Jesuit Offenders Intro.
  P.J. Stephenson s.j.
    Peter Beer s.j.
  Noel Bradford s.j.
  Willi Kovac
  John Byrne s.j.
  Joseph Craig s.j.
  Richard Galbraith s.j.
Paul Schulze s.j.
Brenton Lewis s.j.
W. "Bill" Marum
Eldon Hogan
  Tim. Carter s.j.
Philip. Wallbridge s.j.
  G. (Mac) Larkin s.j.
Richard (Donal) Lane s.j.
  Henry Sneddon s.j.
Brian Purcell s.j.
  Stan Hogan s.j.
Larry Kean
  J.R. Boylan s.j.
Michael O’Mahoney s.j.
  Victor Higgs s.j.
  Peter Quin s.j.
  Celso Romanin s.j.
Brian O'Reilly
Glen Walls
Boarders Master A
  Theo Overberg s.j.
  Peter Kelly s.j.
James McInerny s.j.
David Rankin s.j.
  Patrick O'Sullivan s.j.
Lawrence Leonard s.j.
  Paul McMahon
  Leo Flynn SJ
  Stephen Hamra
  Philip Astley SJ
  Colin Fearon
  Kevin Carroll s.j.
  Peter Bohrsmann
  W. "Bill" James

PERSONS OF INTEREST
  Walter Logue SJ
  Malcolm Joseph

Alleged Sex Abuser

Philip Wallbridge s.j.

1962 Final year student at Xavier College
1963 Entered Jesuit training.
1971-73 Kostka Hall
1974 - 1988 Xavier College. 1979 Boarder Master/First Division Prefect.
1974 Philip Wallbridge SJ, Fr. Brennan SJ, Fr. T. Kelly SJ and Paul Henderson took 40 year 9/10 boys on a trip to Tasmania.
1989 St. Aloysius , North Sydney.
1990 member of the School Council, Bill Uren s.j. was Chairman
1990-91 Jesuit head office, Hawthorn.
1992 - 94 Xavier College Rector.
After 1994 removal from Xavier he went to Toowong parish then laicised.
2019 December. Deceased. Tragically he took his own life.
At the time of his death he had been under police investigation for 18 months.
In 2019 he was also reported to the police by another former student.

Article in the Brisbane Times January 2020. ♦ Xavier College grapples with historical sex abuse claims www.bishop-accountability.org


The Case of Philip Wallbridge ( ex sj)
Wallbridge was educated at Xavier.He taught at Burke hall and Kostka and was
assistant to Noel Bradford in the boarding house at Xavier in his earlier years as a trainee Jesuit.

He was at St. Aloysius College, Sydney in 1989. An ex-student reports:
He ran retreats /camps for boys of various ages where they get drunk sat around the lounge on
his instructions put their hands down their pants touching themselves while
he encouraged them to talk about their sexual fantasies.
His behaviour must have become known to the Principal and/or parents and Jesuit Provincial, Peter Steel
He was removed from St. Aloysius and given a job at Jesuit HQ in Hawthorn, Vic.

1990 member of the School Council, Bill Uren s.j. was Chairman
In the period 1992 to 1993 he returned to Xavier as Rector/Principal .

Why did they transfer him to Xavier?
Bill Uren, the Provincial then says it was part of a shuffle of Rectors and he knew nothing of Wallbridge's sex offending at St. Aloysius.
He was principal of Kostka and Burke Hall at the same time presumably because of
the declining numbers of Jesuit priests to take up these roles individually.
He is reported to have banned corporal punishment and so ended the reign of terror of the "cuts".
He was also instrumental in the building of the Stephenson Sports complex.

It has been reliably reported to me that a delegation of concerned parents approached
the pastoral care person at Xavier who was a nun at the time .
They had complaints about the behaviour of Wallbridge in relation to boys .


The 1976 Xaverian says: CHRISTIAN LIVING CAMP, MITCHUM HILLS about 70 boys
The leader of our camp was Peter Norden. Other masters in attendance were Andy Bullen and Philip Wallbridge .

An ex-student reports:
He would select a group of boys to go on 'retreat' with him to a rural property near Euroa.
Alcohol would be consumed. Wallbridge would tell the boys that masturbation was normal and every male did it.
Then he would encourage the boys to openly masturbate in view of him and the other boys,
and Wallbridge would openly masturbate as well.
As far as I know, there was no physical sexual contact with Wallbridge.
As far as I remember Wallbridge didn't run retreats for Year 12s but he did for Year 10's and possibly Year 11's.
The boys would then have been 15 or 16.
I've heard other stories about Wallbridge going on holiday with boys on a houseboat on the Murray River
and encouraging complete nudity and a lot of drinking and open masturbation

Those complaints were referred to the then Provincial Bill Uren who took immediate action.
Wallbridge was removed from his office that day and the cover story was that he was on stress leave.
This was not the case. He travelled to the parish of Toowong in Brisbane
( like Sevenhill Centre in SA, a popular place to hide sex offenders).
run for many years by Jesuits and subsequently resigned from the order ,
something that he reported to a friend and confidante he had been contemplating for some time.

He demanded a vehicle and received one from the school ( this was verified by the bursar at the time ).
He subsequently took up residence in Northcote where he pursued a relationship
(don’t know when this began )with a mother of one of the boys at Xavier at the time.
I believe they subsequently married.

He secured employment with the VFL with the assistance of friends.
He demanded and received a financial payout from the Jesuits.

There was some hint from Wallbridge himself that he had inside information that
would not look too good for Xavier or the Jesuits were it to find its way into the newspapers.

