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Deacon Denny Burkett, who was born in Shelby, Ohio, is married to
his high school sweetheart Linda for 56 years, and together they take
great delight in their three children, ten grandchildren, and eight great
grandchildren.
Deacon Denny, as he is known, was ordained a Permanent Deacon
of the Roman Catholic Church on May 13th, 1989, at Holy Rosary
Cathedral in Toledo, Ohio by the late Bishop James R. Hoffman. While
in the diocese, Deacon Denny served the parish communities of Most
Pure Heart of Mary in Shelby, Sacred Heart in the Shelby Settlement,
Saint Francis Xavier, in Willard, Ohio, and Saint Joseph Parish in
Plymouth, Ohio. For the past twenty years, he has served at Saint
Gregory the Great Catholic Church in Bluffton, South Carolina, where
he has been involved in Marriage Preparations, Pastoral Counseling and
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Spiritual Direction, Adult Education Programs, Bible Studies, Prayer
Groups, and leading parish pilgrimages to Italy and Israel.
Deacon Denny's love for the Sacred Scriptures has helped him
develop a unique way of explaining the Gospels. His Bible Studies often
become story telling time, bringing the words of scripture alive and
relevant to today, where students are invited to see themselves as part
of the stories. He can often be heard saying that the Sacred Scriptures
are God's Love Letter to us.
That spirit continually comes out in his preaching style, which
always reminds the people of how much God loves us, how forgiving
God is, and how God longs to have an intimate relationship with us.
Deacon Denny has been able to share that message with God's holy
people not only here in the United States, but abroad in places like
Assisi and Rome, Italy and in Nazareth, Tiberias, in the Garden of
Gethsemane and the Mount of Olives in Jerusalem, the Mount of
Transfiguration, and around the Sea of Galilee in places like Capernaum
and the Mount of the Beatitudes.
Finally, Deacon Denny hopes and prays that this book will move
you to a deeper love and more intimate understanding of the Sacred
Scriptures, God's spoken Words to us, his Chosen People. The Bible is
the best book in the world, and in the words of Thomas Jefferson: "The
Bible makes the best people in the world."
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