Products

Greg Kandra's A Deacon Prays--the essential prayer book for Catholic deacons--is a practical, daily companion that speaks to deacons as no other book has because it comes from Kandra, creator of The Deacon's Bench blog and one of the most popular voices and enthusiastic advocates of the deaconate in the Church today.

Kandra left a successful career as a television news writer and producer to become a Catholic deacon after the September 11, 2001, attack on the World Trade Center. Covering the devastating story set Kandra on a spiritual quest that led to his ordination in 2007. He serves a parish in the Diocese of Brooklyn.

In A Deacon Prays, Kandra has written prayers to greatly strengthen a deacon's spiritual life and richly enhance his ministry. There are prayers

• for daily life and seasons;
• for service in particular ministries;
• to patron saints;
• of devotion tailored for deacons;
• of petition and intercession; and
• marking special times in the life of a deacon.

This is an indispensable addition to any deacon's prayer corner, briefcase, or glove compartment, and will be a popular gift for ordinations, birthdays, holidays, and other special occasions in the life of a Catholic deacon.

God could have made us all exactly the same, but He didn't. And our differences are good!

As His children, those called by God to belong to His family, we can actually use our differences to help each other.  Here's some more great news:  There are no rules about how we look or sound to be in His family. We have a delightfully different family on purpose.

Every person is made by God, in His image, and therefore is equal in value and worth.

Kids, somehow, already know this to be true.

This short, colorful book (written with grade-schoolers in mind) will share the truth of God's Word with them. The truth about how we were made with differences, how we sinned, how God rescued us, and how--if we understand that God's diverse creation will be together in Heaven--it should motivate us to love one another on earth!

Combining fictional narrative, fascinating biographies of sixteen saints, and mouth watering dinner party recipes, the book offers a resource to celebrate saints spanning the history of the Church.

Thoughtfully written by Brendan Comerford, SJ, The Pilgrim's Story goes beyond a simple biography to explain how the life of Saint Ignatius affected his Spiritual Exercises and describe how Ignatian spirituality can help each of us understand our own spiritual longings and experiences. Part One provides an accurate, high-energy portrait of the saint--covering critical moments in Ignatius's life while bringing in sources both complimentary and critical. Part Two deals specifically with Ignatius's spirituality, stressing the importance of having a personal experience of God, a call for the reader as it was for the saint. The result is a realistic, balanced view of Ignatius as well as a concise introduction to Ignatian spirituality, the Spiritual Exercises, and the Examen--his most important gifts to the world.

Over the past decade Rome has been marked with sharp, and often unwarranted, criticism of the Church in the United States and American Catholic life.  But very few of the critics have taken the time to talk, systematically, with a wide range of U.S. Catholics to understand their concerns.  True Confessions is unique for its frank and in-depth interviews with 103 bishops, clergy, religious, and lay men and women from various backgrounds over a 17-month period, December 2020 through May 2022. 

The wide-ranging subject matter includes the unseen challenges of life as a bishop; the pressures and satisfactions of the priesthood, the diaconate, and the consecrated life; the structural and leadership ingredients of diocesan success and failure; fallout from the Church' sex-abuse scandals; problems in Catholic universities; attitudes toward the Vatican; the role of Catholics in the academy and the secular culture; the witness of parents who have children with special needs; and the testimony of immigrant Americans as they assess their new homeland.

Finally, the book presents the reasons why so many U.S. Catholics, despite today's challenges, continue to love the Church and cherish their faith with joy and energy.