Galway Cathedral removes remains of Bishop Eamonn Casey

The remains of Bishop Eamonn Casey, former Bishop of Galway and Kilmacduagh, have been removed from Galway Cathedral, the diocese has confirmed.

Casey was forced to resign as Bishop of Galway and Kilmacduagh in 1992 after it was revealed that he had fathered a child with an American woman, Annie Murphy. The situation gained national prominence and became a watershed moment in the relationship between Ireland and the Catholic Church, which had enjoyed an unrivalled position of moral and spiritual authority until events such as these began to erode its reputation.

Casey’s child had been born in 1974, eighteen years before the public revelations. Casey had initially wanted the child put up for adoption, but when the mother decided to raise the child herself, he began to make covert payments for the child's maintenance—drawn fraudulently from diocesan funds.

Following the 1992 revelations, he was sent to Ecuador to serve in the missions alongside members of the Missionary Society of St James. He later took a position at the parish of St Paul’s in Haywards Heath, in the Diocese of Arundel and Brighton, before returning to Ireland in 2006, where he was barred from public ministry.

From 2001, various accusations of sexual abuse were made against Casey, including from his niece, who alleged that he had raped her as a child. A review into the case has since been completed, and no further investigative actions have been identified.

The Diocese of Galway decided to remove his remains after a period of “reflection and consultation” which began last July.

The Galway Diocesan Office said that they would “like to thank everyone for their understanding of the situation, for their patience and for their respect as this process was undertaken and brought to a conclusion,” adding, “we pray that God will continue to draw all those who have been affected by this matter into his healing love.”

Casey is the first senior cleric in Ireland to be disinterred following posthumous concerns about his conduct. His remains have been returned to his family