Joseph T. Hurley

Father Joseph T. Hurley, C.SS.R., 81

SEAFORD - Father Joseph T. Hurley, C.SS.R. the associate pastor of Our Lady of Lourdes Church Roman Catholic Church in Seaford, died suddenly on Oct. 30, 2009. He was 81 years old. Father Hurley was born on July 5, 1928, in Fall River, Mass. His parents, who predeceased him, were the Honorable Joseph L. Hurley, former Lieutenant Governor of the State of Massachusetts and later Superior Court Justice and his mother Celeste (Tracy) Hurley. Father Hurley is survived by his brothers, John and William and Bill's wife Mary. Father Hurley's four nieces are Anna Celeste (Hurley) Grudinskas, Elizabeth Mary (Hurley) Iandoli, Mary Julia (Hurley) Hession, Josephine Madeline (Hurley) White, and their spouses and children. Father Hurley attended Monsignor Coyle High School in Taunton Massachusetts. He was a student in Harvard University when he felt the call to the priesthood. He attended the Redemptorists seminaries of Saint Mary's College in North East, Pennsylvania, and theological studies at Mount Saint Alphonsus Esopus New York. Father Hurley professed his first vows as a Redemptorists sixty years ago on Aug. 2, 1949, in St. Mary's College Ellicott City Maryland. He was ordained a priest on June 20, 1954, by Francis Cardinal Spellman, Archbishop of New York at Mount Saint Alphonsus, Esopus, N.Y. Father Hurley was assigned after ordination to the parish of Saint Mary's in Annapolis. The parish was very large. He was in charge of a community that eventually grew into an independent parish in Cape Saint Claire, Anne Arundel County, Maryland. He worked as an assistant to the Novice Master for a brief time. He then did graduate school studies in the Catholic University of America, Washington D.C. earning a Masters in Sociology. Father Hurley spent many years of his life in the formation of future Redemptorist priests, teaching in the High School Seminary. He was the President and rector of Saint Alphonsus College, Suffield Connecticut. He also was the Novice Master for the Interprovincial novitiate in Glenview Illinois. Another important focus of Father Hurley's ministry was service as Vicar to the Provincial and then the Provincial of the Baltimore Province of the Redemptorts. He guided the Province that embraced at that time the entire East Coast of the United States and extensive missionary work in Brazil, Paraguay, Puerto Rico, the Dominican Republic, and the United States Virgin Islands. Father Hurley then returned to parish ministry as the pastor of Saint Patrick's Church in Enfield for six years. He has been the associate pastor of our Lady of Lourdes since August, 2005. In the parish he had a number of important ministries under his care. He mentored searching people who wanted to become members of the Catholic Church in the year long course called The Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults. He worked very closely with the extraordinary ministers of Communion in their pastoral care of the sick in Nanticoke Hospital and those who were homebound. His kindness and care of the sick was extraordinary. He was chaplain of the Legion of Mary. Father Hurley delighted in offering short courses in Scripture on different themes. The courses would run six weeks. He would offer the course in the morning to retired people and then in the evening to those who worked. He used the Year of Saint Paul to examine Paul's writings. Father Hurley was preparing classes for an examination of the Infancy Narratives in the Gospels of Luke and Matthew in preparation for the great feast of Christmas, when he died suddenly. Father Hurley will be waked in Our Lady of Lourdes Church, 528 East Stein Highway, Seaford, from 2 to 9 p.m., Tuesday, Nov. 3. The Mass of Resurrection will be offered for him on at 11 a.m., Wednesday, Nov. 4. Father Hurley will be buried at the Redemptorist Cemetery at Mount Saint Alphonsus in Esopus, N.Y., on Thursday, Nov. 5th. There will be a brief viewing from 10 a.m., and then a Mass followed by his burial. In lieu of flowers donations can be made to: The Redemptorists Office of Mission Advancement 7401 German Hill Road, Second Floor Baltimore, MD 21222-1347; or to the Saint Vincent de Paul Society Our Lady of Lourdes Church, P.O. Box 719, Seaford, DE 19973. Arrangements by the Cranston Funeral Home, Seaford.