St Bede’s Catholic College, Mentone

St Bede's College is an independent Catholic secondary school for boys, in Mentone, a suburb of Melbourne, Australia. Founded in 1938, St Bede's College is an independent school in the Catholic tradition, initially conducted and now administered by the De La Salle Brothers.

The school in the recent past has become embroiled in allegations and cases involving historical child sexual abuse. The Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse between 2014 to 2018 examined evidence in relation to various Brothers who served at St Bede’s as back as 1945. One particular disturbing situation involves Father John Walshe who had been St Bede’s College Chaplain for 25 years. Father Walshe in 2010 was found guilty by a Catholic Church investigation of sexually abusing a trainee priest in 1982 at a seminary. The Catholic Church paid compensation to the victim and concealed the abuse from the community. The Royal Commission, however, found Father Walshe guilty about lying to the Commission about the compensation and the incident ever taking place. More importantly, when the incident became public knowledge grave concerns were raised in the community and in the College about the suitability of Father Walshe’s at the College and in the parish. In 2016 these concerns were brought forward to Melbourne Archbishop Denis Hart who subsequently ignored them.

We invite former students, teachers and parents to contact us to tell us confidentially what information they may have, and we will explain what options are available to help with these cases.

Call us or complete the confidential enquiry form below.