AUSTRALIA
The West Australian

Tim Clarke
February 21, 2016

For Roman Catholic Bishop Max Davis, the detached township of New Norcia – established in 1846 by Benedictine missionary Rosendo Salvado – was where his religious calling was realised.

And for most of the boys he schooled during his time as a teacher and dean of discipline at St Benedict’s boys college in the town, he was remembered as a firm but fair master who could cane and comfort in the same day.

Others, however, held very different memories of the young priest known as “Bang Bang”.

Last week, five St Benedict’s old boys unequivocally named the Roman Catholic Bishop of the Australian Catholic Defence Diocese as their sexual abuser of nearly 50 years ago. And despite the passage of time, they could not have been clearer in their recollection.

“That’s a definite remembrance, there’s no reconstruction there. I…