MediaLibrary

This new, abridged version of Guardian of the Light tells the story of how Hurley became the youngest Catholic bishop in the world in 1947 at 31 and archbishop of Durban in 1952. His career as an outspoken opponent of apartheid began in 1951 when, as chairman of the Southern African Bishops’ Conference, he drafted the first of the groundbreaking pastoral letters in which the bishops denounced apartheid as ‘blasphemy’ and ‘intrinsically evil’.
Along with four other church leaders (including Desmond Tutu), he was regarded as one of the South African state’s ‘most wanted’ political opponents. He was arrested in 1984 and accused of ‘telling lies’, but the prosecutor dropped the charges when it became clear that Hurley would be able to prove the truth of his statements. He continued to work as a parish priest well into his eighties.