Eamon Casey, who has died aged 89,
was a high profile and charismatic member of the Irish Catholic
hierarchy when he was embroiled in a scandal leading to his resignation
as Bishop of Galway 25 years ago.
The revelation, in May 1992, that
he was the father of a teenage son, following an affair with an American
woman when he was Bishop of Kerry in the 1970s, shocked the church and
many of its followers and led to international media coverage.
Although its decline had begun at
the time, the church was a much more powerful institution than it is
today. It was part of an Ireland with no divorce and no same-sex
marriage, while the scandals involving clerical and institutional abuse
had yet to emerge.
‘Personal reasons’
It was against this background Casey resigned for “personal reasons’’, following the revelation in The Irish Times he had been making payments to a woman in Connecticut over a 15-year period.
She was Annie Murphy, the daughter
of an American friend of the bishop, who had come to stay with Casey in
Kerry in 1973 to recover from a painful divorce.
The affair began in the bishop’s house in Inch, in west Kerry, and their son Peter was born in 1974.
Casey was adamant he should be
adopted, but Murphy resisted the strong pressure he put on her and
returned to America with the infant.
Although he made payments towards
his son’s upkeep, he steadfastly refused to develop a relationship with
him.
This was a bitter disappointment to Murphy, who in the early 1990s telephoned The Irish Times to reveal the story and set off a chain of events leading to Casey’s resignation.
In a statement following the
resignation, Casey admitted he was Peter Murphy’s father and that he had
wronged the boy and his mother. “I have sinned grievously against God,
his church and the clergy and people of the dioceses of Galway and
Kerry,’’ he added.
He also confirmed that a sum of
70,000 Irish punts was taken, on his instruction, from a reserve fund in
the Galway diocese to be paid to Murphy. He said he had always intended
repaying the money, which had been made good by several donors since
his resignation.
The bishop went to Rome to resign, returned briefly to
Galway, and then fled to America where he went into hiding.
Learn Spanish
He later moved to Mexico to learn
Spanish, worked as a missionary priest in Ecuador and in an English
parish before returning to retire to Galway 14 years later.
He spent recent years in a nursing home in Co Clare, battling illness.
Eamon Casey was born in Firies,
near Farranfore, Co Kerry, on April 23rd 1927, the second son of a
family of five sons and five daughters. The family later moved to Adare,
Co Limerick, where his father, John Casey, managed the local creamery.
The Caseys were steeped in the Catholic ethos, with a daily routine of
Mass and the rosary and, on some Sundays, a second Mass. John Casey was a
devout authoritarian, who instilled a work ethic in his children.
At a time of Catholic fervour, and
abundant vocations, it was no surprise when two of the boys opted for
the priesthood – Eamon for the Limerick diocese and Micheal in
Australia.
Eamon Casey entered St Patrick’s College, Maynooth in 1944
and was ordained in 1951.
His outgoing personality and
informality as a young curate in Limerick in the 1950s marked him out
from some of his more reserved and outwardly pious colleagues.
In 1960, he moved as an emigrant
chaplain to Slough, a dormitory town west of London, at a time when
thousands of people were leaving Ireland every year in search of work.
His social conscience and work
rate, evident in Limerick, soon became apparent in London as he immersed
himself in emigrant life. He became active in the Catholic Housing Aid
Society, moving to London in 1963 to place it on a national footing at
the invitation of Cardinal Heenan, then Archbishop of Westminster.
He participated in a powerful BBC documentary, Cathy Come Home, highlighting homelessness, and in an RTÉ Radharc
documentary which featured his work in London.
He was church star, and a
hero among the Irish in London, when, aged 42 years, he was made Bishop
of Kerry in 1969.
The then president Éamon de Valera
and taoiseach Jack Lynch were among the guests at his consecration in
Killarney cathedral in November of that year. He was a very different
kind of bishop.
Although theologically conservative, his style was
informal, singing songs at social functions and urging people to call
him “Bishop’’ rather than “My Lord’’ which was the standard episcopal
greeting at the time.
He drove his car, usually a
Mercedes or BMW, at speed around his sprawling diocese; he was at ease
with the media, appearing on RTÉ’s The Late Late Show and
establishing a rapport with the then presenter, Gay Byrne.
He organised
social services for the poor, made provision for young people and the
aged, and involved himself in economic and political matters when they
impacted on his diocese and its people.
Hugely popular
He was hugely popular, although
some older priests frowned on his breezy style. While bishop of Kerry,
he oversaw the renovation of the interior of the Pugin-designed
Killarney cathedral, which included the removal of many of the interior
features and Pugin-designed tiles.
It was a controversial decision among
parishioners.
He liked to get his own way and
was known to be a disciplinarian with young priests, although he gave
them greater autonomy in their parishes.
He had a fondness for fine
wines and dining and, some clergy and laity felt, an excess of foreign
travel.
But nobody doubted his commitment to the marginalised and the
welfare of his people.
He set up the bishops’ third world
charity agency, Trócaire, and campaigned against poverty and for human
rights. His transfer to Galway in 1976 was a surprise, given bishops
generally remained in the diocese to which they were appointed at the
time.
He showed the same pastoral
commitment as in Kerry, placing a strong emphasis on accommodation for
Travellers. The highlight of his episcopal career was welcoming Pope
John Paul II to Galway during his visit to Ireland in 1979.
He became increasingly vocal on
international human rights and represented the Irish bishops at the
funeral in 1980 of Archbishop Oscar Romero, who had been murdered while
saying Mass in San Salvador.
Casey feared for his life as he
witnessed a riot, provoked by the Salvadorean military, in which 60
people were killed.
Four years later, he boycotted a ceremony in Galway,
in which the then US president Ronald Reagan received an honorary
doctorate, because of the country’s foreign policy.
Casey pointedly
presided at a confirmation ceremony in the Galway Gaeltacht as the
president was feted.
Excess alcohol
In 1986, he issued a letter of
apology to the people of Galway after he was arrested for driving with
excess alcohol in London. He won praise for his candour and humility.
He
had always said to friends he would finish his priestly life on the
missions, but nobody anticipated the circumstances which brought this
ambition to a premature head.
His early visits to Ireland,
following his resignation, attracted considerable media attention and
annoyed and embarrassed some of the bishops. He forged a relationship
with his son, Peter, meeting him privately in the United States.
He made no public comment on Annie Murphy’s memoir, Forbidden Fruit,
dealing with their affair. When he finally returned to live in Ireland
in June 2006, retiring to Shanaglish, Co Galway, he was 78 years old and
in failing health.
He made a brief statement to the
media, expressing regret for letting a number of people down. “It caused
great hurt to some and, for that, I am deeply regretful and sad,’’ he
added.
He fitted well into the local community, living quietly before
illness finally forced him to enter a nursing home.
He died on Monday afternoon, having spent recent years in a nursing home in Co Clare, battling illness.