U.S. Jesuit resigns as head of Jamaican diocese for health reasons

Published: 2006-08-08

WASHINGTON (CNS) -- Bishop Gordon D. Bennett, a U.S.-born Jesuit, has resigned as bishop of Mandeville, Jamaica, for health reasons. Bishop Bennett, who will turn 60 in October, has headed the Mandeville Diocese since September 2004. The Vatican announced his resignation Aug. 8. Father John P. McGarry, provincial of the Jesuit California province, to which Bishop Bennett is attached, said in an e-mail to province members that Bishop Bennett "will be returning to California for medical assessment and treatment for fatigue and depression." Msgr. Michael Palud, Mandeville diocesan vicar general under Bishop Bennett, told Catholic News Service that Bishop Charles H. Dufour of Montego Bay has been named apostolic administrator of the Mandeville Diocese.

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