London: Denis Hurley returns to Kilburn

Fr Stephen Tully

Next Wednesday, 5 October, Number 14 Quex Road, London NW6 becomes ‘Denis Hurley House’. The naming ceremony will be part of a Service of Blessing led by the Provincial of the Oblates of Mary Immaculate, Fr William Fitzpatrick and Cardinal Cormac Murphy O’Connor, together with the former Bishop of Leeds, David Konstant, and the Administrator of Durban Cathedral in South Africa, Fr Stephen Tully.

The Kilburn terrace house is the home of the Oblates’ ‘Partners in Mission’ programme which seeks to draw people into action for justice and peace in the service of the poor. And soon, the Denis Hurley Association, currently being set up in Britain as a charitable trust to raise funds for alleviating poverty and destitution in Durban, will be based here too.

The Centre fittingly takes the name ‘Denis Hurley House’ to honour the late great Archbishop of Durban, himself an OMI. Archbishop Hurley was a Father of the Second Vatican Council, a distinguished liturgist, a courageous and unflappable foe of the apartheid system, a dedicated prophet of justice and reconciliation in his native South Africa and a revered pastor in the Province of Natal.

St Eugene of Mazenod, the Oblates’ founder, challenged his followers “to leave nothing undared for the Kingdom of God”.

Denis Hurley’s audacious ministry was faithful witness to that challenge in the second half of the 20th century. Those who comprise Denis Hurley House in Kilburn are pledged to embrace that same challenge in the 21st century.
 
Through the Partners in Mission programme people of all ages are invited to share in the Oblate mission of witnessing to the presence of Christ in the poor with their many faces. A key focus of the programme is its youth work which provides young adults with a variety of opportunities at home and abroad to experience mission among the poor and marginalised.

For further details of the nascent ‘Denis Hurley Association’ please contact the Chair, Robina Rafferty, on raffertyrap@aol.com

See also: ICN July 8 2010 Durban, South Africa: new centre offer sanctuary and hope - www.indcatholicnews.com/news.php?viewStory=16462