Former flock would welcome Casey back, survey finds

BISHOP Eamonn Casey’s former parishioners in the Diocese of Galway would welcome him back, according to a new survey.

The research shows that 10 years on from the revelations that he had a secret lover and son and had spent diocesan funds on them, more than half his former flock don’t even want an explanation from him about his past behaviour.

The same survey found a majority of adults in the diocese were in favour of Catholic priests being allowed to marry and a similar number favoured women being admitted to the priesthood.

The results of the survey, which was conducted among 400 adults by MRBI for TG4, were broadcast by the station last night.

The findings suggest most of the fuss that surrounded Bishop Casey’s shock departure from the Diocese in 1992 has died down and any lingering dissatisfaction with him stems more from his abuse of diocesan funds than his affair.

Just 7% of those surveyed said the bishop, now 75 and living in retirement England after a five-year stint in South America, should not return to Galway under any circumstances.

Of the remainder, most said he should come back to retire, a smaller group felt he should resume an active role as Bishop in Galway and a sizeable percentage would welcome him as an active priest, but not as bishop.

When those surveyed were asked to rate his wrongdoings in terms of seriousness, the most frequent response was his misuse of Church funds. Only one in seven felt the worst aspect of his behaviour was his treatment of his son Peter, now 22, and half that number were most aggrieved at his treatment of former lover, Annie Murphy.

The findings were released as separate research on clerical behaviour revealed most people feel the Catholic Church has mismanaged the problem of paedophile priests.

A study commissioned by the Bishops Committee on Child Protection found 77% of the 1,000 people questioned were critical of the Church’s handling of clerical child sex abuse and 94% felt the Church was damaged by the issue.

Most of those surveyed, 84%, said the Church had not adequately informed them about abuser priests and, of the 93% who said they believed in God, 36% said their religious practices had been damaged as a result of the controversy.

The study is part of an ongoing programme of research being carried out by a team from the Department of Psychology at the Royal College of Surgeons of Ireland on behalf of the Bishops.

They are also conducting surveys among survivors of clerical abuse, the clergy in general and priests and religious who have been convicted of abuse and their families. The collective results are due to be published late next spring