‘He was a great soul, behind it all’

FRIEND AND CONFIDANT FR PAT AHERN RECALLS AN ‘AMAZING’ MAN

IT was a donation from a wealthy American woman that enabled Eamonn Casey to get back on his feet through missionary work at the outset of his long exile, friend Fr Pat Ahern told The Kerryman this week.

It was one of many revelations Bishop Casey shared in a series of interviews conducted by Fr Ahern at his Shanaglish home in recent years and covering his life and times, including the controversy that rocked the country in 1992.

“He was destitute and very alone while staying at a monastery in the US when this American woman made an extraordinary donation out of pity for his plight,” Fr Ahern told The Kerryman this week.

“But typical of his generosity he spent every penny of it among the poor of the community he was working in in Ecuador, building a school and refurbishing a church.”

Fr Ahern recalled an ‘amazing man of an amazing attitude’ this week. “But for him Siamsa would not be there today. He brought me down from Dublin in 1973 to establish the theatre and was, with Brendan O’Regan of Bord Fáilte the main driving force behind it.

“When I protested that I should be a priest of the Diocese, he would simply say ‘this is your parish now’,” Fr Ahern recalled.

The Moyvane native later helped Bishop Casey prepare for the Pope’s Galway racecourse visit. “He was incredible to watch in action, organising everything with absolute professionalism.

“I know a lot of us in the clergy felt the Bishops deserted him in the end....None of us are perfect, but behind his imperfections he was a great soul, a man of great vision.”