At least he wasn’t abusing children, they said. Well...

IT’S hard to believe now how so many people were taken in by that huge, gregarious personality that was Eamonn Casey.

But as Bishop of Kerry in the late Sixties and early Seventies he was master of all he surveyed. He talked a great game on the suffering of Irish emigrants in England and helped set up Trócaire with its support of human rights internationally. He was smart, a gogetter, drove fast cars, loved a bottle of claret and smoked the best cigars.

And then came his dramatic fall in 1992 when it was revealed that, as a result of an affair with Annie Murphy (pictured), he’d fathered a son, Peter – and had conspired to keep it a secret. In one of his more memorable epistles to the people of Kerry he told families to embrace children born out of marriage – while at that same time he’d hidden his own son away in America.

He preached love and kindness – he now stands accused of sexually abusing his own little niece Patricia Donovan, as revealed in last Sunday’s truly shocking report in this newspaper.

All through this sorry saga you had Casey supporters who, reflecting on the huge problems facing the Church, would observe: ‘Well, at least he wasn’t abusing children.’ Now we know.

Casey had many victims, particularly Patricia Donovan and others who accuse him of outrageous, sexual abuse and criminality.

But the many decent people of Kerry, Galway and elsewhere who were fooled by his bogus Christian leadership and sharp humour are victims too for putting their faith in him.

Casey was a hero for many people who needed something to believe in. He turned out to be much worse than a sham and false idol.

The damage he did is incalculable. Faith has been shattered into tiny pieces, never, ever to be put back together again. When you bend it, you can’t mend it.

Clericalism, idolatry and false gods, an absence of independent thought and contempt for ordinary believers provided the stepping stones to the ultimate betrayal of decency by men like Eamonn Casey.