Michael Hurley (Jesuit)

Father Michael Hurley S.J. (10 May 1923 – 15 April 2011) was an Irish Jesuit priest and theologian, who has been widely called the "father of Irish ecumenism" for promoting Christian unity. Hurley co-founded the Irish School of Ecumenics in 1970 and served as the school's director until 1980.

Hurley was born in Ardmore, County Waterford, on 10 May 1923. He attended school in Mount Melleray, before joining the Society of Jesus in 1940. Hurley was ordained a Jesuit priest in 1954. Hurley was educated at both University College Dublin and the Catholic University of Leuven. He received a doctorate in theology from Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome, Italy. Hurley taught at the former Mungret College from 1958 to 1970.

A strong proponent of ecumenism, Father Hurley co-founded the Irish School of Ecumenics in 1970. Hurley worked to good relations between different Christian denominations in Ireland, Northern Ireland and abroad. His work at the school was opposed by Archbishop John Charles McQuaid, the then conservative Archbishop of Dublin. Archbishop McQuaid initially banned Hurley from speaking on ecumenism within the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Dublin. However, McQuaid reversed the ban after Hurley was defended by Father Cecil McGarry, the Jesuit provincial in Ireland during the early 1970s.

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