Archbishop Hurley, critic of apartheid, dies in South Africa

Archbishop Emeritus Denis Eugene Hurley of Durban, South Africa, died on Friday last after returning home from a religious celebration. He was 89 and had retired from office in 1992.

He had been president of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference for many years and was hailed as a champion of human rights, most especially for his outstanding contribution against apartheid, his advocacy for the plight of the poor and dispossessed, and his commitment toward a more just and peaceful society.

Archbishop Hurley was a courageous and outspoken critic of apartheid, openly criticised so-called ‘Bantu education’ and the successive South African governments that supported it. He was the first bishop in the 1950s to express publicly that he was against apartheid and spoke out in support of the rights of black South Africans.

He retired and became an archbishop emeritus in 1992. Archbishop Hurley was Chancellor of the former University of Natal from 1993 to 1998, and always believed that education was the key to true transformation. He was a member, and at one time chair of the Institute for Race Relations and a founding member of the Institute for Democracy in South Africa. In 1976 he founded Diakonia, a Durban-based ecumenical agency of social concern.

Denis Eugene Hurley was born in November 9, 1915 in Cape Town of Irish parents. He was ordained a priest in 1939, and became bishop of the diocese of Durban in 1947. When he was ordained as bishop of Durban at the age of 31, he was the youngest Catholic bishop in the world. He was numbered among the specially invited guests to the inauguration of President Nelson Mandela.

Archbishop Hurley received numerous honours and awards from several universities such as Notre Dame, Georgetown, The Catholic University of America, DePaul and Santa Clara. He was also honoured about five years ago with an honorary doctorate from The University of Toronto.