Be The Change!

I remember the Catholic Archbishop, Dennis Hurley, as a very loving and mild-mannered person in a severely prejudiced South Africa.  He was very close to my parents — he loved the discussions with my father and the cuisine that my mother served when he came to visit the Phoenix Ashram. 

He was much younger than my dad, Manilal, but genuinely interested in learning about Grandfather as a person and his philosophy of nonviolence.  I was too young then and too immature to participate in the discussions but remember catching snippets that added to my own education and understanding of the philosophy of nonviolence. 

The Archbishop was not the only Christian leader who held grandfather in high esteem.  Rev Louis Fisher, who wrote the biography “Gandhi” the book that inspired the Attenborough film by the same name, said the most Christ-like person was not even a Christian.  Rev. E. Stanley Jones, a Methodist Missionary, also described Gandhi as Christ-like.  

This article is important not because it praises Gandhi but because it shows how someone who began as a doubter of Gandhi’s methods became an ardent follower after making a thorough study of Gandhi’s life. 

Gandhi’s Influence on a Catholic Archbishop  

by Paddy Kearney 

Abstract 

As a schoolboy Denis Hurley regarded Mahatma Gandhi as a troublemaker who was doing great damage to the British Empire. Later on, as Archbishop of Durban, he described Gandhi as one of the greatest souls since Francis of Assisi in the 13th century.

COUNTLESS PEOPLE HAVE been influenced by Mahatma Gandhi, amongst them many famous political and religious leaders. But little has been written about Gandhi’s influence on the late Denis Hurley, renowned former Catholic Archbishop of Durban.

Consecrated bishop one year before the National Party came to power in 1948. Hurley retired as archbishop in 1992. This was just two years before the Nationalists ceased to be the ruling party, when the country’s first democratically elected government came to power and apartheid was systematically dismembered. Hurley had been one of the foremost opponents of apartheid throughout his episcopate.d former Catholic Archbishop of Durban.

Hurley’s inspiring life as a courageous opponent of apartheid for over 50 years and as a champion of the reforms and spirit of Vatican II make him one of the most significant religious leaders South Africa has produced. This article will attempt to show the ways in which Gandhian thinking helped to shape his life and witness.

Tall, handsome and physically impressive, Hurley was a brilliant analyst and an eloquent speaker, years ahead of his time not only in relation to South Africa’s racial problems but also the reforms needed to bring the Catholic Church into the twentieth century. 

Read Full Article Here: Gandhi’s Influence on a Catholic Archbishop