Angelus News | March 24, 2023 | Vol. 8 No. 6

ANGELUS
Bishop David G. O'Connell
1953-2023
March 24, 2023 Vol. 8 No. 6

B • ANGELUS • March 24, 2023

ANGELUS
March 24, 2023
Vol. 8 • No. 6
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ON THE COVER
VICTOR ALEMÁN
Bishop David G. O’Connell of Los Angeles at his installation
Mass as auxiliary bishop at the Chapel of the Annunciation in
San Gabriel in November 2015. In this special issue of Angelus,
we pay tribute to a beloved bishop and courageous missionary
who won hearts and souls for Jesus Christ wherever he went.
Our team coverage begins on Page 10 with a chronicle of LA’s
three-day farewell to its beloved ‘Bishop Dave,’ and later, on
Page 16, stories and perspectives from his closest loved ones
about his vocation and ties to his homeland.
THIS PAGE
VICTOR ALEMÁN
Archbishop José H. Gomez celebrated a
special March 1 Memorial Mass for Bishop
O’Connell at St. John Vianney Church
in Hacienda Heights, the first of three
liturgies for the slain auxiliary. In his homily
at the Mass, his friend Msgr. Timothy Dyer
remembered O’Connell’s ability to throw
out a “wide net” that connected people in
need with the help of others.
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CONTENTS
Archbishop Gomez..................................................................................................................... 3
World, Nation, and Local News.......................................................................................... 4-6
In Other Words............................................................................................................................. 7
Events Calendar......................................................................................................................... 45
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24
28
32
34
38
40
42
In South LA, the bridges built by ‘Father Dave’ endure
What young people, immigrants meant to Bishop O’Connell
LA priests remember a brother who was ‘the real deal’
Angelus’ founding editor pays personal tribute to Bishop O’Connell
John Allen on what’s expected of Pope Francis’ ‘Council of Cardinals 2.0’
Mike Aquilina on how Lent became Lent
Heather King reviews a St. Joseph ‘guidebook’
March 24, 2023 • ANGELUS • 1

NEW WORLD OF FAITH
ARCHBISHOP JOSÉ H. GOMEZ
Saying goodbye to our friend
This has been a time of mourning
for the family of God here in
Los Angeles, as we have lost a
beloved friend, Auxiliary Bishop David
O’Connell.
We laid him to rest March 3 following
a beautiful funeral Mass celebrated at
the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels.
He was a holy priest and bishop
and a man of peace. And we will miss
him.
For the Christian, death is not the
end, but a new beginning. The saints
teach us that in the evening of our
lives, we will be judged by our love.
And Bishop Dave loved and served
Jesus with all his heart and all his
strength. 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.
So we are confident that he is with
the Lord in heaven, and of course, that
is where we all want to be.
In these days, we have witnessed
a great outpouring of affection and
support from around the world. The
president and first lady sent condolences.
Pope Francis, who appointed
Bishop Dave in 2015, sent a beautiful
message that he asked me to deliver to
the family of God.
The Holy Father had appointed
two other auxiliary bishops for Los
Angeles on the same day as Bishop
Dave — Bishop Joseph Brennan, who
now leads the Diocese of Fresno, and
Bishop Robert Barron, who now heads
the Diocese of Rochester-Winona in
Minnesota.
In the years after their appointment
here, when I would visit Rome, the
Holy Father would ask me with a smile
about how “the triplets” were doing.
He had such genuine pastoral affection
for them.
The pope was deeply saddened by
Bishop Dave’s death.
In his message for us, he praised his
“years of devoted priestly and episcopal
ministry to the Church in Los Angeles,
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 is a beautiful remembrance of a
life lived solely for Jesus Christ and his
Gospel.
An Irish immigrant, Bishop Dave
was a good friend to Los Angeles,
serving the people of this city for nearly
four decades, in some of our poorest
neighborhoods. He is still the only
person I have ever known who could
speak fluent Spanish with an Irish
accent.
And while this is a time of sadness
and mourning, it was a blessing to see
so many of our neighbors, including
many who are not Catholic, turning
out to celebrate his life.
