Francis Thomas Hurley (January 12, 1927 – January 10, 2016) was an American
prelate
A prelate () is a high-ranking member of the Minister (Christianity), Christian clergy who is an Ordinary (church officer), ordinary or who ranks in precedence with ordinaries. The word derives from the Latin , the past participle of , which me ...
of the
Catholic Church
The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...
who served as archbishop of the
Archdiocese of Anchorage in Alaska from 1976 to 2001. He previously served as bishop of the
Diocese of Juneau in Alaska from 1971 to 1976 and as
auxiliary bishop
An auxiliary bishop is a bishop assigned to assist the diocesan bishop in meeting the pastoral and administrative needs of the diocese. Auxiliary bishops can also be titular bishops of sees that no longer exist as territorial jurisdictions.
...
there from 1970 to 1971.
Biography
Early life
Francis Hurley was born in
San Francisco
San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is a commercial, Financial District, San Francisco, financial, and Culture of San Francisco, cultural center of Northern California. With a population of 827,526 residents as of ...
, California, one of five children of Mark Hurley and Josephine (née Keohane) Hurley. Francis Hurley was
ordained
Ordination is the process by which individuals are Consecration in Christianity, consecrated, that is, set apart and elevated from the laity class to the clergy, who are thus then authorized (usually by the religious denomination, denominationa ...
to the priesthood by Archbishop
John Mitty on June 16, 1951.
Auxiliary Bishop and Bishop of Juneau
On February 4, 1970, Hurley was appointed auxiliary bishop and
apostolic administrator
An apostolic administration in the Catholic Church is administrated by a prelate appointed by the pope to serve as the ordinary for a specific area. Either the area is not yet a diocese (a stable 'pre-diocesan', usually missionary apostolic admi ...
of the Diocese of Juneau and
titular bishop
A titular bishop in various churches is a bishop who is not in charge of a diocese.
By definition, a bishop is an "overseer" of a community of the faithful, so when a priest is ordained a bishop, the tradition of the Catholic, Eastern Orthodox an ...
of ''Daimlaig'' by
Pope Paul VI
Pope Paul VI (born Giovanni Battista Enrico Antonio Maria Montini; 26 September 18976 August 1978) was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 21 June 1963 until his death on 6 August 1978. Succeeding John XXII ...
.
Hurley received his
episcopal consecration
A bishop is an ordained member of the clergy who is entrusted with a position of authority and oversight in a religious institution. In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance and administration of dioceses. The role ...
on March 19, 1970, from Bishop
Mark Hurley, his brother, with Bishops
William McManus
William Telemachus McManus (November 28, 1780January 18, 1835) was an American lawyer and politician from New York (state), New York.
Life
He was the son of Hugh McManus (1747–1826) and Mary McManus (1751–1834). He attended Lansingburgh A ...
and
Joseph Bernardin
Joseph Louis Bernardin (April 2, 1928 – November 14, 1996) was an American Catholic prelate who served as Archbishop of Cincinnati from 1972 until 1982, and as Archbishop of Chicago from 1982 until his death from pancreatic cancer. B ...
, serving as
co-consecrators
A consecrator is a bishop who ordains someone to the episcopacy. A co-consecrator is someone who assists the consecrator bishop in the act of ordaining a new bishop.
The terms are used in the canon law of the Catholic Church, Lutheran Churche ...
.
Pope Paul appointed Hurley as the second bishop of Juneau on July 20, 1971;
he was installed on September 8, 1971. During his tenure, Hurley expanded Catholic ministry in the smaller and more remote communities of the
diocese
In Ecclesiastical polity, church governance, a diocese or bishopric is the ecclesiastical district under the jurisdiction of a bishop.
History
In the later organization of the Roman Empire, the increasingly subdivided Roman province, prov ...
, getting his pilot's license so he could fly there.
Hurley helped implement the reforms of the
Second Vatican Council
The Second Ecumenical Council of the Vatican, commonly known as the or , was the 21st and most recent ecumenical council of the Catholic Church. The council met each autumn from 1962 to 1965 in St. Peter's Basilica in Vatican City for session ...
, such as promoting more active roles for the
laity
In religious organizations, the laity () — individually a layperson, layman or laywoman — consists of all Church membership, members who are not part of the clergy, usually including any non-Ordination, ordained members of religious orders, e ...
.
Archbishop of Anchorage
Paul VI appointed Hurley as the second archbishop of the Archdiocese of Anchorage on May 4, 1976. He was installed on July 8, 1976.
Pope John Paul II
Pope John Paul II (born Karol Józef Wojtyła; 18 May 19202 April 2005) was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 16 October 1978 until Death and funeral of Pope John Paul II, his death in 2005.
In his you ...
accepted Hurley's resignation as archbishop of Anchorage on March 3, 2001. After his retirement, Hurley stayed active in the church. In 2010, he presided over the funeral of former Alaskan Governor
Wally Hickel
Walter Joseph Hickel (August 18, 1919 – May 7, 2010) was an American businessman, real estate developer, and politician who served as the second governor of Alaska from 1966 to 1969 and 1990 to 1994, as well as U.S. Secretary of the Interior ...
.
Hurley died in Anchorage on January 10, 2016, at age 88, after suffering from
heart disease
Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is any disease involving the heart or blood vessels. CVDs constitute a class of diseases that includes: coronary artery diseases (e.g. angina pectoris, angina, myocardial infarction, heart attack), heart failure, ...
since at least 2010.
See also
*
Catholic Church hierarchy
The hierarchy of the Catholic Church consists of its bishops, priests, and deacons. In the ecclesiological sense of the term, "hierarchy" strictly means the "holy ordering" of the church, the Body of Christ, so to respect the diversity of gif ...
*
Catholic Church in the United States
The Catholic Church in the United States is part of the worldwide Catholic Church in full communion, communion with the pope, who as of 2025 is Chicago, Illinois-born Pope Leo XIV, Leo XIV. With 23 percent of the United States' population , t ...
*
Historical list of the Catholic bishops of the United States
History is the systematic study of the past, focusing primarily on the human past. As an academic discipline, it analyses and interprets evidence to construct narratives about what happened and explain why it happened. Some theorists categ ...
*
List of Catholic bishops of the United States
The following is a list of bishops of the Catholic Church in the United States. The list also includes bishops in the American territories of Puerto Rico, the Northern Mariana Islands, American Samoa, Guam, and the U.S. Virgin Islands.
The Cath ...
*
Lists of patriarchs, archbishops, and bishops
This is a directory of patriarchs, archbishops, and bishops across various Christian denominations. To find an individual who was a bishop, see the most relevant article linked below or :Bishops.
Lists
Catholic
* Bishops in the Catholic Chu ...
References
External links
Official site of the Holy See
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hurley, Francis Thomas
1927 births
2016 deaths
Roman Catholic bishops of Juneau
Roman Catholic archbishops of Anchorage
20th-century Roman Catholic archbishops in the United States
21st-century Roman Catholic archbishops in the United States
American Roman Catholic clergy of Irish descent
Clergy from San Francisco
Roman Catholic Archdiocese of San Francisco
Catholics from California