Limerick Diocese open to taking Bishop Eamonn Casey’s remains

LIMERICK Diocese is willing to take the remains of      Bishop Eamonn Casey for burial, revealed the Daily Mail this week, but the diocese has stressed that this decision is not up to them.

The newspaper also revealed that Bishop Casey’s death notice has now been removed online, in line with protocols set out by the Church for clergy removed from ministry due to credible allegations of child sexual abuse.

The RTE documentary, Bishop Casey’s Buried Secrets, in association with the Irish Mail on Sunday and Daily Mail news editor Anne Sheridan, formerly a reporter with the Limerick Leader, aired last month.

It revealed that the former Bishop of Galway had been removed from ministry by the Vatican before 2006 and that the ban was reiterated to him in 2007 after they received multiple allegations of abuse.

Galway Diocese had multiple allegations of child sexual abuse against Bishop Casey on their files when a decision was taken to inter him in the crypt of Galway Cathedral following his death in March 2017.

The Vatican has stressed that they did not get involved in any decisions left to the “local level”.

The programme prompted calls for his removal from the hallowed grounds of the crypt, where other deceased bishops of the diocese have been buried.

The diocese reiterated their previous statement from July 27 last, which outlined: “The interment of the remains of Bishop Casey in the crypt beneath Galway Cathedral is a very sensitive issue that deeply affects people in different ways, and which has different facets. The interment of Bishop Casey in the Cathedral crypt now requires a period of careful consideration and consultation, which has already begun.

“Time and space are required to adequately and appropriately bring this undertaking to completion. We will not be making any further public comment until we are in a position to provide an update,” the diocese said.

Sources have said that a burial in Limerick, where several of his family members have been laid to rest, would be a more appropriate interment.

When asked by the Mail if the Limerick Diocese would be willing to accept his remains to the diocese where he first served in the 1960s, a spokesman said: “This is not a matter for Limerick Diocese to decide but in the event that all relevant parties were to make such a decision, Limerick Diocese would fully cooperate to facilitate such a move.”

Bishop Casey’s late sister Josephine ‘Patsy’ Donovan (nee Casey) was buried in Kilmurry cemetery in Limerick in February 2007.

His brother, also a priest, Fr Michael Casey, who had served in south Perth in Australia for many years, died aged 97 in September 2022 and he was laid to rest in Mount St Lawrence cemetery in Limerick.

Bishop Casey’s nephew, Fr Michael Donovan, also an alleged abuser who was removed from ministry, was also buried in Limerick in 2018.

READ MORE: Diocese ‘reflects’ on Bishop Eamonn Casey's burial in crypt

While Bishop Casey was born in Firies, Co Kerry, his family later moved to Adare, and he was first ordained a priest for the Limerick Diocese, and maintained strong links with the county throughout his life. His father was a creamery manager.

Of the five child abuse allegations made against Bishop Casey, which allegedly occurred over four decades, from the 1950s to the 1980s and in every Irish diocese where he served, three relate to the Limerick diocese.

Bishop Casey consistently denied all the allegations against him. He was never charged or convicted of any sexual crimes and remained a bishop until his death.