Over three days of liturgies and a public
viewing at the cathedral, thousands
came to pray and pay their respects;
many more viewed these liturgies
on our internet and social media
channels. His life was celebrated in
mainstream media.
Personally, I will miss the sound of his
laughter, and his sense of humor. His
episcopal motto was “Jesus, I trust in
you,” and the example of his confidence
in the Gospel will continue to
inspire me.
Bishop Dave everywhere encouraged
the “Gospel reflection process” — for
families, parishes, and ministries. He
would say that the living word of God
“becomes real” when we pray and listen
to the Gospel with others and share
our reflections.
He spoke often about how we need to
be “doers” of the word, reminding us of
what Jesus said: “Blessed are those who
hear the word of God and keep it.”
I will also remember and keep in
my heart his warm and filial devotion
to Mary our Blessed Mother and his
dedication to praying the rosary.
And as we remember his extraordinary
life, let us keep him in our hearts
and renew our commitment to live as
he did — all for Jesus Christ and his
Gospel, staying close to Jesus and sharing
the love of God with the people in
our lives.
Our friend Bishop Dave has reached
his destination. As he walked with Jesus
and served him in life, in death he shares
now in the fullness of his resurrection,
in the love that never ends.
So, as we continue to pray for the repose
of his soul, let us ask his intercession
as we continue our own walk with
Jesus on the road to heaven.
We thank God for the gift of his life!
Pray for me and I will pray for you.
And let us continue to pray for Bishop
Dave’s family; may God grant them
peace and consolation.
And let us ask Our Lady of Guadalupe
to wrap our friend in the mantle
of her love, and with the angels lead
him into paradise, that he may rest in
peace.
March 24, 2023 • ANGELUS • 3

WORLD
■ UN calls for Nicaraguan
bishop’s release
The United Nations’ High Commissioner for Human
Rights demanded that Nicaragua’s dictator release Bishop
Rolando Álvarez and other political prisoners.
On Feb. 25, President Daniel Ortega sentenced the
56-year-old bishop of Matagalpa to more than 25 years in
prison for being a “traitor to the homeland.”
The sentence was issued just one day after the regime
stripped 222 political prisoners of their citizenship and
shipped them to the U.S.
Álvarez refused to be deported with the others, provoking
his imprisonment.
In a wide-ranging report, the U.N. commissioner decried
Ortega’s repression and urged him to release Álvarez and
other political prisoners and “restore citizenship and other
civil, political, social, and economic rights” in the country.
Then-Father Jacques Mourad in 2015. | CNS/DOREEN ABI RAAD
■ Syria: ISIS hostage named archbishop
Kidnapped from his monastery in Syria in 2015, Father
Jacques Mourad spent five months as a prisoner of Islamic
State terrorists. Now, he’s the new archbishop of Homs,
Syria. Mourad recalled a jihadist putting a knife to his throat
and threatening him with death unless he converted to
Islam, but he and his fellow hostage kept the faith. “We are
disciples of Jesus crucified and risen,” he told Catholic News
Agency.
An Eastern-rite Catholic, Mourad was ordained a bishop
March 3. He takes over a poor diocese that has been hard hit
by the civil war in Syria, which has continued since 2011.
“Most of our families are poor, and they’re getting poorer
due to the economic crisis that’s going on in our country due
to sanctions and corruption,” he said.
■ China: Government requires
registration to worship
A major province in China is mandating that believers
register online and receive approval before they can
attend worship services.
Officials in Henan, China, home to roughly 6% of
China’s population, rolled out the new “Smart Religion”
app March 6, according to the U.S.-based human rights
group, ChinaAid.
Under the new process, believers are required to provide
detailed personal information in order to receive a “reservation”
code that will allow them to worship.
ChinaAid said the app will be used by Communist
Party officials to further curtail religious freedoms in the
province.
A nurse looks after surrogate-born babies inside a special shelter outside Kyiv, Ukraine,
last March. | CNS/GLEB GARANICH, REUTERS
■ Abolitionists call for ban
on “wombs” for rent
Advocates from 70 countries are calling on world governments
to abolish surrogate pregnancy.
