Maxwell Leroy Davis (born 16 August 1945) is a retired

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who served as the bishop of the Catholic Military Ordinariate of Australia. Davis grew up in

Perth Perth () is the list of Australian capital cities, capital city of Western Australia. It is the list of cities in Australia by population, fourth-most-populous city in Australia, with a population of over 2.3 million within Greater Perth . The ...

. In his late teens, he served in the

Royal Australian Navy The Royal Australian Navy (RAN) is the navy, naval branch of the Australian Defence Force (ADF). The professional head of the RAN is Chief of Navy (Australia), Chief of Navy (CN) Vice admiral (Australia), Vice Admiral Mark Hammond (admiral), Ma ...

in 1962–1964, later returning to Western Australia. Davis worked as a teacher at Saint Benedict's College in

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in the late 1960s. He was ordained in 1971. He worked as a chaplain in the

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and as a priest in the

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. Davis was made a Member of the Order of Australia in 1998 for service to the navy, particularly as Director General of Chaplaincy-Navy. On 16 July 2003, Davis was appointed bishop of the Australian Military Ordinariate. He was consecrated bishop on 22 August 2003 by Bishop

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with Archbishop

Francis Patrick Carroll Francis Patrick Carroll (9 September 1930 – 14 March 2024) was an Australian archbishop, the fifth Roman Catholic Archbishop of Canberra–Goulburn, serving between 1983 until his retirement in 2006. Prior to his election as archbishop, Ca ...

of Canberra and Goulburn and Archbishop Francesco Canalini, Apostolic Nuncio to Australia as co-consecratirs. In June 2014, Western Australian police charged Davis with having indecently assaulted a 13-year-old boy in 1969, before he had been ordained. Davis denied the charges and stood aside from his roles of office while the charges were heard. On 7 August 2015, he pleaded not guilty, and a six-day trial was set down to start on 6 February 2016 in the

District Court of Western Australia The District Court of Western Australia is the intermediate court in Western Australia. The District Court commenced in 1970, amid additional stress placed on the existing Magistrates Court of Western Australia, Magistrates Court and Supreme Co ...

. The six counts related to the period between December 1968 and October 1972 when Davis was dorm master at St Benedict's College at

. The Defence case accepted that the boys were abused, but denied that Davis was the culprit, identifying other (now dead) possible offenders. He was acquitted of all charges on 15 February 2016. He returned to public ministry in December 2017.

Pope Francis Pope Francis (born Jorge Mario Bergoglio; 17 December 1936 – 21 April 2025) was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 13 March 2013 until Death and funeral of Pope Francis, his death in 2025. He was the fi ...

accepted his resignation on 24 May 2021.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Davis, Maxwell Leroy 21st-century Roman Catholic bishops in Australia Members of the Order of Australia 1945 births Living people Roman Catholic bishops of the Catholic Military Ordinariate of Australia