The Roman Catholic Emeritus Archbishop of Durban, Denis Eugene Hurley, died on Friday at noon after returning from a religious celebration, the Southern African Catholic Bishops’ Conference (SACBC) announced.
Hurley was born in Cape Town on November 9 1915 and ordained as a priest in 1939. He died in Durban.
He consecrated a bishop of the diocese of Durban in 1947 and, at the age of 31, became the youngest Catholic bishop in the world.
He was chancellor of the former University of Natal from 1993 to 1998.
The university’s media relations department said Hurley generously lent his name to the an educational fund for disadvantaged students to pursue postgraduate studies in the human and social sciences at the university (now the University of KwaZulu-Natal).
”Where the spirit is, there is liberty,” Hurley told the congregation assembled for his ordination ceremony as Catholic bishop of Natal in 1947.
The youngest bishop in the world at the time, he chose these words with characteristic care.
The SACBC said Hurley was hailed as a champion of human rights, and would be remembered for his outstanding contribution to the struggle against apartheid, his concern for the poor and his commitment towards a more just and peaceful society, the university said in a statement.
In 1951, he was appointed archbishop of Durban, a position he held until his retirement in 1992.
”He was the first bishop, back in 1951, who openly expressed himself against apartheid and spoke in support of the rights of the blacks,” said Bishop Jabulani Nxumalo, the auxiliary bishop of the diocese of Durban.
He said Hurley was a deeply religious church man, who dedicated his life to South Africa’s liberation struggle with intense social and secular involvement.
Nxumalo said Hurley aligned himself squarely with apartheid’s victims.
Lobbying, demonstrating, calling the media to account, challenging the political system through the courts, Hurley was a force to be reckoned with.
That was also true within the Catholic Church itself where he joined in the challenge to the institution to re-establish contact with what he called the ”human culture”.
The archbishop was a member, and then later the chairperson, of the Institute for Race Relations and a founder member of the Institute for Democracy in South Africa.
In 1976 he founded Diakonia, a Durban-based ecumenical agency of social concern.
The university said Hurley always believed that education was the key to true transformation. So it is particularly apt that he earned 11 honorary degrees, both nationally and internationally, over the past 30 years.
As chancellor of the University of Natal Hurley was a champion of the university’s vision for its students and for the wider community.
When he retired from his position of chancellor, he said: ”When I speak of vision I understand the term not only as a pattern or paradigm but rather an image that moves and inspires action.
”A religious vision in a secular society can no longer serve that purpose, except in those institutions established by the leaders and members of a particular faith. The secular world needs a vision and that vision should be an ethical one.”
The archbishop spoke often of the role and responsibilities of universities in teaching the leaders of tomorrow.
Students should excel in their individual disciplines, and dedicate themselves to the task of creating unity in South Africa.
In his capacity as chancellor, Hurley conferred an honorary doctorate on former president Nelson Mandela in 1993.
The SACBC said: ”He will also be remembered for his tireless efforts in bringing together people of various creeds and political beliefs to achieve a more loving and peaceful society.
”May his life and commitment continue to be a source of inspiration to all South Africans and to every person of good will.” — Sapa