Greg Kandra

Deacon Greg Kandra is the Multimedia Editor for Catholic Near East Welfare Association (CNEWA), a pontifical society founded by Pope Pius XI in 1926. He oversees the agency’s blog “One-to-One” and edits its award-winning magazine, ONE. He is also the creator of the popular blog, “The Deacon’s Bench,” now carried on the spiritual website, Patheos. “The Bench” has attracted over 15 million visitors from around the world since it was launched in 2007, and today garners more than 200,000 page views a month.

Before joining CNEWA, Deacon Greg spent nearly three decades in broadcast journalism, most of that time at CBS News, where he was a writer and producer for several programs including “48 Hours,” “60 Minutes II,” “Sunday Morning” and “The CBS Evening News with Katie Couric.” He was also the founding editor of “Couric & Co.,” Katie Couric’s blog at CBSNews.com. In addition to his work with CBS News, from 2000 to 2004 he served as a writer and producer on the live finales of the hit reality series “Survivor.”

In 2002, he co-wrote the acclaimed CBS documentary “9/11,” hosted by Robert DeNiro, which told the story of firefighters on September 11, 2001. The film showed the only footage shot inside the World Trade Center that day, and featured the last images of Fr. Mychal Judge, moments before he became the first official fatality of the attacks.

In print, Deacon Greg’s radio essays were featured in Dan Rather’s best-selling book “Deadlines and Datelines.” His essays have been published in AMERICA, U.S. CATHOLIC, CATHOLIC DIGEST, REALITY and the BROOKLYN TABLET. He also contributes reflections to GIVE US THIS DAY, the award-winning monthly prayer periodical from Liturgical Press.

In the fall of 2018, Ave Maria Press published his first book, “The Living Gospel: Daily Devotions for Advent 2018.” His newest book, “The Busy Person’s Guide to Prayer” is being published in March 2019 by Word Among Us Press.

Deacon Greg has received every major award in broadcasting – including two Emmys, two Peabody Awards and four awards from the Writer’s Guild of America. His spiritual writing and essays have been honored multiple times by the Catholic Press Association. His homilies are among those featured in the collections “Hungry and You Fed Me” and “Naked and You Clothed Me” (Clear Faith Publishing). A popular preacher at retreats, convocations and parish missions, Deacon Greg was invited by the Vatican to be one of the featured speakers at the Jubilee for Deacons in Rome. In 2017, he became the first Catholic deacon ever to be honored as Clergy of the Year by the Catholic Guild of Our Lady of the Skies Chapel at John F. Kennedy International Airport.

A Maryland native, Deacon Greg graduated from the University of Maryland with a B.A. in English. He was ordained a deacon for the Diocese of Brooklyn in 2007 and lives with his wife Siobhain in Forest Hills, New York, where he serves at Our Lady Queen of Martyrs parish in Queens.