A Word from Africa No 16
Reflections on the Pope’s Apostleship of Prayer Intentions
Any words from the Church in Africa this Easter, especially words reminding us of Pope John Paul’s constant concern for the human dignity of every person, would be hollow if they failed to celebrate the life of Archbishop Denis Hurley OMI, who died in February. From being the youngest Catholic bishop in the world in 1947, he lived to be, with Pope John Paul in 2004, one of the last surviving Council Fathers of Vatican II; fifty seven years utterly devoted to the spiritual growth of his priests and people, and therefore to the human dignity of each man, woman and child.
It is no coincidence that, in the year following his installation as Archbishop of Durban in 1951, the Conference of Catholic bishops of South Africa issued the first of a series of pastoral calls for social justice - even then admitting that it would be no easy task. ‘It can be made lighter by the prayers, goodwill and cooperation of all who earnestly desire to see justice and peace reign in this country’. Already a fine theologian and a man of absolute integrity of mind and heart, Denis Hurley found in the Second Vatican Council ‘the greatest adult education event ever held’.
In the years that followed, undeterred by hostility from the civil powers, or conservative disapproval from some Catholics, he practised and taught Christ’s message of universal and selfless loving. Only six months ago, speaking for the fortieth anniversary of John XXIII’s ‘Pacem in Terris’, Archbishop Hurley called for a great world-wide campaign of love involving the whole Catholic Church, ‘linking up with other Christians, people of other faiths and all those of good will to promote the positive signs of the times and weaken the negative’ - surely a great example for us all as we pray month by month, day by day, for one aspect or another of the joyous coming of Christ’s kingship of peace, justice and love.
James Fitzsimons SJ