CAPE TOWN (CNS): Retired Archbishop Denis Hurley of Durban, South Africa, who was an outspoken opponent of apartheid, died on February 13, aged 88.
Archbishop Hurley died in Durban as he was returning home from attending a religious celebration.
‘(He) will be remembered for his outstanding contribution to the struggle against apartheid, for his concern for the poor and his commitment to a more just and peaceful society,” the Southern African Catholic Bishops’ Conference said in a statement.
Bishop Kevin Dowling of Rustenburg, who is vice-chairman of the bishops’ justice and peace department, recalled Archbishop Hurley as a “wonderful leader and prophet”.
Archbishop Hurley was born on November 8, 1915, in Cape Town to Irish parents. The son of a lighthouse keeper, he was raised at various lighthouses on South Africa’s coast.
After finishing school in Pietermaritzburg near Durban, he went to Ireland to study for the priesthood with the Oblates of Mary Immaculate.
He completed degrees in philosophy at Rome’s Angelicum University and in theology at Gregorian University in Rome, where he was ordained in 1939.
He returned to South Africa a year later and was assigned to Durban’s Emmanuel Cathedral.
He first served as chairman of the Southern African Catholic Bishops’ Conference from 1952-61, during which time the conference spoke against apartheid for the first time. In 1957, the conference issued a statement describing the system of enforced racial segregation as “inherently evil”.
Archbishop Hurley retired as archbishop in 1992.
