Eamonn Casey

Eamonn Casey (24 April 1927 – 13 March 2017) was an Irish Catholic prelate who served as bishop of Galway and Kilmacduagh in Ireland from 1976 to 1992. His resignation in 1992, after it was revealed he had had an affair with an American woman, Annie Murphy, was a pivotal moment in Ireland's relationship with the Catholic church.[1]

The Most Reverend

Eamonn Casey
Bishop Emeritus of Galway and Kilmacduagh
DioceseGalway
Appointed21 July 1976
Term ended6 May 1992
PredecessorMichael Browne
SuccessorJames McLoughlin
Orders
Ordination17 June 1951 (Priest)
Consecration9 November 1969
by Gaetano Alibrandi
Personal details
Born(1927-04-24)24 April 1927
Firies, County Kerry, Ireland
Died13 March 2017(2017-03-13) (aged 89)
Newmarket-on-Fergus, County Clare, Ireland
NationalityIrish
DenominationRoman Catholic
Children1
Previous post(s)Bishop of Kerry (1969–1976)

Subsequently, a number of women made allegations against Casey that they were sexually abused by him, two of whom received compensation following a High Court trial. One of the women, his niece Patricia Donovan, alleged in 2019 that she was repeatedly raped by Casey when she was five years old and assaulted sexually by him for more than a decade.[2] The Irish Times newspaper described Casey as "a sexist hypocrite",[3] The Herald reports that he "liked fast cars... and was banned for drink driving",[4] and numerous outlets reported on his fraudulent use of church funds amounting to hundreds of thousands of pounds.[3][5][6]

Priest and bishop

Casey was born on 24 April 1927 in Firies, County Kerry.[7] He was educated in Limerick before training for the priesthood at St Patrick's College, Maynooth.[7] Casey was ordained a priest for the Diocese of Limerick on 17 June 1951 and appointed Bishop of Kerry on 17 July 1969.[8]

He held this position until 1976, when he was appointed Bishop of Galway and Kilmacduagh[9][7] and apostolic administrator of Kilfenora.[10] While in Galway, Casey was seen as a progressive.[11] It was a significant change in a diocese that had been led for nearly forty years by the very conservative Michael Browne (Bishop from 1937 to 1976).[12]

Casey was highly influential in the Irish Catholic hierarchy, and served as bishop until his resignation in 1992.[9][7] He was a friend and colleague of another highly prominent Irish priest, Father Michael Cleary.[13]

Views

Irish emigrants

Casey worked aiding Irish emigrants in Britain. In addition, he supported the Dunnes Stores' staff who were locked out from 1982 to 1986 for refusing to sell goods from apartheid South Africa.[14]

US foreign policy

Casey attended the funeral of the murdered Archbishop of San Salvador, Monsignor Óscar Romero.[15] He witnessed first hand the massacre of those attending the funeral by government forces.[15] He then became a vocal opponent of United States foreign policy in Central America, and, as a result, opposed the 1984 visit of United States President Ronald Reagan to Ireland, refusing to meet him when he came to Galway.[15][14]

Sexual and financial scandal, and forced resignation

In 1992 it was reported that, despite the vow of chastity undertaken by Catholic clergy, Casey had had a sexual relationship in the early 1970s with American woman Annie Murphy.[16] When Murphy became pregnant, Casey was determined that the child should be given up for adoption in order to avoid any scandal for himself or the Catholic church. By contrast, Murphy was determined to accept responsibility for her child, and she returned to the United States with their son, Peter, who was born in 1974 in Dublin. Casey made covert payments for the boy's maintenance; these payments were fraudulently made from diocesan funds and channeled through intermediaries.[17] In order to continue the cover up of his affair with Murphy and his fraudulent activities, Casey refused to develop a relationship with his son, or acknowledge him. Murphy was very disappointed by this, and in the early 1990s contacted The Irish Times to tell the truth about Casey's hypocrisy and deception.[9][15] Having been exposed, Casey reluctantly admitted that he had "sinned" and wronged the boy, his mother and "God, his church and the clergy and people of the dioceses of Galway and Kerry", and his embezzlement of church funds.[15] He was forced to resign as bishop, and fled the country under a cloud of scandal. Murphy published a book, Forbidden Fruit, in 1993 revealing the truth of their relationship and the son she bore by Casey, exposing the institutional level of hypocrisy, moral corruption and misogyny within the Irish Catholic Church.[18]

At a conference for Cherish (an Irish Catholic charity established to support unmarried mothers), Casey said "“It is difficult to understand how the total rejection of their child . . . could be reconciled with Christian love and forgiveness.".[3] Yet of his own son, he told Murphy "He is not my son. He’s entirely yours now."[3]

Casey was ordered by the Vatican to leave Ireland, and became a missionary alongside members of the Missionary Society of St. James in a rural parish in Ecuador, whose language, Spanish, he did not speak. During this time, he travelled long distances to reach the widely scattered members of his parish, but did not travel to meet his own son. After his missionary position was completed, Casey took a position in the parish of St. Pauls, Haywards Heath, in south-east England.[19]

