Denis Hurley (bishop)
Denis Eugene Hurley OMI ( born November 9, 1915 in Cape Town, South Africa; † 13 February 2004 in Durban ) was a South African religious priests and Archbishop of Durban.
Life
Denis Hurley was born as the son of Irish parents. In 1932 he entered the novitiate of the Oblates of Ireland Mary Immaculate. After studying theology in Rome, he was also ordained in Rome on July 9, 1939 priests. After earning 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 Head of the Study Centre of the Oblates in Pietermaritzburg. During his studies, he has focused particularly on the social teaching of the Catholic Church and as Superior of the study house, he introduced a separate course on Social Justice for candidates to the priesthood.
At the age of 31, he was appointed on December 12, 1946 Vicar Apostolic of Natal and titular bishop of Turuzi. On March 19, 1947, he received from Archbishop Martin Lucas, SVD episcopal ordination. Bishop Michael Fleischer Adalbero MHM and Bishop David O'Leary OMI were co-consecrators. On January 11, 1951, he was appointed to the establishment of the Archdiocese for the first archbishop of Durban, in June 1952 the Chairman of the South African Catholic Bishops' Conference, which he was to remain until 1961. Immediately after his appointment, he convinced the bishops of South Africa of the need to comment publicly on the issues of human rights and the practices of apartheid.
Archbishop Hurley was in 1961 appointed to the Central Preparatory Commission of Vatican II, in which he participated from 1962 to 1965 as a Council Father and to its success, he made decisive contributions. After the end of the Council, he worked intensively on the implementation of the Council's decisions not only in his diocese, but throughout South Africa. Even the struggle against the policy of apartheid, he continued, and founded for this purpose in 1976 Diakonia, an ecumenical institution that campaigned for justice and peace in the environment of Durban and 1977, the Human Awareness Programme. He also supported the 1979 establishment of the Pietermaritzburg Agency for Christian Social Awareness. From 1981-1987 he was a second time Chairman of the South African Catholic Bishops' Conference.
In 1984 he was accused of false statements because he had made statements about the activities of the paramilitary units of South Africa in Namibia. The process was discontinued even before it was officially opened as the South African government realized well that they would have a powerful opponent Hurley, the support from all over the world would get. In the following years he focused mainly on unifying the Christian initiatives in the fight against apartheid, but what he succeeded only partially. With great joy he experienced 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 worked in the following years as a pastor at the Cathedral of Durban, where he had begun his ministry in 1940 as pastor. In 2002, he went, at the age of 87 years finally retiring. On February 13, 2004, he died in Durban.
Archbishop Hurley was his life with numerous medals and awards, as well as from various universities awarded an honorary doctorate.