 Whilst in Rome, he studied at the Lateran University and obtained a Licentiate in Sacred Theology, being in Rome for the first two sessions of Vatican Council II.As a student, he claims to have been given responsibility of looking after the Irish bishops who stayed in the Irish College.Clifford's first post after ordination was as a teacher and Dean of Discipline in St Brendan's College, Killarney, where he taught from 1964 to 1972.