New Bishop appointed in Sale, Australia

By Vatican News

Pope Francis on Saturday appointed Monsignor Gregory Charles Bennet the new Bishop of Sale.  Monsignor Bennet has been serving as parish priest of St. Joseph’s Parish in West Brunswick in the Archdiocese of Melbourne.

The see of Sale Diocese was left vacant when Pope Francis transferred Bishop Patrick Michael O’Regan to Adelaide as its archbishop on March 19, 2020.

Biography

Monsignor Bennet was born on 7 April 1963 in the Archdiocese of Melbourne. He attended Catholic schools in Melbourne and then the Ecumenical Braemer College in Woodend. He worked in the Commercial Bank of Australia before joining the Melbourne Regional Seminary in 1986 and completed his ecclesiastical studies at Catholic Theological College in Melbourne.

He was ordained a priest in 1992 for the Archdiocese of Melbourne.

In 1996 he was sent to the United States to study pastoral psychology at Loyola College in Baltimore. In 1998 he studied Spirituality at the University of St. Thomas Aquinas in Rome where he obtained his Licentiate in Spirituality.

Subsequently, he held the following positions:

2000-2005 - Director of Ministry to Priests and Director of Ongoing Formation for Clergy

2004-2008 - Director of the Office for Evangelization

2007-2012 - Pastor of North Baldwin

Since 2012 - Vicar general and moderator of the Curia

In addition, he was vice president of the Economic Council, president of the Personnel Office, Secretary of the Roman Catholic Trusts' Corporation and chaplain of the State Parliament of Victoria.

On May 9, 2012, he was appointed Honorary Prelate of His Holiness by Pope Benedict XVI.

He is currently the parish priest of St. Joseph's Parish, West Brunswick, North Melbourne.