The first of three back-to-back funeral services for Auxiliary Bishop David O’Connell begins tonight, the culmination of several days of mourning since the Archdiocese’s top priest in the San Gabriel Valley was found shot to death Feb. 18 in his Hacienda Heights home.
L.A. Archbishop José Gomez will lead tonight’s 7 p.m. memorial Mass at St. John Vianney Catholic Church, the home parish for the beloved O’Connell. 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.
For many across L.A. County’s Roman Catholic community, beloved is perhaps too weak a word to describe the late priest and his impact in the region.
O’Connell, 69, 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.
Given that the spiritual leader meant so many things to so many people, he will be honored with three days in a row of funeral services, the first of which begins today at O’Connell’s own parish of St. John Vianney. The church is located just around the corner from O’Connell’s Hacienda Heights home, where he was shot and killed on Feb. 18.
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.
“He was a peacemaker with a heart for the poor and the immigrant, and he had a passion for building a…
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