scholar, Waterford Institute of Technology, 2015

Phyllis Zagano (born August 25, 1947)[1] is an American author and academic. She has written and spoken on the role of women in the Roman Catholic Church and is an advocate for the ordination of women as deacons.[2][3][4][5] Her writings have been variously translated into Indonesian, Czech, French, Italian, Portuguese, and Spanish.[6]

Early life and education

Zagano was born in Queens, New York in 1947.[1] She graduated from Sacred Heart Academy in 1965. She has a BA from Marymount College in Tarrytown, New York (1969); master's degrees in communications from Boston University (1970), in literature from Long Island University (1972), and in theology from St. John's University (1991); and a PhD from the State University of New York at Stony Brook in 1979.[1]

Career

Zagano was program officer at the National Humanities Center from 1979 to 1980, and taught at Fordham University from 1980 to 1984.[1] She was a researcher at the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of New York from 1984 to 1986 and a Coolidge Fellow at the Episcopal Divinity School in Cambridge, Massachusetts in 1987.[1] She taught at Boston University from 1988 to 1999.[1]

Since 2002, Zagano has taught at Hofstra University in Hempstead, New York, where she is senior research associate-in-residence and adjunct professor of religion.[1] In 2005 she held a visiting professorship at the Yale Divinity School in New Haven, Connecticut. In 2009, she was a Fulbright Fellow at the University of Limerick's Mary Immaculate College in Limerick, Ireland, where she was a lecturer.[1] In 2015 she was a Fulbright Senior Specialist at the Waterford Institute of Technology, in Waterford, Ireland.

Zagano's scholarship and work as a theologian has been recognized by both awards and critical engagement. She received "Layperson of the Year" award from Voice of the Faithful in 2012.[7] She received the Isaac Hecker Award for Social Justice from the Paulist Center of Boston in 2014.[8][9] Two years later, in 2016, Pope Francis appointed Zagano to the Papal Study Commission on the Women's Diaconate.[10][11] Prior to disputing with her ideas, Crisis Magazine described Zagano as "one of the most high-ranking feminists in the Catholic Church" in 2019.[12]

Zagano's career also includes over 30 years as public affairs office in the U.S. Navy Reserve. She retired from the Navy Reserve at the rank of Commander.[1]

Beginning in 2008, she has regularly donated her papers to the Women and Leadership Archives of Loyola University Chicago.[1]

Publications

Zagano's publications include:

  • Woman to Woman: An Anthology of Women's Spiritualities, 1993, editor. ISBN 9780814650257.[6]
  • On Prayer: A Letter to My Godson, 1994. ISBN 9780764807954.
  • Ita Ford: Missionary Martyr, 1996. ISBN 9780809136636.
  • The Exercise of the Primacy: Continuing the Dialogue, 1998, co-editor. ISBN 9780824517441.
  • Things New and Old: Essays on the Theology of Elizabeth A. Johnson, 1999, co-editor.
  • Twentieth-Century Apostles: Christian Spirituality in Action, 1999.
  • Holy Saturday: An Argument for the Restoration of the Female Diaconate in the Catholic Church, 2000; Catholic Press Association Book Award; 2002 College Theology Society Book Award. ISBN 978-0-8245-2163-9
  • Dorothy Day, 2003, editor.
  • Called to Serve: A Spirituality for Deacons, 2004.
  • The Dominican Tradition: Spirituality in History, 2006, co-editor.[13]
  • Women & Catholicism: Gender, Communion, and Authority, 2011; Catholic Press Association Book Award in category B15, "Gender issues".[14]
  • Women Deacons: Past, Present, Future, 2011, with Gary Macy and William T. Ditewig.[15]
  • Women in Ministry: Emerging Questions about the Diaconate, 2012.
  • Mysticism and the Spiritual Quest: A Crosscultural Anthology, 2013.
  • Ordination of Women to the Diaconate in the Eastern Churches: Essays by Cipriano Vagaggini, 2013, editor and translator.
  • Sacred Silence: Daily Meditations for Lent, 2014, 2024.
  • In the Image of Christ: Essays on Being Catholic and Female, 2015.
  • Women Deacons? Essays with Answers, 2016, editor and translator. Catholic Press Association Book Award in category B15, "Gender issues".[16]
  • The Light of the World: Daily Meditations for Advent, 2016.
  • Women: Icons of Christ, 2020, Catholic Media Association[17] Book Award for 2021 in Gender Issues-Inclusion in the Church category
  • Elizabeth Visits the Abbey", 2022
  • Just Church: Catholic Social Teaching, Synodality, and Women, 2023.

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Maria L. Wagner, Laura Pearce, Melissa Newman (2011). "Phyllis Zagano, Ph.D., Papers 1942-2021, n.d." (PDF). Archived from the original on 2022-11-14.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link) CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) Archived 23 June 2015.
  2. ^ "A Woman on the Altar". US Catholic. 3 January 2012. Retrieved 26 April 2012.
  3. ^ "Seeking Larger Role for Women in the Church". Newsday. Retrieved 31 July 2012.
  4. ^ ""Essays boost case for women deacons"". National Catholic Reporter. Retrieved 1 September 2017.
  5. ^ ""Witness Interview: Phyllis Zagano"=". Salt & Light TV. Retrieved 4 September 2017.
  6. ^ a b "Phyllis Zagano, Ph.D." Hofstra College of Liberal Arts and Sciences. Retrieved 14 August 2012.
  7. ^ "Reflections on Catherine of Siena by Dr. Phyllis Zagano after receiving "Layperson of the year" award from VOTF 9/15/12 | FutureChurch". www.futurechurch.org. Retrieved 2018-02-13.
  8. ^ Zagano accepts social justice award, National Catholic Reporter (January 28, 2014).
  9. ^ Dennis Coday, Zagano honored with Paulist justice award, National Catholic Reporter (January 23, 2014).
  10. ^ "Pope institutes commission to study the diaconate of women". Vatican Radio. August 2, 2016.
  11. ^ Laurie Goodstein, Pope Francis Appoints Panel to Study Women Deacons: Q&A With a Member, New York Times (August 2, 2016): "Pope Francis has created a commission to study the possibility of ordaining women as deacons in the Roman Catholic Church. On Tuesday, he named 12 experts — six men and six women — to serve on the panel. ... Phyllis Zagano, a professor of religion at Hofstra University ... was appointed by Francis to the commission."
  12. ^ "The Gnostic Feminism of Phyllis Zagano". Crisis Magazine. 2019-01-22. Retrieved 2022-11-14.
  13. ^ "Book Review: The Dominican Tradition". Spiritualwoman.Net. Retrieved 23 July 2012.
  14. ^ "2012 Catholic Press Association Book Awards" (PDF). Book Award Winners. Retrieved 27 July 2012.
  15. ^ "It's Time to Ordain Women (Again)". Religion Dispatches. 27 December 2011. Retrieved 23 July 2012.
  16. ^ "2017 Catholic Press Association Book Awards" (PDF). Book Award Winners. Retrieved 4 September 2017.
  17. ^ "2021 Catholic Press Association Book Awards" (PDF). Book Award winners. Retrieved 11 October 2021.
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