Phyllis Zagano: Faith, Strength, and a Changing Church

Episode 59 of Messy Jesus Business podcast, with Sister Julia Walsh. Podcast: Play in new window | Download Subscribe: Stitcher | Email | RSS | More "One needs to be looking for Christ in the world, not for the mistakes the world makes about Christ.” - Phyllis Zagano IN THIS EPISODE In this episode of Messy Jesus Business podcast, Sister Julia Walsh talks with scholar, author and lecturer Dr. Phyllis Zagano about her faith journey and the role of women in the Catholic Church. They discuss synodality in the Catholic Church and women in the diaconate. Plus they get into the mess of power, advocating for change and living a life of faith, joy and prayer. Zagano noted, “My bishop asked me not long ago, ‘do you get up at 5 in the morning to write?’ And I said ‘no, I get up at 5 in the morning to pray.’” ABOUT THE GUEST Phyllis Zagano is an internationally acclaimed Catholic scholar and lecturer on contemporary spirituality and women's issues in the church. Her award-winning books include Holy Saturday: An Argument for the Restoration of the Female Diaconate in the Catholic Church (First Place, 2001 Catholic Press Association and 2002 College Theology Society), Women & Catholicism: Gender, Communion, and Authority (Second Place, 2012 Catholic Press Association), Women Deacons? Essays with Answers (First Place, 2017 Catholic Press Association), Women: Icons of Christ (Second Place, 2021 Catholic Media Association) and Women Religious, Women Deacons: Questions and Answers (Paulist Press, 2022).  Her newest books are: Elizabeth Visits the Abbey (Clear Faith Publishing, 2022), a novel for young people about a twelve-year-old girl whose aunt, the abbess of a large abbey in Ireland, tells her about the history of women in the Church; and Just Church (Paulist Press, 2023), which reviews Catholic social teaching and modern synods in relation to current and prospective ministry by women. Her writing is widely translated — her best-selling On Prayer: A Letter for My Godchild is in Indonesian, Spanish and Italian as well as English — and she edited the Liturgical Press' "Spirituality in History" series. Zagano belonged to the 2016-2018 Papal Commission for the Study of the Diaconate of Women. Winner of two Fulbright awards, her biographical listings include Marquis Who's Who. Her professional papers are held by the Women in Leadership Archives, Loyola University, Chicago. She holds a research appointment at Hofstra University, Hempstead, New York. Phyllis's personal webpage at Hofstra University: https://sites.hofstra.edu/phyllis-zagano/ Her author page at Paulist Press: https://www.