St. Phoebe Day Celebration

By Samantha Miller

The Sisters of St. Joseph of Brentwood, N.Y., celebrated St. Phoebe Day on Wednesday, Sept. 3, with a presentation from Phyllis Zagano, Ph.D., the acknowledged expert on the question of women deacons and a graduate of Sacred Heart Academy.

The event, which took place in the Joan de Lourdes Room as well as via livestream, brought together nearly 150 participants who acknowledged women’s gifts and contributions to the church, and who bore witness to the critical and urgent need to rethink women’s participation in the church.

“We don’t know a lot about St. Phoebe,” Dr. Zagano said. “We know that she’s the only woman in all of scripture who has the job title deacon — a very, very important thing, because it gives evidence that, at the time, there are many, many ministries in the church, and this particular woman, for whatever particular reason, is identified as deacon of the church of Cenchreae (Greece).”

Dr. Zagano, who has authored many articles and books on the subject of women in church, went on to explain that St. Phoebe is argued to be the prototype for women deacons.

“The discussion about women in the diaconate in modern times began around 1973,” Dr. Zagano said. “There were six major discussion meetings, we’ll call them, where groups gathered in Rome to talk about women in the church, sometimes specifically about women deacons.

“Women ordained as deacons performed more sacraments in my estimation than men ordained as deacons because you needed a woman to perform sacraments for women,” she continued. “Women brought the sacrament to women who were sick and dying. Women deacons anointed women who were ill in their homes. Women deacon performed baptisms.”

Watch the Full Livestream Here

Click here to watch the livestream of the Sept. 3 event honoring St. Phoebe Day.