Richard Bennett was born into a devout Roman Catholic home in Dublin Ireland. His early years were spent in Belvedere Jesuit School. Eight years of theological instruction for the priesthood followed under the instruction of the Dominican Order with his formal education culminating in 1964 at the Angelicum University of Rome.
As a young priest, Richard (Peter) was assigned to the West Indies. He spent the next twenty-one years in Trinidad, mostly serving as a parish priest applying Roman Catholic teaching to everyday life. After a serious accident in which he nearly lost his life, he began to seriously study the Scriptures. After fourteen years of contrasting the teachings of Rome with biblical truth, he was convicted by the Gospel message through God’s grace alone and in 1986 he formally left the Roman Catholic Church and its priesthood.
Richard has since founded an evangelistic ministry called ‘Berean Beacon’ which brings the truth of God’s plan of salvation to many worldwide.
Autobiographical accounts of Richard’s life can be found in his Catholicism: East of Eden – Insights into Catholicism for the 21st Century (Banner of Truth, 2010) and (with Martin Buckingham) Far from Rome, Near to God – Testimonies of Fifty Converted Roman Catholic Priests (Banner of Truth, 1997).