‘Bishop Dave’ remembered for his ‘special love’ for the poor, as LA County Catholics begin three days of goodbyes
Services for David O'Connell began tonight with a memorial Mass at St. John Vianney Catholic Church in Hacienda Heights.
Inside a packed Hacienda Heights church on Wednesday night, March 1, Bishop David O’Connell was remembered as a zealous advocate for those who have nothing, and who left behind many of the comforts of life to follow his faith and build bridges between people.
The memorial Mass at St. John Vianney Catholic Church was the first of three back-to-back funeral services for O’Connell, 69, the culmination of several days of mourning since the L.A. Archdiocese’s top priest in the San Gabriel Valley was found shot to death Feb. 18 in his Hacienda Heights home.
And between the sounds of “Amazing Grace” and “Ave Maria,” it was his fellow priests, from his closest confidants to the Pope himself, who painted a portrait of a man fiercely devoted to the communities he served but who also could not be pigeonholed by ideology.
In a message read by L.A. Archbishop Jose Gomez, a “deeply saddened” Pope Francis praised O’Connell’s 45 years of ministry as being “marked especially by his profound concern for the poor, immigrants, and those in need, his efforts to uphold the sanctity and dignity of God’s gift of life, and his zeal for fostering solidarity, cooperation, and peace within the local community.”
It was the opening message to a solemn Mass with moments of levity that echoed not just the prelate’s advocacy but his lightheartedness.
O’Connell was known for the great love he held for others, a love that was reflected back at him by parishioners across the region.
“As we know Bishop Dave loved and served Jesus with all his heart and all his strength and like Jesus he loved his brothers and sisters to the end with a special love for those who are often forgotten and those who live on society’s margins,” said Gomez.
Members of O’Connell’s family — including his brother Kieran, Kieran’s wife and children, and cousins — flew in from his homeland of Ireland to attend the first memorial mass. Also in attendance were many high ranking clergy members, including Cardinal Roger Mahony, Auxiliary Bishop Marc V. Trudeau and Bishop Kevin W. Vann.
O’Connell was adored by the school children he read to, the hungry he fed, the young immigrants he helped find a foothold, the residents living in gang-ravaged areas where he fought for peace, and above all the parishioners he blessed at dozens of congregations across the region.
A theme running through the Mass was the biblical story of Christ’s disciples, who left their work as fisherman to follow Christ. It was a theme Monsignor Timothy Dyer quickly affixed to O’Connell, who left his life in Ireland to serve in Los Angeles, and who left his pastorship in South Central L.A. to become the archdiocese’s top administrator in the San Gabriel Valley.
Despite O’Connell’s role as a top administrator in the diocese, it was simply connecting on the street and neighborhood level that made O’Connell happiest, Dyer said.
“All the stories that are coming out now about his life and his ministry are in great part because he threw out a very wide net,” Dyer told the congregation during his homily, analogizing to the disciples’ story from the gospels. “I thought I knew most of his favorite fishing holes but there were so many I didn’t know about and am discovering now.”
O’Connell’s brother, Kieran, reflected on the priest’s early years, and the pride his family took when he presided over his first mass. But decades later, Kieran said, it was L.A. where his brother would find a home, a point well-emphasized when the pastor would tell his brother back in Ireland over phone conversations that it was a “bone-chilling 80 degrees” in L.A.
“I know he was happiest here among his people,” his brother said.
Indeed, O’Connell had friends from all walks of life — social workers, probation officers, City Council members, L.A. County Supervisors, journalists, teachers, and the list goes on and on, Dyer said.
“Dave had no anxiety about going to anyone who is in need,” Dyer continued. “He liked to be out on the street and he would go and find people who are in trouble and find the people who had something to do about the trouble and he built relationships on both sides.”
For example, O’Connell would build relationships with police officers and with people sitting in jails, taking time to listen to and pray with both parties equally. He could be found marching down Los Angeles streets carrying the Blessed Sacrament one day and marching in front of the border wall, rosary in hand, speaking out on behalf of immigrants the next, Dyer added.
“We need more young men and young women who will go into religious life and will imitate this man,” Dyer said. “And I think it would be wise for the seminary to hold an annual seminar and study his spirituality and his ministry.”
Dyer’s homily was met with a resounding applauses and many a tear from the members of the audience, estimated at more than 800.
“That man took this wonderful man out of our community who helped so many people,” said Hacienda Heights resident Roxanne Martinez, referring to the suspect charged with O’Connell’s murder. “He didn’t just take a bishop, he took a lot of our hearts with him, and it’s really hard. But look at all the people that showed up. It hit the community very hard.”
While the Mass drew many St. John Vianney parishioners such as Martinez, it also drew Catholics from many other church communities.
“We’re here to pray for him tonight,” said Charles Pacheco, who came from West Covina with his family. “And it’s one of those things when a person of that magnitude get taken we want to come here and show our support to the community.”
The past two weeks have been a whirlwind for L.A.-area Catholics marked first by shock that such a violent act could be committed against a bishop, then by anguish at his untimely passing, following by confusion and frustration as the DA charged the husband of O’Connell’s housekeeper with murder, a motive yet to be known. Now, the community prays that funeral services will bring a sense of peace.
Dyer suggested it was a powerful moment for L.A.
“I believe the power of the Spirit is moving among use here in Los Angeles in ways I’ve never experienced before,” said Dyer. “That’s how I interpret this response of the people around us and ourselves in the church.”
Services will continue on Thursday with a public viewing at Our Lady Cathedral of the Angels from 10 a.m. to noon and 1 p.m. to 6 p.m., followed by a vigil Mass at 7 p.m. They will conclude on Friday with an 11 a.m. funeral Mass also at Our Lady Cathedral of the Angels.
They will be livestreamed at lacatholics.org/bishop-connell/.
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