In 2005, Casey was investigated in conjunction with the sexual abuse scandal in Galway, Kilmacduagh and Kilfenora diocese, and cleared of any wrongdoing.[16] In 2019, it emerged that Casey had faced at least three accusations of sexual abuse before his death, with two High Court cases being settled.[20][21][22] The Kerry diocese confirmed that it had received allegations against him, that Gardaí and health authorities had been informed and that the person concerned was offered support by the diocese.[23]

Casey was succeeded by his secretary, James McLoughlin,[24] who served in the post until his own retirement on 3 July 2005.[25]

He returned to Ireland in 2006 with his reputation in tatters, and was not permitted to say Mass in public.[19]

He is the subject of Martin Egan's song "Casey", sung by Christy Moore.[26] He is also the subject of the Saw Doctors' song "Howya Julia".[27]

Illness and death

In August 2011, Casey, in poor health, was admitted to a nursing home in County Clare.[19] He died on 13 March 2017, a month before his 90th birthday. He is interred in Galway cathedral's crypt.[7][9]

References
  1. Murphy, Catherine (28 January 2012). "Annie Murphy: The woman who rocked the church - 20 years on". Irish Independent. Retrieved 3 April 2020.
  2. Ainsworth, Paul (25 March 2019). "Niece of disgraced Bishop Eamonn Casey claims he abused her from age of five". Irish News. Retrieved 3 April 2020.
  3. Ferriter, Diarmaid (18 March 2017). "Bishop Casey – activist and sexist hypocrite". Irish Times.
  4. "Obituary - Eamonn Casey, bishop who became embroiled in scandal". Scottish Herald. 14 March 2017.
  5. Smith, Sean (14 March 2017). "Eamonn Casey, the bishop whose scandal changed the church in Ireland, dies aged 89". The Tablet.
  6. Ferriter, Diarmaid (9 July 2010). Occasions of Sin: Sex and Society in Modern Ireland. Profile Books. ISBN 978-1847652584.
  7. "Former Bishop of Galway Eamon Casey dies". BBC. 13 March 2017. Retrieved 14 March 2017.
  8. "Bishop Eamonn Casey". Catholic-Hierarchy.org. David M. Cheney. Retrieved 21 January 2015.
  9. "Eamonn Casey, former bishop of Galway, dies aged 89". The Irish Times. 13 March 2017. Retrieved 14 March 2017.
  10. The Catholic Directory of England and Wales. Hierarchy. 1981. p. 19.
  11. Arnold, Mavis; Laskey, Heather (2012). Children of the Poor Clares: The Collusion between Church and State that Betrayed Thousands of Children in Ireland's Industrial Schools. Trafford Publishing. p. 214. ISBN 9781466909038.
  12. Sheehy, Clodagh (13 March 2017). "Profile: The larger than life Bishop at the centre of a scandal that rocked Ireland". Irish Independent. Retrieved 14 March 2017.
  13. "In the Name of the Father". RTÉ One. 13 March 2017. Retrieved 14 March 2017.
  14. "The late Eamon Casey, Firies, Bishop of Kerry 1969 – 1976". The Maine Valley Post. 13 March 2017. Retrieved 14 March 2017.
  15. "Obituary: Eamonn Casey". The Irish Times. 13 March 2017. Retrieved 14 March 2017.
  16. McDonald, Brian (30 August 2006). "Casey cleared of sex claim by gardai". Irish Independent. Retrieved 14 March 2017.
  17. "Obituary - Eamonn Casey, bishop who became embroiled in scandal".
  18. Annie Murphy, Peter de Rosa; Forbidden Fruit: the true story of my secret love for the Bishop of Galway (1993); ISBN 978-0-316-90573-2
  19. Hamilton, Andrew (31 August 2011). "Casey admitted to nursing home". Irish Examiner. Retrieved 30 September 2016.
  20. "Exclusive: Bishop Eamonn Casey Accused Of Rape Of His Niece, 5". Extra.ie. 24 March 2019.
  21. "No charges against Casey despite his niece's claims he sexually abused her". Irish Independent. 25 March 2019. Retrieved 27 March 2019.
  22. McGarry, Patsy (25 March 2019). "Bishop Eamonn Casey accused of sexually abusing three women as children". The Irish Times. Retrieved 27 March 2019.
  23. Gleeson, Colin; McGarry, Patsy (26 March 2019). "Allegation of historical abuse against Eamonn Casey confirmed by Kerry diocese". The Irish Times. Retrieved 27 March 2019.
  24. "Abuse allegations against three active priests in Galway diocese". TheJournal.ie. 24 April 2013. Retrieved 14 March 2017.
  25. "Former Bishop of Galway dies, aged 76". Raidió Teilifís Éireann. 26 November 2005. Retrieved 14 March 2017.
  26. "Controversial bishop Eamonn Casey has died aged 89". TheJournal.ie. 13 March 2017. Retrieved 14 March 2017.
  27. Clegg, Rachael (13 December 2012). "Doctors so far Saw good". The Star. Archived from the original on 15 March 2017. Retrieved 14 March 2017.

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