Blessed Hurtado worked to attack roots of injustice

Published: 2005-10-18

SANTIAGO, Chile (CNS) -- Blessed Alberto Hurtado Cruchaga used to say that injustice created many more ills in society than Christian charity could repair. So he not only roamed the streets with his green pickup truck searching for homeless children to take to the shelter he founded, but also dedicated a great part of his life to attacking the roots of that injustice. Nearly all Chileans know about his most famous and lasting legacy, the Hogar de Cristo movement, but few are familiar with his efforts organizing youth groups to study the church's social doctrine and educating workers to become labor leaders so they could promote social change from their workplaces. Blessed Hurtado is one of five men Pope Benedict XVI will canonize Oct. 23 at the Vatican. "Father Hurtado's deep identification with Christ was the basis for his concern for the poor, which he expressed in two main areas: individual charity for those who suffer and social charity, contributing to long-term structural solutions to lessen ... injustice," said Father Samuel Fernandez Eyzaguirre, dean of the theology faculty at Santiago's Catholic University and director of the university's center of studies and documentation on Blessed Hurtado.

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