In his homily at a Mass in St Kieran’s College for priests celebrating their ordination jubilees, the Bishop of Ossory stressed that the kingdom of God does not come about by “being passive”.

There is “little sense of mission within the Catholic Church in Ireland” and no sense of what that mission should be, Bishop Dermot Farrell tells conference in Kilkenny.

As head of the diplomatic corps in Ethiopia at the time of the famine, Archbishop Thomas White was responsible for coordinating the contributions of many countries and charities in support of those who were starving.