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Casey hopes to celebrate anniversary of return by celebrating Mass E-mail
Written by John Fallon   
Wednesday, 03 January 2007
Dr Eamonn Casey is hopeful that he will be able to celebrate the first anniversary of moving into his new home in south Galway by being able to say Mass.
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Friends of the former Bishop and parishioners in Shanaglish had been hopeful that Dr Casey would have been cleared to say Mass for Christmas.However, it has been confirmed that a four-month Vatican investigation into allegations of abuse are still ongoing and Dr Casey is forbidden from saying Mass in public until that concludes.

A spokesman for the Diocese of Galway said that the inquiry was still ongoing, and there was no change in the situation regarding Dr Casey.

"It is being conducted from Rome and it is still ongoing," the spokesman confirmed.

Because of the continuing inquiry, Dr Casey has been unable to celebrate Mass in the parish church alongside his residence.

The former Bishop of Galway has been confined to saying Mass in a room at his home where a simple altar has been set up and it was there that he celebrated Mass on Christmas Day.

Afterwards Dr Casey went to spend some time with relatives.

Since his arrival back in Galway last February, Dr Casey has kept a relatively low profile. Fears that he would be bombarded by the media on his return to Ireland have not materialised.

The Vatican probe is part of a procedure that follows complaints by a woman over a year ago.

The Director of Public Prosecutions has already decided not to bring charges against Dr Casey arising from the complaint made by a woman in November 2005.

The woman, a native of Limerick, but who lives in the UK, made the allegations about incidents she said happened over 30 years ago.
 
A full Garda investigation, headed up by detectives in Limerick City, resulted in the DPP opting not to take the matter any further.

It is understood that the woman who made the allegations had made similar unsubstantiated complaints against other people in the past. Dr Casey is said to have been deeply offended by the allegations.

Following the DPP decision, it was announced that an internal church inquiry would be carried out in accordance with Catholic Church policy.

A decision will be made about re-admitting Dr Casey to full ministry following this inquiry.

He arrived back in Ireland last February and, at the invitation of Dr Martin Drennan, Bishop of Galway, has been living in the priest's residence alongside the parish church in Shanaglish just south of Gort.

He had spent recent years working as a chaplain in the diocese of Arundel and Brighton in the UK. Dr Casey had taken up that position following six years of missionary work in Ecuador where he went following his sudden departure from his Galway diocese in 1992.

He had fled to South America when news of his relationship with US woman Annie Murphy and their son Peter broke in the media.   

It had been hoped in south Galway that Dr Casey would finally be able to celebrate Mass in the local parish church as a gesture of thanks for the unrestrained welcome he had received from local people.

The hope now is that the way will be cleared for him to do so by the first anniversary of him moving to Shanaglish in February.


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