(IRELAND)
Sunday World [Dublin, Ireland]
August 8, 2024
By Sinead Kelleher
A Kerry priest feels so strongly about the child sex abuse allegations against former Bishop Eamon Casey that he has ripped up some of his most precious possessions – the 50-year-old photos showing his ordination by Casey, who was then Bishop of Kerry.
Fr Patsy Lynch was ordained by the then Bishop on June 9, 1974, but following the revelations in recent weeks about Eamonn Casey he no longer wants to recall what was once his proudest moment.
“Why would I keep a picture of sexual predator?” he said.
“I know what I have done and I have done the right thing.”
The RTÉ documentary Bishop Casey’s Buried Secrets, filmed in conjunction with the Irish Mail, revealed that at least five child sexual abuse allegations were made against Bishop Casey, including one in Kerry.
Among the complainants was his niece Patricia Donovan who made her complaint to Gardaí in the UK and Ireland. She first went public in 2019, and spoke about the abuse on camera for the first time in an RTÉ documentary last week revealing that he first raped her when she was five years old.
“What was done to Patricia at the age of five and it went on and on and no remorse whatsoever,” said Fr Lynch.
“I thought about it and prayed about it for a week but the image of Patricia telling her story, a child of five being raped and raped .. It was the nail in the coffin for me.”
He said that everyone knew about his affair with Annie Murphy but the further allegations last week ‘horrified’ him.
“We knew about Annie but a girl of five … Annie was vulnerable at the time they were all vulnerable.”
Nobody from the church hierarchy has contacted Fr Lynch about his dramatic gesture, but he said the public and other priests have expressed support and praised his stance. He said the church needs to show leadership on these revelations.
“Where are the priests and Bishops? They are all afraid, they think it will go away.”
“The church has to address what this man has done.”
While the Catholic Church is ‘considering’ removing the remains of the late bishop Eamonn Casey from the Galway Cathedral following revelations of sexual abuse Fr Lynch said they must do so immediately