In a March 3 declaration issued at a meeting in Casablanca,
Morocco, the group said the practice, which is
legal or unregulated in many countries and several states
in the U.S., promotes the “commodification of women and
children.”
Organizer Aude Mirkovic, a French law professor, said
surrogacy brokers are exploiting poor women in countries
like Ukraine to bear children for wealthy couples in countries
like France and the U.S.
The group is urging nations to outlaw surrogacy and
prosecute those promoting and profiting from the practice.
Ultimately, advocates said they would like to see a United
Nations-sponsored convention banning surrogacy.
4 • ANGELUS • March 24, 2023

NATION
New York Mayor Eric Adams. | WIKIMEDIA COMMONS/MARC A. HERMANN/MTA
■ New York mayor talks
faith, raises eyebrows
Some surprising comments from the mayor of New York
have caused a small sensation in the Big Apple.
“Don’t tell me about no separation of church and state,”
said Mayor Eric Adams at an event with faith leaders last
month. “State is the body, church is the heart. You take
the heart out of the body, the body dies. I can’t separate my
belief because I’m an elected official.”
He also remarked that “when we took prayers out of
schools, guns came into schools.”
Criticism of the remarks led a spokesman to clarify that
Adams was not in fact opposed to the separation of church
and state.
Days later, Adams said that kids in the city “need some
form of spirituality” because “they’re not fighting against the
seen, they’re fighting against the unseen” in an environment
that is “just so painful for them.”
Adams, a Democrat, attended a Pentecostal church as a
child and has spoken openly about his prayer life.
■ Can smaller dioceses
produce more priests?
Big dioceses are feeling the vocations crisis more acutely,
according to a new report.
The study from the organization Vocation Ministry separated
dioceses into four tiers by population. They found
that smaller dioceses, which have a greater ratio of priests to
parishioners, had higher vocation rates.
Rhonda Gruenewald, the organization’s founder, called the
findings “proof to what many suspected.”
“If a priest is placed in a position where he serves 3,000
families, it is difficult for him to build relationships and
make time to invite men to discern the priesthood and mentor
them,” Gruenewald told Catholic News Agency.
■ States consider new threats
to seal of confession
Delaware is joining other states in taking aim at the seal of
confession despite objections from Church leaders.
A bill proposed in the state’s General Assembly earlier this
month would require priests to report information about
child abuse or neglect that they hear in the sacrament of
confession.
Priests are barred by canon law from repeating anything
shared during confession, and doing so incurs an automatic
excommunication that can only be overturned by the pope.
“The sacrament of confession and its seal of confession is
a fundamental aspect of the Church’s sacramental theology
and practice. It is nonnegotiable,” the diocese said in a
March 6 statement.
Similar legislation has been introduced in Vermont and
Utah, and a Kansas measure that would list clergy as mandatory
reporters of child abuse or neglect does not include
protections for religious confessions.
People pick up free food supplies at Catholic Charities center in Washington, D.C., in
2020. | CNS/CHAZ MUTH
■ End to food stamps bonus
could cause more hunger
A roll-back of COVID-era increases to food stamps will
raise food insecurity levels, Catholic leaders fear.
More than 30 states ended a program March 1 that added
an average of $95 a month to families who qualified for
the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP).
Another 18 states had previously ended the increased SNAP
benefits.
“People are suffering and this has major impacts,” said
David Stier of the Archdiocese of Philadelphia’s Nutritional
Development Service. Not having enough to eat can affect
children’s health, cognitive development, and future success
in life, Stier told OSV News.
March 24, 2023 • ANGELUS • 5

LOCAL
California Gov. Gavin Newsom in 2022. | CNS/LUCY NICHOLSON/REUTERS
■ Gov. Newsom hits out at Walgreens
over abortion pill decision
California Gov. Gavin Newsom said the state would end
a contract with pharmacy store chain Walgreens over its
decision not to provide an abortion pill in 21 Republican-led
states.
