Many Irish people, including those who cannot afford homes, experience a sense of exile without even leaving the country, members of the judiciary and lawyers have been told.
Refugees from other countries and homeless young people sleeping rough also felt they did not belong, said the president of Clonliffe College, Father Peter Briscoe.
"Our striving for justice needs to be focused on making all in our country feel they belong here," he said.
At a Mass at St Michan's Catholic Church to mark the beginning of the Michaelmas law term, Father Briscoe said Irish people were familiar with the experience of exile and even though many emigrants were now beginning to return, there were still people who had to go away.
Father Briscoe said: "Each of us is called to a special concern to remedy the sense of exile of those who do not feel they belong or have a real home in our society, whether they be refugees from other lands, or our own homeless."
The congregation included the Chief Justice, Mr Justice Hamilton; the President of the High Court, Mr Justice Morris; the Attorney General, Mr David Byrne SC; the President of the Circuit Court, Mr Justice Esmond Smyth, the President of the District Court, Judge Peter Smithwick, and other members of the judiciary.
Also present were the president of the Law Society , Mr Laurence Shields; and Mr Ruadhan Killeen, president of the Dublin Solicitors' Bar Association.
Members of the diplomatic corps who attended included the Papal Nuncio, Archbishop Storero, the British ambassador, Mrs Veronica Sutherland, and other ambassadors.