Page 136 - DeSales 1989

On the Evening of February 8, 1989, the Most Rev.
Denis E. Hurley, OMI, Catholic Archbishop ot Durban,
expressed much frustration and some hope about the
racial conflict in his native South Africa.
Addressing a crowd of 500 at Labuda Center, Hurley
briefly summarized the history of apartheid, leading up
to what he characterized as the current “ deadlock”
between the black majority and the white minority. He
described the deadlock as “ a classical instance of the
irresistible force, which is black Liberation.”
Hurley expressed doubts about the effectiveness of
sanctions in altering the policies of the whitE South
African government. “It will never be just a question of
economics, because of this attitude that a social group
has for self-preservation and self-defEnse.”
To illustrate this “ attitude,” Hurley described the
tendency of the social unit, strongly bound together by
shared traditions, ethnicity and culture, to defend itself
to the last man when threatened. U/e can see in this
situation, experienced down through the ages and seen
today in the white South African population, “ an
extraordinary source of power, resistance, and desire
for survival.” Thus, even heavy economic sanctions
may not alter the South African situation.
He went on to describe the Catholic Church’s
emerging strategy of working for change through
community. “ Fifty years of pleas for justice” from the
English speaking churches of South Africa have “gone
unheeded by the great majority of white Christians.”
Hurley concluded with a recently approved pastoral
plan expressing hope that a faith community can being
about change through “witness to Christian values.”

1 1

Special Events 1Z9