“California will not stand by as corporations cave to extremists
and cut off critical access to reproductive care and
freedom,” Newsom said in a statement.
Mifepristone is one of two pills typically used in chemical
abortions.
The state’s contract with Walgreens allowed California to
obtain specialty prescription drugs primarily to be used by
the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation.
The renewal of the $54 million contract was set to take
effect on May 1.
A Walgreens spokesman said the decision not to renew was
based on “false and misleading information.” The chain
clarified that it “plans to dispense Mifepristone in any jurisdiction
where it is legally permissible to do so.”
■ New Cristo Rey high
school to open in OC
A new Catholic high school is coming to Southern California.
Cristo Rey Orange County High School in Santa Ana will
open to freshman students in fall 2023, making it one of
38 schools nationwide (including Verbum Dei Jesuit High
School in Watts) that are part of the Cristo Rey network. The
schools use a unique work-study model to provide a Catholic
school education to students who might not otherwise be
able to afford it.
Tuition will be paid half by Cristo Rey’s Corporate Work
Student Program, where students will work five days a month
in an entry-level professional job for all four years of high
school. The other half will be funded through philanthropic
efforts.
Several agencies, businesses, and nonprofit organizations
have told Cristo Rey they would commit to hiring students as
part of the program, OC Catholic reported.
■ Biden offers condolences after
Bishop O’Connell’s death
President Joe Biden expressed condolences for the death of
Bishop David O’Connell at a White House press briefing.
“The president and the first lady join Archbishop Gomez,
the Archdiocese of Los Angeles, and the entire Catholic
community in the mourning of Bishop David O’Connell,”
said press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre March 1 in response
to a question from EWTN reporter Owen Jensen.
“We also express our sympathy and prayers for the family
and friends of the bishop, who will certainly remember his
legacy of service to those on the margins of society,” added
Jean-Pierre.
Bishop O’Connell visits with family members of incarcerated inmates during a “Get
On The Bus” event at Folsom Prison in 2016 organized by the Center For Restorative
Justice Works. | R.W. DELLINGER
■ ‘Shalom Project’ to launch
in honor of Bishop O’Connell
The California bishops’ Restorative Justice Standing
Committee is launching “The Shalom Project” in honor
of Auxiliary Bishop David O’Connell, who was chair of the
committee prior to his death.
The project will feature a year-long series of workshops that
teaches and promotes peace and reconciliation through Gospel
reflections, trainings, resources, and support. The first
event in the series was scheduled to be held on March 21.
O’Connell was the driving force behind the project, said
Debbie McDermott, executive assistant and associate
director for Restorative Justice for the California Catholic
Conference.
“He just felt that we needed to have this space to be together
and visit one another ... to have the building blocks of
restorative justice toward being peacemakers,” McDermott
said.
Y
6 • ANGELUS • March 24, 2023

V
IN OTHER WORDS...
Letters to the Editor
The Bishop O’Connell that I knew
My heart is still in mourning for Bishop Dave. I knew him when I was
the director of Faith Formation at St. Andrew Church in Pasadena, and
my family has many wonderful memories of him.
What I will always remember is Bishop Dave’s great respect for all those who
serve in our ministries. He always made a point to thank us, and cheer us up with
a joke when we were weary or discouraged. He inspired our discipline, gave us
hope, and appreciated the work we do.
I will also miss seeing Bishop Dave smiling and spending time with our children,
especially teens. He always reminded them of the immense love that Mary has
for them, and how much Jesus wants to be present in their lives. He would share
personal stories of overcoming challenges, and how, through prayer, one can truly
experience the healing power and peace of Jesus.
We still pray the prayer he taught us: “Jesus, I love you. Jesus, I adore you. Jesus,
come into my heart,” on our way to school every morning!
— Isabel Spillane, Eagle, ID
Tackling Cardinal McElroy’s ‘radical’ proposal
Charles Camosy’s “Deciding Who’s In” in the March 10 issue seems to imply
that Cardinal Robert McElroy’s recent statements on “radical inclusion” extends a
welcome to some people seen as engaging in sinful behavior.
