The President, Mrs McAleese, and senior clergymen were among the mourners at the funeral yesterday of one the Catholic Church's leading campaigners for social justice in Ireland, retired auxiliary bishop of Dublin Dr James Kavanagh, who died last week aged 88.
Dr Kavanagh was laid to rest at Glasnevin Cemetery following Requiem Mass at the Church of the Holy Child, Whitehall, where he served as parish priest for four years.
Mourners included the Taoiseach's aide-de-camp; the Archbishop of Dublin, Dr Desmond Connell; the Archbishop of Armagh, Dr Sean Brady; retired Church of Ireland archbishop of Dublin, Dr Donal Caird; Dean of Christchurch, the Very Rev John Patterson and Dr Kavanagh's brother Father Mark Kavanagh, a retired Columban father.
Whitehall-based Home Farm AFC, co-founded by Dr Kavanagh, provided an honour guard.
In his homily, Cardinal Connell described Dr Kavanagh as "a man of keen intellect tempered by wisdom".
A popular and influential civil rights campaigner and distinguished academic, he heightened the Church's profile among the disenfranchised and marginalised, Cardinal Connell said.
"As area bishop on Dublin's burgeoning northside, he experienced the conditions of social challenge and change. Always available as pastor and companion, he was beloved of priests, religious and people for his informality, understanding and wisdom.
"He was the friend of leading trade unionists and he helped them discover the richness of the social teaching of the Church. None of this was purely academic, but infused with the pastoral charity which inspired him to champion the cause of the poor."
During his tenure as auxiliary bishop, Dr Kavanagh campaigned for the release of the Birmingham Six and the Guildford Four. He pleaded the case of Travellers, acted as arbitrator in numerous industrial disputes and intervened on behalf of Dublin street sellers, jailed for trading illegally in the early 1980s.
Dr Kavanagh studied at UCD, Maynooth and Oxford and in 1951 became the first director of the Dublin Institute of Adult Education. In the 1960s he served as the first ever professor of social science at UCD. He wrote the widely-read textbook, A Manual of Social Ethics. In 1973 Dr Kavanagh was appointed auxiliary bishop of Dublin and held the post for 18 years. A keen sportsman, Dr Kavanagh served as vice-president of Home Farm AFC in the 1970s and played for the Dublin minor hurling team.