Denis Eugene Hurley

Denis Eugene Hurley OMI (born November 9, 1915 in Cape Town , South Africa, † February 13, 2004 in Durban ) was a South African religious priest and Archbishop of Durban .

Life

Denis Hurley was born to Irish parents. In 1913 they emigrated from Skibbereen to South Africa. His father was a lighthouse keeper on Robben Island . In 1923 the family moved to East London . Denis Hurley attended St. Elmo's boarding schools in Umzumbe and St. Thomas's in Newcastle . In 1932 he entered the novitiate of the Oblates of the Immaculate Virgin Mary in Ireland in Cahermoyle, County Limerick . After studying theology in Rome, he was ordained a priest on July 9, 1939, also in Rome. After obtaining a licentiate in theology , he returned to South Africa in 1940 and initially worked as a pastor at the cathedral in Durban. In 1944 he was appointed director of the Oblate Study House in Pietermaritzburg . Already during his studies he was particularly concerned with the social doctrine of the Catholic Church and as head of the study house he introduced his own course on social justice for candidates for the priesthood.

At the age of 31 he was appointed Vicar Apostolic of Natal and Titular Bishop of Turuzi on December 12, 1946 . On March 19, 1947 he received the episcopal ordination from Archbishop Martin Lucas SVD. Bishop Michael Adalbero Fleischer MHM and Bishop David O'Leary OMI were co- consecrators . On January 11, 1951, with the establishment of the archbishopric, he was appointed the first archbishop of Durban , in June 1952 chairman of the South African Bishops' Conference , which he was to remain until 1961. Immediately after his appointment, he convinced the bishops of South Africa of the need to speak out publicly on issues of human rights and apartheid practices .

Archbishop Hurley was appointed to the central preparatory commission of the Second Vatican Council in 1961 , in which he participated as a council father from 1962 to 1965 and contributed significantly to its success. After the end of the council he worked intensively on the implementation of the council resolutions not only in his diocese but throughout South Africa. He also worked on the translation of the Roman Missal into English and was chairman of the International Commission on English in the Liturgy (ICEL), a commission established by the bishops' conferences of all English-speaking countries that coordinated the translation of liturgical books into English.

He also continued the fight against the politics of apartheid and for this purpose founded Diakonia, an ecumenical institution that campaigned for justice and peace in the Durban area in 1976, and the Human Awareness Program in 1977 . He also supported the founding of the Pietermaritzburg Agency for Christian Social Awareness in 1979 . From 1981 to 1987 he was a second time chairman of the South African Bishops' Conference.

In 1984 he was charged with false testimony for testifying about the activities of South African paramilitary forces in Namibia . The trial was stopped before it was officially opened, as the South African government realized that it had a powerful opponent in Hurley who would get support from all over the world. In the following years he concentrated mainly on uniting the Christian initiatives in the fight against apartheid, which he only succeeded to a limited extent. With great joy he saw the first free elections in South Africa and the assumption of the presidency by Nelson Mandela .

In 1992 he resigned as Archbishop of Durban and in the following years worked as a pastor at Durban Cathedral, where he began his ministry as a pastor in 1940. In 2002, at the age of 87, he finally retired. He died in Durban on February 13, 2004.

Honors

Archbishop Hurley received numerous medals and awards throughout his life as well as an honorary doctorate from various universities. In 1999 he received the South African Order for Meritorious Service in gold.

Fonts

• Facing the Crisis, Selected Texts of Archbishop DE Hurley . Published by Philippe Denis OP Cluster Publications, Pietermaritzburg 1997, ISBN 1-875053-08-5 .
• Memories. The memoirs of Archbishop Denis E. Hurley OMI . Published by Paddy Kearney. Cluster Publications, Pietermaritzburg 2006, ISBN 1-875053-53-0 .

literature

<in order of appearance>

• Desmond Fisher: Archbishop Denis Hurley (= The Men who make the Council , Vol. 20). 965 University of Notre Dame Press, Notre Dame 1965.
• Peter C. Finn: Shaping English liturgy. Studies in honor of Archbishop Denis Hurley . The Pastoral Press, Washington DC 1990, ISBN 0-912405-72-4 .
• Anthony Gamley (ed.): Denis Hurley. A portrait by friends . Cluster Publications, Pietermaritzburg 2001, ISBN 1-875053-29-8 .
• Paddy Kearney: Guardian of the Light. Archbishop Denis Hurley, a life against apartheid . Continuum, New York 2009, ISBN 978-0-8264-1875-3 .
  • South African edition under the title Guardian of the light. Denis Hurley; renewing the church, opposing apartheid . University of KwaZulu-Natal Press, Scottsville 2009, ISBN 978-1-86914-181-3 .
• Paddy Kearney: Denis Hurley. Truth to power . University of KwaZulu-Natal Press, Scottsville 2012, ISBN 978-1-86914-219-3 .

Individual evidence

1. ^ Paddy Kearney: Guardian of the light. Archbishop Denis Hurley, a life against apartheid . Continuum, New York 2009, p. VIII.
2. ^ Paddy Kearney: Guardian of the light. Archbishop Denis Hurley, a life against apartheid . Continuum, New York 2009, p. 3.
3. ↑ Gunther Simmermacher: Hurley bio: A full life of love . at scross.co.za, accessed February 3, 2015
4. ^ Paddy Kearney: Guardian of the light. Archbishop Denis Hurley, a life against apartheid . Continuum, New York 2009, p. 26.
5. ^ Paddy Kearney: Guardian of the light. Archbishop Denis Hurley, a life against apartheid . Continuum, New York 2009, p. 34.
6. ^ Raymond Perrier: The legacy of a great Archbishop . In: Jesuits & friends , No. 92 (Winter 2015), pp. 8–9, here p. 9.
7. ↑ List of recipients of the medal 1999 (English), accessed on August 25, 2018

Web links

• Website about Archbishop Hurley (English)
• Entry about Denis Eugene Hurley on catholic-hierarchy.org (English)

predecessor	Office	successor
Henri Delalle OMI	Archbishop of Durban 1951–1992	Wilfrid Fox Napier OFM