“We now all have the opportunity to pick up where he left off and to carry the example that he set,” he added. “Help those that you can help … be considerate and give others the benefit of the doubt.”
Los Angeles Archbishop José Gómez addressed parishioners and O’Connell’s family, saying that even though the bishop will be missed “in an extraordinary way in our lives and in the life of the church … we know that he’s in heaven.”
“From there, he’s going to continue to intercede for us as he has done his whole life,” Gómez said.
O’Connel had been episcopal vicar for the archdiocese’s San Gabriel Pastoral Region since 2015, when Pope Francis named him an auxiliary, according to Angelus News, the L.A. Archdiocese’s news outlet. He had worked in the L.A. diocese for 45 years.
Born in County Cork, Ireland, in 1953, O’Connell studied for the priesthood at All Hallows College in Dublin and was ordained to serve in the Archdiocese of Los Angeles in 1979, according to Angelus News.
After ordination, O’Connell worked in South Central L.A. parishes and focused on gang intervention. He worked to mediate peace between residents and law enforcement following the violent 1992 uprising after a jury acquitted four white L.A. police officers in the beating of Rodney King.
Maria Reyna outside the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels on Friday, March 3, 2023, in Los Angeles. RNS photo by Alejandra Molina
Maria Reyna attended the Mass on Friday and recalled meeting O’Connell while he visited her parish in South Central L.A. She remembers his kindness and his smile. “Everybody knows him in the community and would speak fondly of him,” she said.
Although Reyna only met O’Connell that one time, she said he left a lasting impression. She was saddened to see O’Connell die violently, given the work he did in uniting others.
“It was important for me to be here to bid him farewell from this world,” she said.
Sergio Lopez, with Catholic Relief Services, outside the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels in downtown Los Angeles. RNS photo by Alejandra Molina
Sergio Lopez, with Catholic Relief Services, attended the Mass and said he worked with O’Connell through an inter-diocesan immigration task force. He recalled visiting the U.S.-Mexico border in 2017 with O’Connell and other leaders just as the travel ban to Muslim-majority countries had been announced.
Being with O’Connell and others working on immigration issues during that time, he said, “really inspired me at a moment that was very difficult for me.”
“I knew from one of the very first moments that I met him that there was something really special about him,” Lopez said.
Clergy exit the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angel after the funeral Mass for Bishop David O’Connell on Friday, March 3, 2023, in Los Angeles. RNS photo by Alejandra Molina
This article originally appeared here.
