Phyllis Zagano

Early life and education Zagano was born in Jamaica, Queens in New York City in 1947. She received the Isaac Hecker Award for Social Justice from the Paulist Center of Boston in 2014. Two years later, in 2016, Pope Francis appointed Zagano to the Papal Study Commission on the Women's Diaconate. Prior to disputing with her ideas, Crisis Magazine described Zagano as "one of the most high-ranking feminists in the Catholic Church" in 2019.

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. Women & Catholicism: Gender, Communion, and Authority, 2011; Catholic Press Association Book Award in category B15, "Gender issues". Women Deacons: Past, Present, Future, 2011, with Gary Macy and William T. Ditewig. 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". The Light of the World: Daily Meditations for Advent, 2016. Women: Icons of Christ, 2020, Catholic Media Association 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.