McElroy’s point, however, is to propose a reconsideration of how we think of sinful
behavior, perhaps especially of the belief that every sexual sin is a mortal sin.
As a moral theologian, Camosy should engage with the three main elements of
Catholic teaching that ground McElroy’s argument: (1) everyone is wounded by
sin and in need of God’s grace and healing; (2) priority of conscience; and (3) the
Eucharist as a profound grace in our conversion to discipleship.
Unlike Camosy’s proposed “via media,” which does not really resolve the pastoral/doctrinal
controversy, McElroy looks for resolution in the guidance of the Holy
Spirit in the coming sessions of the synodal process.
— Robert V. Caro, SJ, Loyola Marymount University
Y
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Carrying Bishop
Dave with them
Mourners at Bishop David O’Connell’s March
3 funeral wore pins with his episcopal motto
“Jesus, I trust in you” at the March 3 funeral
Mass. | JAY L. CLENDENIN/LA TIMES
View more photos
from this gallery at
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like to share? Please send to editorial @angelusnews.com.
“We imagine anyone
who needs help to thrive
as a ‘burden’ — both on
themselves and on the
culture at large.”
~ Charles Camosy, in a Feb. 28 Religion News Service
column, “Is the consumerist West headed toward
killing those with dementia?”
“I kind of emptied myself
into it. I have this fulfillment
and joy now that it is
finished.”
~ Sister Chilee Okoko, a San Bernardino nun, to the
Inland Catholic Byte on the recent completion of a
hospital in her hometown in Nigeria.
“I don’t think we can afford
to be that ideologically fussy
at a time when the gospel
message has to get out.”
~ Bishop Robert Barron, in a March 3 Washington
Post article, “Catholic leaders turn to YouTube and
podcasts to reach new followers. Will it work?”
“We’ve lost respect for
unpaid caregiving and
we no longer treat it as a
profession.”
~ Emily Perea, a stay-at-home wife and mother, in a
March 7 Today.com article on the growing ‘tradwife’
movement.
“God certainly does not
‘want’ such things, but
he ‘allows’ them to make
man understand where his
rejection leads.”
~ Cardinal Raniero Cantalamessa, preacher of the
Papal Household, on the sins described by St. Paul in
his Letter to the Romans in a Lenten homily March 11.
March 24, 2023 • ANGELUS • 7

Gripped by GRACE
Bishop David O’Connell’s funeral paid tribute to his
humanity, humor, and deep love for Jesus Christ.
BY ANGELUS STAFF
Msgr. Jarlath Cunnane settled
himself at the ambo with
a homily ready to share at
the funeral Mass for his great friend,
Los Angeles Auxiliary Bishop David
O’Connell.
Nearly 5,000 had shown up at the Cathedral
of Our Lady of the Angels the
morning of Friday, March 3, including
those standing in crowded aisles and
ambulatories, or seated outside with access
to large video screens, plus many
more following via livestream.
“It’s Bishop Dave we’re talking about
here,” said Cunnane, better known as
“Father Jay,” a classmate of O’Connell’s
since their seminary days in
Ireland in 1971. “So I’ve got to start
with a joke.”
This one had to do with a vat of
Guinness, the iconic stout Irish beer —
“all black with a white collar — a bit
like a priest actually,” Cunnane began.
A visitor taking a tour of the brewery
dove into the vat. The guide climbed
the steps and found the man praying:
“Lord, grant me a mouth worthy of this
occasion.”
The congregation laughed appropriately,
even if they had heard it before
from the mouth
of O’Connell.
But today
Cunnane said
that he, too,
was praying the
Lord would
give him a
A picture of Bishop David
O’Connell is seen next to his
coffin during his March 3
funeral Mass at the Cathedral
of Our Lady of the Angels.
| JAY L. CLENDENIN/LA TIMES
mouth worthy of this occasion: paying
homage to a man he’d walked with for
six decades.
