Most Rev. Gordon D. Bennett S.J.

Titular Bishop of Nesqually – Auxiliary Bishop of Baltimore

Gordon Bennett was born in Denver, Colorado on October 21, 1946. He attended Loyola Grammar School in Denver before his family moved to Los Angeles in 1955. From there he attended Holy Spirit Grammar School, then St. Thomas the Apostle Grammar School. In 1964, the future Bishop graduated from Loyola High School in Los Angeles as class Valedictorian.

The fall after his graduation, he entered the Society of Jesus at Santa Barbara. Two years later, on September 8, 1966 he pronounced his first vows as a Jesuit. After pronouncing his vows, Gordon Bennett attended Loyola University in Los Angeles for two years before transfering to Gonzaga University in Spokane, Washington where he received a Bachelor of Arts in Philosophy. Following his graduation, he became a teacher of English, French and Music and his high school alma mater.

In 1975, he received his Master of Divinity from the Jesuit School of Theology in Berkeley, California. On June 14, 1975, he was ordained to the priesthood at Blessed Sacrament Church in Hollywood, California.

For the next four years, Fr. Bennett was the Assistant Principal for Campus Ministry at St. Ignatius College Preparatory in San Francisco.

In 1979, Fr. Bennett completed his Masters in Education in Secondary School Administration at Loyola Marymount University. The following year he received a Professional Diploma in Administration at Fordham University in the Bronx. For the next eight years Fr. Bennett was the principal of Loyola High School in Los Angeles.

In 1983, on February 2, Fr. Bennett pronounced his final vows as a Jesuit.

After taking a sabbatical in 1988, he became the Rector and Master of Novices at the Jesuit Novitiate in both Santa Barbara and Culver City, California.

From 1996 through 1998, Fr. Bennett was the President of Loyola High School in Los Angeles. It was during this time that he was appointed Titular Bishop of Nesqually and Auxiliary Bishop of Baltimore. He was ordained Bishop at the Cathedral of Mary Queen in Baltimore on March 3, 1998.

Bishop Bennett was named head of the Diocese of Mandeville, Jamaica by the Holy Father on July 6, 2004.

In May 2006, the Archdiocese of Baltimore learned of an allegation of sexual harassment of a young adult by Bishop Bennett. Upon receiving the allegation, the Archdiocese immediately reported it to the Apostolic Nunciature in Washington, D.C. Bishop Bennett resigned from the Diocese of Mandeville in August 2006.

Bishop Bennett is prohibited from exercising any priestly or episcopal ministry in the Archdiocese of Baltimore and the Diocese of Wheeling-Charleston.