The Most Reverend Eamonn Casey | |
---|---|
Bishop Emeritus of Galway and Kilmacduagh | |
Diocese | Galway |
Appointed | 21 July 1976 |
Term ended | 6 May 1992 |
Predecessor | Michael Browne |
Successor | James McLoughlin |
Previous post(s) | Bishop of Kerry (1969–1976) |
Orders | |
Ordination | 17 June 1951 (Priest) |
Consecration | 9 November 1969 by Gaetano Alibrandi |
Personal details | |
Born | Firies, County Kerry, Ireland | 24 April 1927
Died | 13 March 2017 Newmarket-on-Fergus, County Clare, Ireland | (aged 89)
Buried | Galway Cathedral, Galway, Ireland |
Nationality | Irish |
Denomination | Roman Catholic |
Children | 1 |
Eamonn Casey (24 April 1927 – 13 March 2017) was an Irish Catholic priest 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 significant event in the history of the Irish Catholic Church.[1]
Subsequently, several women accused Casey of sexual abuse, with two receiving 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] Writing in The Irish Times, historian Diarmaid Ferriter 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]