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Born: July 16th, 1953
Died: February 18th, 2023
Bishop David O’Connell who has died, aged 69, was originally from Cork but spent his Catholic ministry in Los Angeles where he was a community leader and vocal campaigner on behalf of immigrants and marginalised people.
There was an outpouring of grief among the communities in which he worked when the news emerged that he had been shot dead at his home in Hacienda Heights. Carlos Medina, husband of his housekeeper, has been charged with his murder.
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All Los Angeles county flags were lowered to half-mast after his death and people gathered to pray for him outside his home and in parishes where he had worked since his arrival in Los Angeles more than 43 years ago.
David O’Connell was originally from Brooklodge, near Glanmire, Co Cork, and was one of five children born to David and Joan O’Connell. He went to Glounthaune National School and continued to Farranferris College in Cork city.
Father Robert Young, his friend from his secondary school days, remembered him as a very bright and capable student who was warm and sincere. “Even then, he had such a strong sense of fairness about him and a compassion for vulnerable people,” he said. “He always had a place in his heart for the underdog.”
He was ordained in June 1979 and returned to Glounthaune to say his first Mass in the Sacred Heart Church where he had been baptised almost 26 years earlier
When he was considering the priesthood, O’Connell sought advice from a priest at the school, who recommended that he meet Tim Manning, a Los Angeles-based bishop who would become a cardinal. The Ballingeary native was at home on holidays in Cork at the time. That meeting left a strong impression on the young student, and he eventually opted to study for the priesthood at All-Hallows College, which prepared candidates for missions abroad.
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O’Connell completed a degree in philosophy and English literature at UCD in 1975 and received a Bachelor of Divinity from Maynooth College in 1977. He was ordained in June 1979 and returned to Glounthaune to say his first Mass in the Sacred Heart Church where he had been baptised almost 26 years earlier.
He then left for the archdiocese of Los Angeles, beginning his ministry at St Raymond parish in Downey. Los Angeles county has the highest poverty rate in California and his work focused on helping marginalised people in communities affected by gang violence, drugs and poverty.
LA riots
He was ministering at St Frances Xavier Cabrini parish when the LA riots broke out in 1992, following the beating of African American motorist Rodney King by police officers. Fr O’Connell was lauded for leadership at that time, particularly for his efforts to build trust between residents and police officers. With other religious leaders, he brought police officers to meetings in people’s homes in an effort to improve relations.
He organised retreats to help men become better parents and partners, and believed in the power of parish communities and schools to transform people’s lives.
He also took a leading role in advocating for immigrants and was chairman of the inter-diocesan Southern California Immigration Task Force.
His work as a community leader came to the fore again during the Covid-19 pandemic in April 2020 when he carried the Blessed Sacrament to a high summit in the San Gabriel valley to pray for the community below.
He began his day before dawn, ended it after midnight and filled almost every hour with people, all sorts of people in every state of emotion, need and grace
— Los Angeles Times journalist Mary McNamara
The Los Angeles Times described him as “one of the region’s most beloved clerics”. One of its journalists, Pulitzer Prize winner Mary McNamara, shadowed him for three days for an article more than 20 years ago. As a former Catholic who had stopped going to Mass because of the sex abuse scandals, she approached the job with scepticism, but his energy and dedication to his community won her over.
“Maybe it was the Irish brogue, or the dog he had adopted, or the fact that he saw prayer as activism and activism as prayer,” she wrote after his death. “He began his day before dawn, ended it after midnight and filled almost every hour with people, all sorts of people in every state of emotion, need and grace.”
Archbishop of Los Angeles José Gómez described Bishop O’Connell as a man of peace. “Out of his love for God, he served this city for more than 40 years as an immigrant from Ireland,” he said. “He was a peacemaker with a heart for the poor and the immigrant, and he had a passion for building a community where the sanctity and dignity of every human life was honoured and protected.”
Politics professor and author Peter Dreier said the bishop was a progressive community organiser who used his charm to get powerful people to listen and help. “I was always impressed with Father Dave’s street smarts, compassion, and willingness to challenge people in power around a variety of issues, including immigrant rights, housing justice, racism, and public safety,” Prof Dreier wrote in a tribute after his death. “He understood that grassroots organising was the only way that the poor and disenfranchised would win power and a better life.”
Shockwaves
The Catholic Bishop of Cork and Ross Dr Fintan Gavin, said Bishop O’Connell’s tragic death had sent shockwaves across the diocese. He noted that the bishop was a great supporter of the Diocesan Mission to South America and ensured that it was included in LA’s annual mission appeal.
Bishop O’Connell once said that being a pastor was the greatest joy of his life. ‘It is a privilege to be part of people’s lives, especially in their time of suffering and need’
Bishop O’Connell once said that being a pastor was the greatest joy of his life. “It is a privilege to be part of people’s lives, especially in their time of suffering and need,” he said, on learning he was to be elevated to auxiliary bishop in 2015.
“I regard it as a great blessing in my life to have had the opportunity to serve here. I thank God that as the years go on I have more and more love for my priesthood and for the people in the parishes I have served.”
Fellow auxiliary bishop Robert Barron said he was always struck by his goodness, kindness, prayerfulness, and simplicity of heart. “I can honestly say that he was one of the most Christ-like men I’ve known.”
He was a progressive within the church and told the Los Angeles Times journalist Mary McNamara that women should be ordained and clergy should be able to marry. In 2018, he spoke about the need to recognise that there were all sorts of configurations of families, including single parents, gay couples and people in second marriages. “No matter what the configuration of the family is, the call is still to adults to think about how to provide the best, most loving, faithful environment for children possible.” The comments were made in a video associated with the Catholic World Meeting of Families event in Dublin and generated some controversy when they were edited from a later version of the video.
He made frequent visits to Ireland and liked to stress his Cork connections whenever possible. Many US and Hispanic friends commented approvingly on his fluent Spanish spoken in a strong Irish accent, despite the years abroad.
A transcript of his last recorded homily, delivered one week before he was killed, is on the Catholic news website angelusnews.com. In it, he talks about his emotional visit to Lourdes, where he felt the presence of Our Lady.
“Because immediately what came into my heart, my mind, was the memory of when I used to go home to Ireland when my mother was alive, and she would be waiting there at the gate for me,” he said.
“And it was always such a joy to see her, and a joy to see how happy she was that I was home.”
David O’Connell was predeceased by his parents, Joan and David, and his siblings Liam, Don and Geraldine. He is survived by his brother Kieran and extended family.