The Archbishop of Dublin, Dr Diarmuid Martin, yesterday paid tribute to the work of Irish missionaries abroad and the positive message this indicated about the Irish Catholic Church in the past.
"There must have been something good about it in that it inspired so many to spend their lives helping less fortunate peoples abroad."
He spoke in particular of Irish women missionaries helping so practically to deal with issues of real poverty where women and children were concerned.
Dr Martin was speaking yesterday at Archbishop's House in Drumcondra at the launch of a book, Beyond Faith and Adventure, which looks at the work of Irish missionaries in Nigeria.
Its author, Irene Lynch, conducted over 50 interviews with Irish missionaries working in Nigeria about their work.
Dr Martin remarked on the hostility that they had to overcome and went on to note their happiness in their work. "They just did it," he said.
In a foreword to the book, President McAleese praised "the enormous contribution to the physical, spiritual and economic well-being of so many people" made by Irish missionaries.
In Nigeria alone, by the early 1960s "over 2,000 Irish priests and nuns worked in often difficult and dangerous conditions in all parts of the country".
It is Ms Lynch's second book. Her first, Treasures of Our Elders - Words of Wisdom, was published in Nigeria in 2002.
She spoke warmly yesterday of Digicel's Denis O'Brien, who sponsored her new book, and Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Conor Lenihan, who supported it.