Eamonn Casey


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

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]

  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. ^ a b 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.