Disclaimer: This article mentions child sexual abuse. Reader discretion is advised.
RTÉ and The Mail’s documentary Bishop Casey’s Buried Secrets aired on Monday, July 22, 2024. It exposes the child sexual abuse allegations against former Bishop of Galway Eamonn Casey. He hit the headlines in 1992 when it was revealed he had a child with an American woman, Annie Murphy, in the early 1970s.
Per the Irish Examiner, the documentary reveals that four complaints of childhood sexual abuse were received against Bishop Casey, along with one additional “child safeguarding concern.” It is further revealed that the Vatican had secretly banned the Bishop from celebrating mass publicly in 2007. Although he denied the allegations, the ban continued for the last 10 years of Casey’s life. The bishop passed away in 2017 at the age of 89.
What are the allegations against late Bishop Eamonn Casey?
One of Bishop Casey’s accusers, his niece, Patricia Donovan, has come forward to detail the horrifying ordeal in the documentary. She claimed that Casey started raping her when she was just five, reported BBC. However, the abuse continued for years. RTÉ has exposed that the first child abuse allegation against the former Bishop of Galway was made in 2001. It pre-dated the complaint made by his niece.
While Casey was working as a curate in the UK Diocese of Arundel and Brighton, an unnamed woman brought her complaint to the Diocese of Limerick. Although the Limerick Diocese forwarded the complaint to the UK diocese and the Vatican, the British police were not notified. RTÉ also revealed that the Arundel and Brighton Diocese has confirmed the complaint against Casey “was inexplicably lost.” The bishop continued in active ministry for four more years before getting formally removed in 2007 by the Vatican.
In the documentary, Donovan spoke on the “horror of being raped by him,” per BBC. She shared that Casey “had no fear of being caught.” She continued, “He thought he could do what he liked, when he liked, how he liked.” Donovan further shared that Casey was “almost, like, incensed that I would dare fight against him. She continued, “that I would dare try and hurt him, I would dare try and stop him. It didn’t make any difference.”
The Irish Times reported that the former chief executive of the National Board for Safeguarding Children in the Irish Catholic Church, Ian Elliott, said the claims against the former Bishop were “entirely credible.” The Director of Public Prosecutions didn’t prosecute Casey as he had denied the allegations, according to BBC. He continued as a bishop until his death.
