The College of Trustees is meeting at Corpus Christi College today for their biannual meeting. It is the first time that Bishop Gregory Charles Bennet, the 10th Bishop of Sale, has attended the meeting. Below is his biography.
The second of four children, Gregory Charles Bennet was born in 1963 to Len (RIP) and Maureen Bennet (née Read).
He was educated at St Dominic’s Primary School at East Camberwell, All Hallows Primary School, Balwyn and Marcellin College, Bulleen, before completing his secondary education at the ecu- menical Braemar College at Woodend, Mount Macedon and then joining the Commercial Bank of Australia whilst undertaking studies in Public Administration.
In 1986 he entered Corpus Christi College, the regional seminary, and was ordained priest in 1992 by Archbishop Little, for the Archdiocese of Melbourne. Fr Bennet ministered in the Nazareth Parish of Grovedale-Torquay, at St Mary’s Parish, Greensborough and as Administrator of the Immaculate Conception Parish, Seymour.
From 1996-2000, he undertook further studies overseas graduating as a Master of Science in Pas- toral Studies from Loyola University Maryland in Baltimore and obtaining a Licentiate in Sacred Theology from the Angelicum (the Pontifical University of St. Thomas Aquinas) in Rome.
On his return from Rome, Fr Bennet was appointed Director of the Ministry to Priests and Direc- tor of Ongoing Formation for Clergy for the Archdiocese of Melbourne. In 2005, he became the inaugural Director of the Archbishop’s Office for Evangelisation established by Archbishop Denis Hart and also commenced as Parish Priest of St Bede’s, Balwyn North.
In 2012, Archbishop Hart chose Fr Bennet as the Archdiocese’s Vicar General and Moderator of the Curia. Also, in 2012, Fr Bennet was awarded the distinction of being appointed as a Prelate of Honour of His Holiness by Pope Benedict XVI.
Monsignor Bennet served as Diocesan Consultor and on numerous committees of the Arch- diocese of Melbourne including: The Archbishop’s Personnel Board, the Curia, the Diocesan Finance Council, Catholic Capital Grants Ltd and on advisory bodies associated with Catholic Education Melbourne. In March 2020 Archbishop Peter Comensoli appointed him as Parish Priest of St Joseph’s, West Brunswick.
Pope Francis appointed Monsignor Bennet as 10th Bishop of Sale on 27 June 2020, the Feast Day of the Patroness of the Diocese, Our Lady of Perpetual Help, in succession to Bishop Patrick O’Regan, now Archbishop of Adelaide.
