Celebration of Fr. Hurley's 50th Anniversary of Ordination

This year is Fr. James Hurley's 50th anniversary of ordination. The Justice and Peace Commission organized a celebration with him and I attended the dinner, sitting next to him.

Fr. Hurley was the eccelesiastical adviser of JP from Dec 1990 to September 1996, that is, just before the handover of sovereignty of Hong Kong from Britain to China. Six years is not a short period. That period was the first six years when I worked in JP, and I got quite acquaintance with Fr. Hurley. Since that period was the political transitional period of Hong Kong, many social issues became very sensitive. Very often, Fr. Hurely acted as a bridge between JP and the Diocese, especially when the relationship between JP and the Diocese was not that close at that time.

I was especially impressed by an event in 1996 about the political structure of the transitional government. JP held a different opinion from the Diocese and the issue was put on the mass media. Finally, Fr. Hurley help us to communicate with the leaders of the Church and arranged a special meeting to discuss the issue. An agreement between the two parties was reached after the dialogue. I think Fr. Hurley contributed a lot in this issue and also gave me much encouragement to continue to work at JP.

Fr. Hurley has been involved in social justice issues long before joining JP as our adviser. He has been the chaplain of the Federation of Catholic Students in the 60s and 70s. He also involved actively in Amnesty International and has been a factory worker so as to experience the life of the workers' class. He also set up a justice and peace group in the parish where he was a parish priest. I appreciated his enthusiamism in social justice a lot.

The next day after the dinner, Fr. Hurley called me twice to thank me. He left voice message to me but I missed the call. Then he called again. When I was able to contact him, he said he just wanted to say thank you. He is such a considerate person! He is a priest who makes you feel being respected whenever you talk with him. I can feel the sincere attitudes from what he does.

I remember a Benedictine monk once said, "I want to treat everyone I meet as if I meet Jesus." I think that's also what Fr. Hurley has put into practice all these years.