KENYA: Thousands of people attended the funeral yesterday of Father John Hannon, the Irish priest murdered last month in Kenya.
Priests, nuns and bishops from across Kenya, Africa and Ireland joined the regular congregation in the village of Matasia to celebrate Father Hannon's life.
Ten members of the Hannon family travelled from Ireland for the funeral Mass.
It was held in St Barnabas Church, outside Nairobi, which was completed 12 months ago after three years of fundraising and planning by Father Hannon.
Some 3,000 mourners packed the main building, spilling out of doorways and filling hundreds more seats arranged outside.
Father Hannon's brother, James, told them: "We are happy and honoured to meet so many people here today who knew and loved him so much.
"In our sad journey from Ireland we share our grief with you. We are amazed and overwhelmed with the sympathy, support, love and respect in which Fr John was held by you all."
Father Hannon was born in Co Clare in 1939. He joined the Society of African Missions and, after ordination in 1967, spent 25 years in Nigeria. He spent the last 10 years of his life in Kenya.
His body was discovered a little over a week ago, close to the church grounds.
The President, Mrs McAleese, and Archbishop Seán Brady, the Primate of All Ireland, have sent messages of condolence.
Police believe the priest was the victim of a violent robbery and have arrested 10 suspects.
The four-hour service yesterday was a mixture of Catholic, Irish and African traditions.
Mourners recited the Lord's Prayer in Swahili.
The Archbishop Giovanni Tonnuci, papal nuncio to Kenya, said Father Hannon was the sixth Catholic priest to die violently in the country in recent years.
He continued with an outspoken attack on the police, and urged the government to make security its priority. "A man always ready to help the poor and needy was killed in cold blood by bandits who wanted to rob the Catholic community of the little money that was held in the priest's house," he said.
"Security seems to be a foreign word. Bandits have the freedom to do whatever they want; honest people cannot."
Father Patrick Devine, regional superior of the SMA, paid tribute to his colleague's energy in setting up education and social projects. "He had a passion for truth and for justice. He hated hypocrisy. He never sacrificed principle for popularity.
"A man of strong views, he was not afraid to express them even at the cost of upsetting the civil and ecclesiastical establishments."
Members of the congregation said later the Clare priest had worked tirelessly to move the church out of a decrepit building into its new, cavernous space.
Mr Robert Ndungi, said: "He bought the plot, put up the structure, everything. This was all his doing. His presence lives on here."
Father Hannon's body was laid to rest alongside the church that he built, within sight of the bungalow where he lived, and a stone's throw from where his body was found.
His modest, wooden cross marked the first grave in the cemetery.