In his late teens, he served in the Royal Australian Navy in 1962-1964. He returned to Western Australia. He was ordained in 1971.
He worked as a chaplain in the Army reserves and as a priest in the Archdiocese of Perth.
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 six counts related to the period between December 1968 and October 1972 when Davis was dorm master at Street Benedict"s College at New Norcia.
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 and will take some time to decide whether to return to public ministry.
