Deacon Greg Kandra is an author, speaker, blogger and award-winning journalist who may be may be best known as the creator of the popular blog “The Deacon’s Bench.” He served for 11 years as a senior writer and editor for Catholic Near East Welfare Association (CNEWA), a pontifical agency founded by Pope Pius XI in 1926. Before joining CNEWA, Deacon Greg spent nearly three decades in broadcast journalism, most of that time at CBS News, where he was honored with every major award in broadcasting, including two Peabody Awards, three Emmy Awards and four awards from the Writers Guild of America. His writing has appeared in U.S. Catholic, America, Give Us This Day and Our Sunday Visitor, and he contributes a regular column on Scripture for OSV News, “The Word in Season.”

He is the author of five books, including The Busy Person’s Guide to Prayer and The Busy Person’s Guide to an Extraordinary Life (Word Among Us Press) and A Deacon Prays (Ave Maria Press), which won First Place (Prayer) at the 2022 Catholic Media Book Awards.

His newest book, Befriending St. Joseph, was published in 2022 by Ave Maria Press. Deacon Greg was ordained a deacon for the Diocese of Brooklyn in 2007. He and his wife live in Apopka, Florida.