Bishop Casey traced to Mexican village

THE FORMER Bishop of Galway, Eamonn Casey, whose affair with an American woman scandalised the Roman Catholic Church in Ireland, has been traced to a convent in a remote village on the border between Mexico and Guatemala.

Irish and American nuns working in the area were apparently unaware of his presence. The 66-year-old cleric left Ireland suddenly last May when his affair with Annie Murphy, by whom he has an 18-year-old son, became public. After staying with a priest in Orlando, Florida, Dublin newspapers several months ago reported he had moved to Mexico.

According to the Irish Independent, he is learning Spanish in preparation for missionary work in South America. Gordon Thomas, a thriller writer, and a photographer went in search of him when interest in the affair was reawakened by Ms Murphy's appearance on an Irish televison chat show last weekend.

They met the bishop emerging from a restaurant and presented him with a copy of Forbidden Fruit, Ms Murphy's book about the affair, and a videotape of her television appearance. He is reported to have rejected both.

According to the Dublin newspaper, Bishop Casey was unhappy at the appearance of friends and relatives on The Late Late Show, which fuelled interest in the book. Friends in Ireland to whom he spoke by telephone this week told the paper he was annoyed at his whereabouts being discovered.

Bishop Casey, whose fondness for the good life was legendary in Galway, was said to be thinner and to have grown a white beard. He returned to Ireland briefly at Christmas, but escaped publicity by flying in via Belfast.

Ms Murphy appeared on a Good Friday edition of an Ulster Television chat show, attracting the fury of churchmen.