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Phyllis Zagano on Muck Rack

Phyllis Zagano

Long Island
As seen in: Religion News Service, The Globe and Mail, Flipboard, The Irish Times, Newsday, The Salt Lake Tribune, Fordham University, Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, Las Vegas Sun, Christian Today, America Magazine and
Award-winning author and scholar specializing in Catholic women's ministry past and present, especially the ancient tradition of women deacons.

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Phyllis Zagano’s Journalist Portfolio

A child is coming to save us. Perhaps he'll remind us to do better by the children we have.

A child is coming to save us. Perhaps he'll remind us to do better by the children we have.

(RNS) - Christians soon will welcome a newborn child to the world. His traveling parents found simple shelter…

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As Pope Francis' critics vent their anger, what comes out is vaccine disinformation

As Pope Francis' critics vent their anger, what comes out is vaccine disinformation

(RNS) - A virulent strain of anger in various American Catholic circles is increasingly directed at Pope Fran…

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Articles

‘They Don’t Want to Say Yes’

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By Phyllis Zagano
| Commonweal Magazine Verified
The Vatican recently released two important documents concerning the status of women in Church leadership. First, a letter by the president of Pope Francis’s Second Commission on women deacons came out on December 4, 2025, reporting its members’ divided-but-negative opinion regarding ordaining women to the diaconate. Then, Study Group 5’s Final Report, released on March 5, 2026, explored nonordained leadership roles for women. These questions are hardly settled.
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A Catholic schism over women deacons? Many opponents have already left

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By Phyllis Zagano
| National Catholic Reporter Verified
The Catholic Church's latest objection to restoring women to the ordained diaconate is that it will cause a schism. News flash: There already is one. In fact, there have been many schisms, and there will be more. There is no need to reach back to the Great Schism of 1054, between the Catholic Church and the Eastern Orthodox Church, or to the schisms of the Protestant Reformation, or even the 16th-century English Reformation, which resulted in the Anglican Communion.
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A Catholic schism over women deacons? Many opponents have already left.

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By Amanda Koehn Verified, Phyllis Zagano
| Religion News Service Verified
(RNS) — The Catholic Church’s latest objection to restoring women to the ordained diaconate is that it will cause a schism. News flash: There already is one. In fact, there have been many schisms, and there will be more. There is no need to reach back to the Great Schism of 1054, between the Catholic Church and the Eastern Orthodox Church, or to the schisms of the Protestant Reformation, or even the 16th-century English Reformation, which resulted in the Anglican Communion.
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Interview

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What was your first job as a journalist?

free-lance column: New York Tiimes

Have you ever used a typewriter?

yes

How is social media changing news?

plusses and minuses--less verified information, more anger, but easier to find quality journalism from around the world