Weekly THIS AND THAT for June 17, 2007: Our Lady of Grace Welcomes Its New Permanent Deacon

This and That:
Our Lady of Grace Welcomes Its New Permanent Deacon

On May 19th at the Cathedral of Mary Our Queen, Cardinal Keeler ordained nine men to the Permanent Diaconate and for service to the Church of Baltimore. Our Lady of Grace was fortunate to have one of them – Lee Benson – assigned to our parish. He will begin on July 1st, although he was present at all the Masses last weekend to preach and assist at the liturgy. A welcome reception followed the 10:30am Mass.

Lee is married to his wife Debbie and they have three children. He is the head of a family-owned business that sells tools and supplies to suppliers, and also leases warehouses in three states. He has been a parishioner of St. Ignatius Parish in Hickory. He has a wonderful story to tell of how a successful businessman got involved in parish ministry and then realized that God was calling him to greater service to the Church as an ordained minister. We have been waiting with a sense of excitement to welcome Deacon Lee to our parish and last weekend we were able to do so.

I asked him to take a moment to tell us something about himself and his first impressions of visiting the campus. The following are his remarks.

Fondly,
Father Nick Amato


Words from Deacon Lee:

The first son of Lee and Genevieve Benson, I grew up as the middle child in a family of five. After graduation from Loyola High School in 1970, I went to Case Institute of Technology in Cleveland, Ohio. At a fraternity party I met a charming and wonderful woman. Debbie, attending nearby Ursuline College, soon became a close friend. After we both graduated we married and moved to Baltimore. I went to work full time at the family business, L. A. Benson Company. The Lord blessed us with three children, Coleman (1980), Ashley (1981) and Lee IV (1989). With the retirement of my Father from the family business, I became the President and CEO of the company. Our oldest son is married and we are blessed to have three grandsons.

On the retreat just before our Ordination our Retreat Director asked us to read an article on homiletics written by Archbishop Dolan. In the article Archbishop Dolan offers a reflection on the quote from Scripture, “Sir, we would like to see Jesus” (John 12:21). This phrase so caught my attention that I kept coming back to it during my prayer and reflection. If I had to summarize my hopes for ministry at Our Lady of Grace, I think this verse does an adequate job. My hope is that my ministry will help us all to see Jesus a little more clearly. I hope that we will all see Jesus more clearly in the Eucharist, Sacred Scripture and most of all in one another.

I thank Fr. Nick, Elaine Hagner, and Paul Michaud for a very warm welcome. I certainly see why Our Lady of Grace is a “welcoming, worshipping community of faith.” The parish campus, the church and the Education Center are beautiful. I look forward to sharing Sunday worship with the community and getting to know the welcoming people of Our Lady of Grace.

Sincerely,
Deacon Lee Benson