Mark Joseph Hurley

Mark Joseph Hurley (December 13, 1919 – February 5, 2001) was an American prelate of the Roman Catholic Church. He served as Bishop of Santa Rosa in California from 1969 to 1986.

Mark Hurley was born on December 13, 1919, in San Francisco, California, one of five children of Mark Joseph and Josephine (née Keohane) Hurley.^[1] One of his brothers, Francis Thomas Hurley, served as archbishop of Anchorage (1976–2001).^[2]

Mark Hurley received his early education at the parochial school of St. Agnes Parish in San Francisco.^[1] He began his studies for the priesthood at St. Joseph's College in Mountain View, California, graduating in 1939.^[3] He then completed his theological studies at St. Patrick's Seminary in Menlo Park, California.^[3]

Hurley was ordained a priest for the Archdiocese of San Francisco on September 23, 1944 by Archbishop John Joseph Mitty.^[4] After his ordination, the archdiocese assigned Hurley to the faculty of Serra High School in San Mateo, California. He was also named assistant superintendent of the archdiocesan schools.^[3]During this period, he went to Washington D.C. to study at the Catholic University of America. He received a Doctor of Philosophy degree in 1947.^[1]

The archdiocese in 1951 assigned Hurley to serve as the founding principal of Bishop O'Dowd High School in Oakland, California. He was transferred in 1959 to be principal of Marin Catholic High School in Kentfield, California.^[1] He also served as assistant coordinator of the archdiocesan campaign of Taxation of Schools in California.^[3]

In 1962, Hurley was named a domestic prelate by Pope John XXIII and superintendent of schools in the Diocese of Stockton.^[3] He earned a Bachelor's degree in canon law from the Pontifical Lateran University in Rome in 1963.^[1] From 1962 to 1965, he was a peritus, or theological expert, at the Second Vatican Council in Rome, acting as an advisor to the commission on seminaries, universities, and schools.^[1][3] Following his return to San Francisco, he served as assistant chancellor from 1965 to 1969.^[3] For several years, he appeared on a San Francisco television program, "Problems Please."^[1]

Other Assignments

• Administrator, St. Eugene Parish, Santa Rosa, California, 1959
• Syndicated columnist, San Francisco, The Monitor, Sacramento Herald, Oakland Voice, Yakima Our Times, Guam Diocesan Press, 1949–1966
• "Faith of Our Father" weekly TV program speaker, 1956–1958, San Francisco
• Pastor, St. Francis of Assisi Parish, San Francisco, 1967
• Vicar general 1968
• Chairman, Citizens' Committee for San Francisco State College, December 12, 1968.^[5]

On November 21, 1967, Hurley was appointed as an auxiliary bishop of San Francisco and titular bishop of Thunusuda by Pope Paul VI.^[4] He received his episcopal consecration on January 4, 1968, from Archbishop Joseph Thomas McGucken, with Bishops Hugh Aloysius Donohoe and Ernest John Primeau serving as co-consecrators.^[4] His consecration was one of the first such liturgies to be celebrated in the vernacular.^[5] As an auxiliary bishop, he continued to serve as assistant chancellor of the archdiocese.^[3]

Hurley was named the second bishop of Santa Rosa by Paul VI on November 19, 1969.^[4] Hurley was installed as bishop at St. Eugene Cathedral in Santa Rosa on January 14, 1970.^[5] During his tenure, he implemented the reforms of the Second Vatican Council and worked to ensure the financial stability of the diocese.^[5]

He established terms of office for pastors and associate pastors, opened a low-income senior residence, and created the Priests' Retirement Fund, Project Hope, and the Apostolic Endowment Fund.^[5] He founded the Centro Pastoral Hispano and re-dedicated Blessed Kateri Tekakwitha Mission.^[5] He established two new parishes in his last five years as bishop, and ordained over a dozen priests and deacons in his last three years.^[5]

After governing the diocese for sixteen years, Hurley resigned as bishop of Santa Rosa on April 15, 1986.^[4] He later died after an operation for an aneurysm in San Francisco, at age 81.^[1]

• Delegate, Conference on Psychiatry and Religion, San Francisco, 1957
• Board member, State of California Committee for the Study of Education, 1955–1960
• Delegate-at-large, State of California, White House Conference on Youth, Washington, D.C., 1960
• Catholic delegate and observer, National Council of Churches (Protestant), Columbus, Ohio, 1964
• Delegate to NCEA Education Conference of German and American Educators, Munich, Germany, 1960
• Member of Commission on Seminaries, Universities, and Schools, Second Vatican Council, 1962–1963
• Member of NCEA delegation for study of education in Peru, 1965
• Member, Liaison Committee of National Conference of Catholic Bishops (USA) with Priests' Senates
• Member, Commission on Christian Formation, United States Catholic Conference of Bishops, 1968
• Member, US bishops' press panel, Vatican Council, Rome, 1964–1965
• Member, US bishops' Committee on the Laity, Rome, 1964
• Member, US bishops' Committee on the Laity, Rome, Jewish Relations, 1964 to 1970^[6]
• Member, Education Committee of the Bishops of California, 1969

• Church State Relationships in Education in California, 1948, Washington, DC^[7]
• Commentary on Declaration on Christian Education of Vatican II, 1966, Paulist Press, Glenn Rock, NJ^[8]
• Report on Education in Peru, NCEA, Washington, DC, 1965
• Informe Sobre La Educacion en Peru, Asoceacion Catholica de Educacion National, Washington, DC, 1965
• Knight Commander of the Order of the Holy Sepulchre, June 1969^[6]