It was at a San Fernando Mission retreat in September when Isaac Cuevas was immediately struck by the sound of an unplanned devotional hymn, its melody echoing during a moment of quiet reflection and prayer.
Within seconds, Cuevas and his fellow worshipers thought of one person who wasn’t there — physically, anyway.
“Everybody’s heads turned and we started to look at each other, saying ‘Oh my gosh. This is Bishop David’s song. He’s here.”
It was the same song — “I Love You Lord and I Lift My Voice” — that Bishop David O’Connell used to lead 3,000 young folks in prayer during the National Catholic Youth Conference in Long Beach, just two years ago.
O’Connell, a beloved leader within the L.A. Roman Catholic diocese and beyond, loved that song. And many who knew him knew it.
It was a reminder that months after his death, O’Connell, the charismatic former episcopal vicar for the L.A. Archdiocese’ San Gabriel Pastoral Region, has been anything but forgotten.
It was one year ago, Feb. 18, when O’Connell, 69, was found shot and killed in the bedroom of his Hacienda Heights home.
The priest’s death stunned Southern California’s Roman Catholic community: Popular, nationally known priest. A man of the people. An advocate for the forgotten. Funny. Outspoken. A peacemaker shot dead.
Just days after a mass shooting in nearby Monterey Park, it sent ripples from L.A. to the White House and from the Vatican to O’Connell’s native Ireland.
In the days ahead, local Roman Catholic churches from Long Beach to L.A. and in the San Gabriel Valley will remember him.
The Church’s Religious Education Congress, a mammoth annual gathering of Catholics each year in Anaheim, will save a special moment near its end on Sunday to reflect on O’Connell.
On Feb. 24, a special Mass will be held at the San Gabriel Mission, where items belonging to him, such as his handwritten notes, a Bible, Rosary, a book of jokes, will be displayed.
But a…
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