To Cunnane, O’Connell was a man
“gripped by grace,” someone who
“healed souls” in his ministry and
could be “at ease with the movers and
10 • ANGELUS • March 24, 2023

the shakers, and also with the moved
and shaken.” He was the friend who
showed up for a weekly dinner meeting
with a dog leash in one hand and his
Padre Pio rosary in the other as he
waited.
Above all, O’Connell’s friendship was
the embodiment of the phrase “Anam
Cara,” the Celtic concept of having a
friend of the soul.
“You’re blessed if you have a soul
friend,” said Cunnane, the pastor of
St. Cornelius Church in Long Beach.
“And I was blessed to have David. …
I was better for having known David
O’Connell. Many of you were too,
were you not?”
The burst of applause from the congregation
suggested that they had.
A man ‘seized by the Lord’
For Friday’s final farewell to LA’s
ultimate “peacemaker,” in the words
of Archbishop José H. Gomez, it was
befitting of O’Connell to see priests
attending along with parishioners.
Outside, a gaggle of nuns followed by
long, yellow school buses pulling up
to the curb to drop off more mourners
could be seen. Those who couldn’t
get a seat inside found places to stand.
Others chose to sit outside on the
Cathedral Plaza, using umbrellas as
shade. As the two-hour liturgy went on,
many continued to filter in, gravitating
toward the back end of the plaza,
simply wanting to be present.
Inside, Archbishop Gomez presided
a Mass with three cardinals — Roger
Mahony of LA, Blase Cupich of
Chicago, and Robert McElroy of San
Diego — as well as 34 bishops and
more than 75 priests at the altar.
The respect O’Connell enjoyed from
the interfaith community was also on
display, with delegates in attendance
representing Jewish, Hindu, Buddhist,
Sikh, Evangelical Lutheran, Mormon,
and Protestant faith traditions.
An ensemble choir with musicians
from St. Andrew and St. Philip churches
in Pasadena, St. Denis Church in
Diamond Bar, Sacred Heart Church
in Covina, St. Frances of Rome
Church in Azusa, St. Charles Borromeo
Church in North Hollywood, the
Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels,
and Bishop Amat High School in La
Puente, provided music for many still
in shock about O’Connell’s death at
his home in Hacienda Heights on Feb.
18 at the age of 69.
At the start of the liturgy, Archbishop
Gomez said an opening prayer
and placed the Book of the Gospels
on O’Connell’s casket in the back of
the church. Then entered the bishops,
followed by O’Connell’s family,
processing as the words attributed to St.
Patrick echoed through the cathedral
in song: “Christ with me, Christ before
me, Christ behind me, Christ in me.”
After Communion, the choir sang
another Irish hymn, “Lady of Knock,”
to whom O’Connell had a lifelong
devotion: “Golden Rose, Queen of Ireland,
all my cares and troubles cease.
As we kneel with love before you, Lady
of Knock, my Queen of Peace.”
Other dignitaries at the funeral
included LAPD Chief Michel Moore,
former Los Angeles Mayors Eric Garcetti
and Jim Hahn, former LA County
Sheriff Jim McDonnell, LA County
Supervisor Janice Hahn, Los Angeles
District Attorney George Gascón, and
several other civic leaders who called
O’Connell a friend over the years.
Moore later told reporters that he met
then-Father O’Connell more than 20
years ago as a young LAPD captain in
the Rampart Division.
“He was plain-spoken, down to earth,
his heart was about the people. It was
also about our law enforcement, our
men and women who go out and make
the sacrifices they make. We don’t
always get it right, but he had a heart of
compassion and he worried about [the
officers] as much as he worried about
anyone else. That’s why he was such an
effective bridge-builder.”
Cunnane echoed that, saying in his
homily that O’Connell “wasn’t just my
good friend. Friendship is something
he was good at. He has friends young
and old, far and
wide … he has
friends up and
down the social
scale, at ease in
the corridors of
power and with
the powerless.”
In calling him
a man “gripped
by grace,”
Mourners stand in the back
of the cathedral during the
Friday morning funeral Mass
for Bishop O’Connell. Nearly
5,000 people attended the
funeral, including hundreds
who followed on a screen on
the Cathedral Plaza outside.
| JAY L. CLENDENIN/LA TIMES
Cunnane said O’Connell was “seized
by the Lord, like Jeremiah [who] said,
‘Lord, you seduced me, and I let myself
be seduced; you were stronger and
you triumphed.’
