SYDNEY — A senior member of Australia’s Catholic Church has stepped down from his post after being charged with sexually assaulting a student decades ago.

The Catholic Military Ordinariate of Australia said on Monday that Bishop Max Davis is accused of abusing a student in 1969 when he was a teacher at St. Benedict’s College in Western Australia. Davis is now the head of the church’s military diocese in Australia.

Western Australia police said they charged a 68-year-old man on Friday with indecently assaulting a 13-year-old boy. 

Davis has denied the charges and stepped down from his post while the court deals with the case. He will appear in a Perth court on July 25.