Funeral, prayer services scheduled to honor slain L.A. bishop
Roman Catholic Auxiliary Bishop David G. O’Connell, a beloved religious leader who was killed last week at his home in Hacienda Heights, will be honored at a Sunday prayer service in Anaheim.
Archbishop José H. Gomez will preside over the Orange County service, which will take place this year during the Religious Education Congress, an annual four-day gathering of Catholics sponsored by the Archdiocese of Los Angeles. The service begins at 11:30 a.m. at the Anaheim Convention Center and is open to all attending the meeting. Others can tune into the service online.
O’Connell, 69, who had been a priest and bishop in LA County for nearly half a century, was found shot to death at his home in the 1500 block of Janlu Avenue on the afternoon of Feb. 18, authorities said.
In a statement after O’Connell’s death, Gomez called the bishop a “man of deep prayer” and “a peacemaker with a heart for the poor and immigrants.”
Gómez said O’Connell had a “passion for building a community where the sanctity and dignity of every human life was honored and protected. He was also a good friend and I will miss him very much. I know we all will.’
Carlos Medina, a handyman whose wife worked as O’Connell’s housekeeper, has been charged with murder. Law enforcement officials have not yet disclosed a motive. distance Attention. George Gascon convicted O’Connell’s murder as a “brutal act of violence against an individual who dedicated his life to making our neighborhoods safer and healthier and who always served with love.”
O’Connell earned the title of bishop in 2015, according to the website of the Archdiocese.
Born in 1953 in County Cork, Ireland, O’Connell was appointed Auxiliary Bishop for the Archdiocese by Pope Francis in 2015. He studied for the priesthood at All Hallows College, Dublin, and was ordained to serve in the archdiocese in 1979. .
O’Connell ministered for 14 years at St. Frances X. Cabrini in South Los Angeles and became the pastor of nearby Ascension. He oversaw not only two congregations of about 4,000 families each, but also two schools that together serve about 500 students from kindergarten through eighth grade.
Memorial and funeral services are scheduled this week in Los Angeles.
A memorial mass will be held at St. John Vianney Catholic Church at 7:00 PM on Wednesday
On Thursdays there is a public viewing in the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. and from 1 p.m. to 6 p.m. A vigil will be held at 7:00 PM.
A funeral service will be held on Friday in the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels.
All events are streamed live on the website for the Archdiocese of Los Angeles.