Dr. Suzanne Rozell Scorsone

Doctor Suzanne Rozell Scorsone

Sessional Lecturer

EDUCATION

B.A. University of Arizona, 1967
M.A. University of Toronto, 1968
Ph.D. University of Toronto, 1979
Additional Theological Studies,
Faculty of Theology,
University of St. Michael’s College

AREA OF SPECIALIZATION

The social structure and dynamics of family in diverse cultures, societies and historical periods; Census demographics, other resources and the key information they contain about needs, strengths and trends over time for pastoral care, education, social service and Catholic community; the history and development of the understanding of family and society in Catholic teaching; gathering of primary source documents pertaining to Bishop Michael Power in the context of the Canadas in his time.

BIOGRAPHY

Suzanne Rozell Scorsone, PhD, has been serving the Archdiocese of Toronto since 1981, first as Director of the Office of Catholic Family Life, then as Director of Communications, and now as Director of Research and Senior Communications Consultant.  She has long served with St. Augustine’s Seminary as a Sessional Lecturer on family in the social, historical, theological and pastoral context of Toronto’s ethnic and cultural diversity.  Her studies in Social Anthropology at the University of Toronto focused on the dynamics of religious movements, particularly within the Roman Catholic Church.  Her studies in theology were done at the Faculty of Theology of the University of St. Michael’s College.  Consistent with her background in anthropology, the nature of her work has required exploration, analysis, reporting and action in an eclectic array of areas which are functionally interrelated on the ground.  She has also served on Federal bodies as a Commissioner on the Royal Commission on New Reproductive Technologies and as a Board Member of Assisted Human Reproduction Canada.  Her current research is directed at a range of subjects, including the demographics of populations and pastoral needs in the Archdiocese, and the gathering of primary source documents pertaining to Bishop Michael Power.  She and her husband Bruno have five children and nine grandchildren.

SELECTED PUBLICATIONS / SELECTED AREAS OF SERVICE / PASTORAL WORK

While work in Communications involved substantial public interaction on a range of issues, most of Dr. Scorsone’s research has been directed to provision of information and analysis for the Cardinal, Bishops and Chancellors of the Archdiocese as resources for their pastoral planning and service.  A small number of publications include:

  • In Press:  “From the Shoot Grows the Tree:  Bishop Michael Power and the Diocese of Then and Now”; in (Full Title TBA) Festschrift in Honour of His Eminence, Thomas Cardinal Collins; Novalis, 2022

  • "Christianity and the Significance of the Human Body."  In Transplantation Proceedings, Vol. 22, #3 (June), 1990:  pp 943‑944.

  • "Six Dissenting Opinions" with "Detailed Reasoning", in Proceed with Care:  Final Report of the Royal Commission on New Reproductive Technologies, Volume 2, pp. 1053‑1146; in French Un virage à prendre en douceur; Minister of Government Services Canada, 1993, Canada Communications Group ‑ Publishing, Ottawa, Canada K1A 0S9

  • "Prohibit Commerce in Human Reproduction", in Policy Options, Vol. 17 #2, March 1996