Ecclesiastical Che Gueavara

Guardian of the Light

Denis Eugene Hurley OMI, 1925 - 2004

When we were young my father Paul Larkin sent money to the Archbishop of Durban every Christmas. The letter from South Africa always intrigued me.

When the opportunity came up to participate in ‘Interchange Threads Connect’ between Germany, Ireland and South Africa I thought of our Great Grand Aunt Teesie Cavanagh and her visit from South Africa in the late 1950s and how she held us enthralled with stories about her travels and the work of the Bishop of Durban in trying to maintain funding for the mission schools in their care since the introduction of the Bantu Education Act in 1953. Denis was very much against the Apartheid government policy as it institutionalized racial discrimination. He saw it as an affront to human dignity, and very much against the teachings of Christianity.

As I researched this man I became more and more fascinated by his lifelong work for peace and justice for all in Africa, his connections to Ireland especially to Limerick where he trained in the Oblate Noviciate in Cahermoyle Co Limerick and Skibbereen Co. Cork where his parents came from.