Upon his return to Santiago in February of that year, he initiated his apostolate with youth, particularly at St. Ignatius Academy and at the Catholic University. However, his pedagogical task was not limited to classes only for Fr. Hurtado’s charism was to attract the young beyond the boundaries of their academic commitments. One of the most important areas of his ministry was giving spiritual retreats. At various times during the year he would prompt diverse groups of adults and youth to participate in profound encounters with the Lord and to search seriously to discover the will of God for them. It was in one of these retreats that he stated: “Every Christian must always aspire to this: to do whatever they do as Christ would do it, were he in their place.”

His love for his priesthood and for the Eucharist is portrayed in a beautiful testimony from a Capuchin priest who, in 1937 observed him celebrate Mass in San José de la Mariquina and was so deeply impressed that he commented: “that he had never seen a more edifying celebration of the Eucharist and that if Chilean priests were like him, they must all be saints.”

Another apostolic field of involvement for Fr. Hurtado was among the youth of Catholic Action. Founded in 1923 by Pope Pius XI who defined it as “the participation and collaboration of the laity in the hierarchical apostolate of the Church”, Catholic Action became a symbol of the growing value placed on the active participation of the laity in the Church. Fr. Hurtado was named Diocesan Moderator of the youth of Catholic Action early in 1941, as well as of students of public high schools in Santiago.

This same year he published his first book, ¿Es Chile un país católico? (Is Chile a Catholic Country?) which left its mark on the era. With keen edged clarity, optimism and courage he opened the eyes of many Chilean Catholics to the true situation of their Church, giving emphasis to the gravest of its problems, the shortage of priestly vocations. It was a time when humanity was experiencing profound transformations, when opposing totalitarian ideologies tried to dominate the world while Europe was being bled to death on the battlefields of the Second World War. Though he shuddered in the face of the horrors of war, Fr. Hurtado began to reflect in terms of reconstructing that post war world in Christ.

After only a few months, the success of his pastoral ministry brought his designation as National Moderator of the branch of Catholic Action devoted to youth. His great dedication to this apostolate brought much success and he traveled the country organizing groups and preaching retreats both to priests and youth involved in Catholic Action. It was the time of the great torchlight processions of thousands of young people gathered at the foot of the image of the Virgin of Cerro San Cristobal. In this context he would appeal to the generosity of youth: “If Christ were to come down on this night so charged with emotion, he would look at the darkened city and say, ‘I have compassion on it’ and then turn to you and with infinite tenderness add: ‘You are the light of the world… You are the ones who must illuminate this darkness. Do you wish to collaborate with me? Do you wish to be my apostles?’.” His work was not entirely understood and in April of 1942 he presented his resignation as National Moderator but it was not accepted.

In February of the following year, he set out for Magallanes to establish Catholic Action in the southernmost city of the world, also visiting Puerto Natales, Porvenir y Punta Arenas. It was the fruit of this successful visit that later permitted the celebration of a Eucharistic Congress and a change in the context of his relation with the Church. Nonetheless, misunderstandings continued to arise regarding Fr. Hurtado’s orientation of Catholic Action and this finally led to his unavoidable resignation as National Moderator on November 10, 1944.