:Phyllis Zagano
{{short description|American author and academic (born 1947)}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Phyllis Zagano
| image =
| alt =
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| birth_name =
| birth_date = {{birth date and age |1947|8|25}}
| birth_place = Queens, New York, U.S.
| death_date =
| death_place =
| nationality =
| employer = Hofstra University
| education = {{unbulleted list|Marymount College|Boston University|Long Island University|State University of New York at Stony Brook|St. John's University}}
| awards = Fulbright Fellow, Mary Immaculate College, Limerick, Ireland, 2009; Fulbright Senior Scholar, Waterford Institute of Technology, 2015
| known_for =
| occupation = Researcher and adjunct professor
}}
Phyllis Zagano (born August 25, 1947){{cite web |author=Maria L. Wagner, Laura Pearce, Melissa Newman |date=2011 |title=Phyllis Zagano, Ph.D., Papers 1942-2021, n.d. |url=https://www.luc.edu/media/lucedu/wla/pdfs-findingaids/Zagano,%20Phyllis%202022.pdf |url-status=bot: unknown |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20221114231034/https://www.luc.edu/media/lucedu/wla/pdfs-findingaids/Zagano,%20Phyllis%202022.pdf |archivedate=2022-11-14}} Archived 23 June 2015. 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.{{cite web|url=http://www.uscatholic.org/church/2011/11/woman-altar-can-church-ordain-women-deacons|title=A Woman on the Altar|work=US Catholic|date=3 January 2012 |accessdate=26 April 2012}}{{cite web|url=http://www.newsday.com/long-island/seeking-larger-role-for-women-in-the-church-1.3287306|title=Seeking Larger Role for Women in the Church|work=Newsday|accessdate=31 July 2012}}{{cite web|url=https://www.ncronline.org/books/2017/08/essays-boost-case-women-diaconate|work=National Catholic Reporter|title="Essays boost case for women deacons"|accessdate=1 September 2017}}{{cite web|url=https://saltandlighttv.org/witness/?f=phyllis-zagano|work=Salt & Light TV|title="Witness Interview: Phyllis Zagano"=|accessdate=4 September 2017}} Her writings have been variously translated into Indonesian, Czech, French, Italian, Portuguese, and Spanish.{{cite web|url=http://people.hofstra.edu/Phyllis_Zagano/|title=Phyllis Zagano, Ph.D.|publisher=Hofstra College of Liberal Arts and Sciences|accessdate=14 August 2012}}
Early life and education
Zagano was born in Queens, New York in 1947. 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.
Career
Zagano was program officer at the National Humanities Center from 1979 to 1980, and taught at Fordham University from 1980 to 1984. 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. She taught at Boston University from 1988 to 1999.
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. 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. 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.{{Cite web|url=https://www.futurechurch.org/podcast/reflections-on-catherine-of-siena-by-dr-phyllis-zagano-after-receiving-layperson-of-year|title=Reflections on Catherine of Siena by Dr. Phyllis Zagano after receiving "Layperson of the year" award from VOTF 9/15/12 {{!}} FutureChurch|website=www.futurechurch.org|language=en|access-date=2018-02-13}} She received the Isaac Hecker Award for Social Justice from the Paulist Center of Boston in 2014.[https://www.ncronline.org/blogs/ncr-today/zagano-accepts-social-justice-award Zagano accepts social justice award], National Catholic Reporter (January 28, 2014).Dennis Coday, [https://www.ncronline.org/blogs/ncr-today/zagano-honored-paulist-justice-award Zagano honored with Paulist justice award], National Catholic Reporter (January 23, 2014). Two years later, in 2016, Pope Francis appointed Zagano to the Papal Study Commission on the Women's Diaconate.{{cite web|url=http://www.news.va/en/news/pope-institutes-commission-to-study-the-diaconate|title=Pope institutes commission to study the diaconate of women|publisher=Vatican Radio|date=August 2, 2016}}Laurie Goodstein, [https://www.nytimes.com/2016/08/03/world/europe/vatican-ordain-women-deacon.html?_r=0 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." Prior to disputing with her ideas, Crisis Magazine described Zagano as "one of the most high-ranking feminists in the Catholic Church" in 2019.{{Cite web |date=2019-01-22 |title=The Gnostic Feminism of Phyllis Zagano |url=https://www.crisismagazine.com/opinion/the-gnostic-feminism-of-phyllis-zagano |access-date=2022-11-14 |website=Crisis Magazine |language=en-US}}
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.
Beginning in 2008, she has regularly donated her papers to the Women and Leadership Archives of Loyola University Chicago.
Publications
Zagano's publications include:
- Woman to Woman: An Anthology of Women's Spiritualities, 1993, editor. {{ISBN|9780814650257}}.
- 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.{{cite web|url=http://www.spiritualwoman.net/Books/DominicanTradition.html|title=Book Review: The Dominican Tradition|work=Spiritualwoman.Net|accessdate=23 July 2012}}
- Women & Catholicism: Gender, Communion, and Authority, 2011; Catholic Press Association Book Award in category B15, "Gender issues".{{cite web|url=http://www.catholicpress.org/resource/resmgr/2012_cmc/2012_book_award_winners.pdf|title=2012 Catholic Press Association Book Awards|work=Book Award Winners|accessdate=27 July 2012}}
- Women Deacons: Past, Present, Future, 2011, with Gary Macy and William T. Ditewig.{{cite web|url=http://www.religiondispatches.org/books/atheologies/5485/it%E2%80%99s_time_to_ordain_women%E2%80%94again/|title=It's Time to Ordain Women (Again)|work=Religion Dispatches|date=27 December 2011 |accessdate=23 July 2012}}
- 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".{{cite web|url=http://c.ymcdn.com/sites/www.catholicpress.org/resource/resmgr/awards_2017/Book_Awards_CJ_Copy.pdf|title=2017 Catholic Press Association Book Awards|work=Book Award Winners|accessdate=4 September 2017}}
- The Light of the World: Daily Meditations for Advent, 2016.
- Women: Icons of Christ, 2020, Catholic Media Association{{cite web|url= https://cdn.ymaws.com/www.catholicpress.org/resource/resmgr/awards_2021/winners_lists/2021_cma_book_awards-8-23.pdf|title=2021 Catholic Press Association Book Awards|work= Book Award winners|access-date=11 October 2021}} 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
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Category:Boston University College of Communication alumni
Category:Ordination of women and the Catholic Church
Category:Hofstra University faculty
Category:Long Island University alumni
Category:Marymount College, Tarrytown alumni
Category:People from Queens, New York
Category:St. John's University (New York City) alumni
Category:Stony Brook University alumni
Category:People associated with Waterford Institute of Technology