Sir, – Permit me to make a few comments on your reports on the death of an old friend, Bishop Eamonn Casey. I was sorry to read of his death but he had been suffering that dreadful dementia, Alzheimer’s, for some years.
Back in the 1950s I knew him well. As Fr Eamonn Casey, he was a sort of chaplain to the Irish Catholic churches in west London and lived in Camden Town. I was a sort of ambassador of Aer Lingus London to them; we got a lot of business from them at that time, so we met frequently.
Your obituary has him in Limerick at that time but I can assure you he was in London. We both loved fast cars and each owned a second hand one. I recall on one famous occasion we raced each other down the Shepherd’s Bush Road, even then busy but not the clogged up artery it is today. Unfortunately he was stopped by the cops and taken to court. I managed to escape but learned my lesson!
I lost touch with him when he was promoted to Bishop of Kerry and subsequently to Galway, but wasn’t unduly surprised when Annie Murphy fell in love with him – he was a charming and wonderful person. Obviously he had to be banished; the church will one day allow priests to marry, but not in my lifetime. I never met Annie or their son, but I saw Annie on The Late Late Show, where there was an unfortunate misunderstanding of one of Gay Byrne’s statements – a pity.
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Anyhow, I am so glad I knew Eamonn. I realise he broke a basic rule of his profession, but as the old Irish expression goes: he was “a gentleman and a judge of whisky”! Ar dheis Dé . . . – Yours, etc,
W J MURPHY,
Malahide,
Co Dublin.
Sir, – Many of us who lived and worked in London from mid 1960s will be deeply saddened by the death of Eamonn Casey whom we got to know and love.
He was deeply astute – an active businessman, organising building contracts; always wore a sheepskin coat, but like some friends who continued into the church he shared an ingenuousness, and a trust in people. Many do not comprehend the stature of the man.
He married us in Quex Road Church off the Essex Road, and was amused at my indifference to religion. There was a mild hostility to the “piosity” which was endemic in many of those in his parish who described themselves as “Irish immigrants”.
He boasted that he was from the Kingdom of Kerry, which he sought to persuade me made him superior to “The Men of Ulster”.
We met, among others, Bruce Kendric of Shelter, with whom he discussed the problems of the homeless. Few remember that he was a founder member of Trócaire. A lot of people who came back to Ireland prospered as a result of selling their properties in London in boom times.
He set up a system by gathering people within the building trade, whereby they would work their way through improving streets that were essentially run down.
People could rent these properties, but a margin of that rent was put by as a saving, whereby when it built up to a certain level it was anticipated that they could then afford to initiate a mortgage.
We tried to contact him in later years without success. – Yours, etc,
MALACHY McANESPIE,
Former Chair Green Party Northern Ireland, Belfast.