Cardinal Clancy remembered in Sydney

Former Catholic archbishop of Sydney Cardinal Edward Clancy has been remembered as a dedicated and compassionate clergyman who achieved great things for the church.

Cardinal Clancy died on August 3, aged 90.

During a burial mass on Saturday to a packed St Mary's Cathedral, Bishop of Wollongong Peter Ingham remembered him as a person loved by friends and family.

"A person who was admired and respected," he said of his longtime friend.

"An archbishop who was a man of integrity and self-discipline."

During his homily to the audience, which included Governor-General Sir Peter Cosgrove and Prime Minister Tony Abbott, Bishop Ingham said Cardinal Clancy was a high achiever for the church.

During his tenure as archbishop of Sydney, he expanded worship with new dioceses in Parramatta and Broken Bay.

But he was also known as a tough teacher, whose entreaties to younger priests to show "due decorum" earned him the affectionate nicknames "Judy Corum" and "Von Klank".

Outside the church, Mr Abbott told reporters he had been a former student of Cardinal Clancy's.

"To be the cardinal archbishop of Sydney for many years is to be a significant teacher and leader," Mr Abbott said.

"He was a good man, he served God, he served his people and I think he deserved a good send-off and he's got a good send-off."

Cardinal Clancy, the city's seventh archbishop, died early on Sunday at the Little Sisters of the Poor nursing home at Randwick, where he had been receiving care for the past eight years.

Born in December 1923 at Lithgow, he was ordained in July 1949 by Cardinal Norman Gilroy after beginning his religious studies at 16.

Former archbishop of Melbourne Cardinal George Pell, now a senior Vatican official, succeeded Cardinal Clancy as head of the Sydney church upon his retirement in March 2001.