The remains of a former Irish bishop have been removed from their burial place in Galway Cathedral in the wake of a number of allegations of child abuse that came to light in 2024. Source: OSV News.
Bishop Eamonn Casey of Galway, who resigned from office in 1992 after it was revealed he had fathered a child in 1974, is the first Irish bishop to undergo such public censure.
The move follows a year-long consultation in the diocese in the west of Ireland.
Bishop Casey died on March 13, 2017, at age 89. He served as bishop of Galway (1976-1992) and as bishop of Kerry (1969-1976).
He was buried in the crypt of the Cathedral of Our Lady Assumed into Heaven and St. Nicholas in Galway in 2017 after a funeral Mass concelebrated by 11 bishops and 61 priests.
On July 19, a spokesperson for the Diocese of Galway, Kilmacduagh and Kilfenora, Fr Diarmuid Hogan, announced in a statement that the remains of the disgraced bishop had been removed after a “significant consensus emerged around the unique role of a cathedral as a place of unity rather than division, healing rather than hurt and peace rather than disquiet”.
The removal was done, he said, with the assent and cooperation of members of the late bishop’s family and following prayers for the dead.
Fr Hogan said the Casey family had expressed the wish that the former bishop’s final resting place remain private.
Once one of Ireland’s most charismatic bishops, Bishop Casey’s fall from grace began with the revelation in 1992 of his affair with US-born Annie Murphy and the birth of their son, Peter. The disclosure rocked Ireland and caused him to flee to the United States.
After living in Ecuador and England, in 2006, Bishop Casey returned to the Galway Diocese with the permission of Bishop Martin Drennan. He was not allowed to exercise his ministry in public, and most people believed the stricture related to his affair with Murphy and his misappropriation of diocesan funds for his son’s upkeep.
In fact, the Vatican at this stage had already received two allegations of child sexual abuse concerning him and had restricted his ministry. This was never publicly known in his lifetime.
A July 2024 documentary alleged that the Vatican investigated the disgraced prelate before he died over allegations concerning five people, including his own niece.
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Former Irish bishop’s remains removed from cathedral amid abuse allegations (By Sarah Mac Donald, OSV News)
