Hurley: A life of love, faith and justice

Archbishop Denis Hurley’s long life was characterised by love, faith and justice, as his long-time friend and biographer PADDY KEARNEY explains.

One of his secretaries saw how he would also often interrupt his desk work by a visit to his private chapel or a few minutes of quiet prayer at his desk, when crucial decisions had to be made.

In writing a biography of the archbishop, I was also struck by the fact that he was a lifelong learner, someone who loved to discuss new ideas and who kept himself up-to-date by reading and study.

Discussion, debate and reading were the oxygen of his spirit  keeping him in touch with the signs of the times so that he could be aware of the critical issues facing the Church.

At the time of his studies in Rome he (like slain Salvadoran Archbishop Oscar Romero, who was also at the Gregorian University at that time) had been impressed by Pope Pius XI’s vigorous opposition to the great dictators of that era: Hitler, Mussolini and Stalin.

In his own prophetic ministry Archbishop Hurley insisted that if the Church was to speak out, it must be thorough in its research, having the facts and figures at its fingertips.

Equally strong was his insistence that though the Church should keep out of party politics, it must be involved in politics. He urged Pope John Paul II to write an encyclical that would clarify the difference.

Truth and the courage to speak the truth are crucial for prophetic ministry. Archbishop Hurley was unwilling to disguise his own views on controversial topics for the sake of advancing his career or making himself popular.

At the time of the Humanae Vitae crisis, when after some agonising, he made a statement publicly disagreeing with Pope Paul VI’s view on birth control, he said to a priest friend: They can have my mitre, but I won’t change my standpoint. Well, the Vatican didn’t deprive him of his mitre, but it also didn’t give him the Red Hat for which many felt him eminently qualified.

In questioning the papal decision about birth control, the archbishop had been emboldened by the collegial atmosphere of the Second Vatican Council and the promise it seemed to offer of a future in which the bishops would govern the Church together with the pope and important decisions would not be taken by the pope alone. But that promise hasn’t been realised in the intervening 50 years.

Archbishop Hurley would, however, have been heartened by reports of the cardinals pre-conclave discussions before the election of Pope Francis last year.

He would have discovered that he was by no means alone in his longing for the collegiality promised by Vatican II: in fact, the promotion of collegiality became part of the mandate for the one who would be elected to succeed Benedict XVI.

Archbishop Hurley was well known as an intellectual and a fine administrator who enjoyed writing scholarly articles and planning ambitious campaigns for Church and societal reform. But if his presence was needed anywhere to comfort or stand alongside suffering individuals or communities, he would readily put aside desk work and make himself available to show solidarity, no matter how busy he was.

His presence  and good humour  were often a calming influence in tense situations.

It was his great desire that the Church be a community serving humanity, the theme that he persuaded the Southern African bishops to adopt for their pastoral plan.

Like Pope Francis, he didn’t want the Church to be turned in on itself. The Church is not meant to be a club but rather a sign of God’s love for all people.

One theologian has even said that the Church exists for the sake of those who are not its members. Pope Francis and Archbishop Hurley would agree, I think.

How should this service to humanity be expressed? Archbishop Hurley spoke of a continuum of compassionate responses  ranging from social welfare, through to advocacy, development and liberation.

The Church has to be involved in this whole spectrum, but often seems most comfortable with welfare work and gets stuck there.

Archbishop Hurley liked the Young Christian Workers simple method See, Judge, Act  which always asks the questions: Why are people poor? Why are they unemployed? Why are they homeless? What can we do about the causes?

And he admired the Rome-based Community of Sant’Egidio because their members were engaged in all aspects of the continuum.

Discovering the causes of major social problems and then seeking to bring about change  this is what drew him to the ecumenical and inter-faith movements.

Despite our differences, he would say, there are so many things we agree on and could tackle together: human rights abuses, poverty and inequality, violence and war, global warming and climate change, to mention just a few.

Archbishop Hurley was keen that people of different denominations and religious beliefs work together on these issues and become a powerful force for change. This is why he founded the Diakonia Council of Churches and played an active role in inter-faith work.

The final aspect of Archbishop Hurleys legacy that I would like to focus on in this personal reflection is that at the end his great message was about the primacy of love.

In a conversation with Fr Wilhelm Steckling, then Oblate superior general, just days before Archbishop Hurleys death, he said: You know, more and more I realise that love is the only thing that matters. Love makes the difference. Paul said that out of faith, hope and love, love is the most important. Sometimes we want to turn it around…saying that faith comes first. We should return to the original message: give love the place of honour. Love is the distinguishing mark of the Christian.

For Jeremy Hurley, nephew of the archbishop, this is the most important aspect of his uncles legacy. Love makes sense of all that the archbishop did in his life, all his emphasis on ecumenism and social justice, his great compassion for people in any difficulty or suffering, his loving relationship with his family. In old age it had become clearer than ever to him that love was the unifying principle.

How overjoyed Archbishop Hurley would have been (is?) at the election of Pope Francis and all that has happened since.

Imagine, if you will, a conversation between these two, in expressive Italian; Francis speaking about the importance of mercy, and Denis about the importance of love! Of course it would hardly be an argument  rather an enthusiastic delight in these great divine qualities.

Recently Ela Gandhi, granddaughter of the Mahatma, spoke with excitement about Pope Francis, and then added: But you know you could have had a pope like that long ago if you had elected Archbishop Hurley!

Paddy Kearney is the author of Archbishop Hurleys biography, Guardian of the Light (2009) and its abridged version, Truth to Power (2012). He is also the coordinator of the Denis Hurley Centre in Durban.