Msgr. John Hurley Dies, Was Our Lady of the Valley Pastor

Msgr. John J. Hurley, who came to the San Fernando Valley in the 1940s and witnessed the area’s postwar expansion during his three-decade tenure as pastor of Our Lady of the Valley Catholic Church in Canoga Park, has died at a West Los Angeles convalescent home. He was 91.

Hurley died Saturday at Nazareth House, said Father John Murray. According to Murray, Hurley’s health had been failing for several years.

Born in Donoughmore, Ireland, on Aug. 30, 1903, Hurley studied for the priesthood at Dublin’s All Hallows College and was ordained on June 17, 1928.

He then moved to Los Angeles, where he served as associate pastor at Los Angeles parishes including St. Brendan’s, St. Anselm’s and St. Vibiana Cathedral and St. Andrew’s in Pasadena. He received his first pastorate at Holy Family Church in Artesia.

In 1943, Hurley became pastor of Our Lady of the Valley in Canoga Park, at that time a rural West Valley parish that stretched west from Sepulveda Pass to the Ventura County line.

As the Valley’s population began to grow in the postwar years, the territory was divided into smaller parishes to serve the increasing numbers of worshipers. The area now includes such churches as St. Joseph the Worker, St. Mel’s, St. Catherine of Siena and Our Lady of Lourdes.

Hurley’s time at Our Lady of the Valley also saw the construction of several additional structures, including a new church and school. He retired from the church in 1976 as pastor emeritus. A parish resident since receiving the pastorate at Our Lady of the Valley, Hurley entered Nazareth House in 1989.

Because of earthquake damage to Our Lady of the Valley, the funeral Mass will be held at St. Joseph the Worker, 19851 Sherman Way, Canoga Park, at 11 a.m. today. Interment will follow at San Fernando Mission Cemetery. Bastian and Perrott Mortuary in Northridge is handling the arrangements.