This case raises some questions .

What was the nature of the complaints against Wallbridge ?
What investigation was done to explore any damage to individuals and what reparation was made?
Were the parents at the time informed or was the matter hushed up?
What information did Wallbridge have that was potentially damaging?

Bill Uren SJ (Provincial at the time) and former Rector of Newman College Melbourne Uni have the answers to these questions.

The Age article January 26, 2020
Australian Jesuits confirmed it had co-operated with a police investigation into Mr Wallbridge last year.
The organisation handed information and documents regarding the former priest and principal to police investigators.
It is not known whether the investigation was pursued further.
♦ Xavier College grapples with historical sex abuse claims


Other former students say:
From: ajania Wednesday 12th of February 2020 08:22:24 PM
when I was in year 10 1982 father Walbridge said to me - AJANI DO YOU LIKE SUCKING PE.....SES
I told my mother and father when I returned home that day
my father in particular was distraught (the late TED AJANI) and challenged the school at the highest level that evening, i nearly changed schools my mother now 82 years old told me about this today
I was so shocked, i have no recollection of this at all....its amazing what your mind will blank out, and why it must be so hard for abuse victims to give evidence from the distant past.....
my mind/memory was trying to protect me over all those years .........

From: Fitz Monday 27th of January 2020 11:47:17 AM
Wallbridge was a nasty person....loved his puny power over kids and was always pretending to be someone you could trust..... never liked him.
I always used to laugh to myself seeing these Holy men in their big gowns during Mass when you knew how nuts they were.

From: Ex Student Monday 27th of January 2020 11:06:55 AM
My recollections of Wallbridge are thankfully not anything he did to me personally but of him inflicting real physical pain on students in his classes.
He was a very cruel man, seemingly taking pleasure in hurting kids. In French class, he would ask a question of a student.
If you hesitated, he would pretend to handball a football high in the air and walk towards you. As you panicked and tried to answer, he would go behind you, grip the area above your shoulder blades near your neck and squeeze.
Kids would end up writhing on the ground in agony.
A nasty piece of work.


from: Ex Student 17 February 2020
I wanted to also say that Phi Wallbridge also ran "retreats' for students at Xavier College.
I went away with one of my brothers on such and similar to what was reported by an ex-student at St Aloysius in 1989 occurred that weekend.
I cannot remember the location (1 night away) specifically but was in 1988.
The wording below from the page seems almost word for word from what I remember:
"He ran retreats /camps for boys of various ages where they get drunk sat around the lounge on his instructions put their hands down their pants touching themselves while he encouraged them to talk about their sexual fantasies."

Former student:
"I was there when Wallbridge was there. He use to give a class on Religious matters.... I recall him saying that he loved meeting the parent's as he got to see all our Mother's breasts..? ... he was a nasty piece of work as a person....total power freak. "

Former student:
"I remember upstairs on the eastern wing (year 9 or 10 in 1993 or 4 some boys saying how much of a good bloke the principal was, he had taken them to camp Buxton I thought (or imagined) it was definitely an extra special trip and he was a great bloke they said as he had given them alcohol.
Some of the boys were part of a group that bullied me so I didn't really find out more though did think it was very odd at the time given it was illegal to drink under 18 and more so to supply. On school camp at Buxton these same boys terrified me and fir 3 or 4 days I didn't sleep"

An important message I received from a mother:

"I wrote to the principal of Xavier College several years after my son had left the school(1988-1995)
following reports in The Age re historical sexual abuse cases at the school.

My point was that had we parents known in the 80's when we were selecting a school for our boys,
that in fact the much lauded Xavier College for all it's renowned academic reputation was
itself peppered with pedophile staff and disclosed (by their victims) multiple cases of sexual assault,
we would NEVER have considered sending our children to such a school.

I did receive a letter back from the principal who assured me that my letter had been
forwarded to Jesuit Professional Standards and I should expect a formal response from them.
I am still waiting for a reponse some five years later!!!!!

And then to my absolute horror, I read in this morning's Age,
that Phil Wallbridge who was the principal at XC for much of my son's time at Barkers Road campus
was a predator himself and took his life one month ago,
presumably in response to being named for his predatory behaviour.

As a past parent, I am filled with guilt and remorse that I ever subjected my son to ANYTHING AT ALL to do with the Catholic Church!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! "


The wife of Philip Wallbridge (dec.) speaks.
Feb. 6, 2021 THE AGE FORUM
Gradual enlightenment

Bravo, Daniel Comensoli for speaking up – ″⁣Debate on conversion bill reveals hypocrisy″⁣ (Opinion, 3/2).
It is well worth writing on the subject of LGBTIA. We commend you.
The Catholic Church has a long history of inability to deal with matters of sexuality, and many good people have suffered as a result.

One of our family took a brave stand in support of adolescent boys,
some suffering severe mental health issues in dealing with their emerging sexuality. He paid a very high price for his courage.

There are countless tragic stories woven into the fabric of the long journey of suffering, along the route to some enlightened thinking both within some Christian churches and the wider community.
Margaret Scanlon, Carlton North
♦ www.theage.com.au


I don't want to disrespect Margaret Scanlon, she is still suffering from the loss of her husband.
But here we see a common reaction to the awful truth, you create alternate facts and excuses.

"a brave stand in support of adolescent boys" means as Rector of Xavier College he got groups of students together to masturbate with them and talk about sexual fantasies and look at porn.
And also sexually assaulted some boys.
His "high price" was to take his own life when the stories were public and the police were investigating him.
♦ Philip Wallbridge s.j. Biography