‘My heart wanted to see him’
After the Friday funeral Mass, O’Connell
was laid to rest in the cathedral
mausoleum, making him the second
bishop to be buried in the underground
crypt. The first was Bishop
John Ward, a longtime LA auxiliary
and one of the longest-surviving
March 24, 2023 • ANGELUS • 11

ishops to participate in the Second
Vatican Council before his death in
2011.
The three-day tribute to O’Connell
began with a Wednesday night memorial
service at St. John Vianney Church
in Hacienda Heights, followed on
Thursday by an all-day public viewing
and vigil Mass.
During the viewing, the sound of
hymns like “Salve Regina” and “La
Guadalupana”echoed through the
cathedral as hundreds of visitors waited
in line to spend a few moments before
O’Connell’s open
casket, while others
sang or prayed
from the pews.
“It’s definitely
sad, but also a
reminder of how
temporary life is,”
said 16-year-old
Joseph Santhosh
after spending
a few moments
Msgr. Jarlath “Jay”
Cunnane, a close friend
of Bishop O’Connell
since their seminary
days in Ireland, gives
holy Communion at the
March 3 funeral Mass.
| VICTOR ALEMÁN
inside, where O’Connell’s body was
dressed in a chasuble of Our Lady of
Guadalupe and his head with a plain
white mitre.
Santhosh attends Our Lady of the
Assumption Church in Claremont,
on the eastern edge of the San Gabriel
Pastoral Region that O’Connell had
overseen since 2015. He’d met O’Connell
several times with his family.
“He was like a father figure,” said Santhosh.
“And the legacy he left behind
shows that the Catholic Church that
he served has really
made a difference
here in LA.”
Reina Sarabia
drove from
Phoenix to pay
her respects to
O’Connell, whom
she first met at St.
Frances X. Cabrini
Archbishop José H.
Gomez places the
Book of the Gospels
on Bishop O’Connell’s
casket at the start of
the funeral Mass.
| JAY L. CLENDENIN/
LA TIMES
Church in South LA in the late ’80s.
He was the priest who baptized her
children, gave her spiritual direction,
and even helped her become a U.S.
citizen by inviting immigration officials
for citizenship workshops at the parish.
“He was a great priest. For me, the
best,” said Sarabia, originally from El
Salvador. “I have so many good memories.
It’s a great privilege and a miracle
to be here because my heart wanted to
see him. He left a mark in my life.”
At a vigil Mass later that evening,
Mahony remembered O’Connell as
someone who was “incredible in empowering
and sending forth everyone
he met.
“He didn’t go himself to the City
Council, he brought parishioners,
informed, and they were the ones to
raise their voices,” he said. “He helped
in their formation, but they were the
ones.”
Mahony also invited those present
to ponder the source of O’Connell’s
“wisdom for all his marvelous pastoral
works.”
The answer, Mahony preached, was
in the “inner core” of O’Connell’s
spiritual power, “a secret place you and
I all have as well … where our spirit,
our soul, our heart, our mind converge
with God, Jesus, the Holy Spirit.”
An example to carry on
In a eulogy delivered at the end of
Friday’s Mass, O’Connell’s nephew
reminded those mourning his passing
that “we all have an opportunity to pick
up where he left off and carry on the
12 • ANGELUS • March 24, 2023

example that he set.”
“Lend an ear and listen to people,”
said David O’Connell, who shared a
name with his uncle. “Respect each
other. Be considerate and give others
the benefit of the doubt. Have patience
and give everyone a chance.”
O’Connell “liked being a comedian,
but he had a day job that seemed to
be going better for him,” he added,
drawing laughter.
“He taught us if we have the capacity
to help someone, you should do it,” he
continued. “All he wanted to do was
make things easier for everyone else,
and never asked for a single thing in
return.”
The message was clear even to people
like Ramon and Raquel Beltrán, who
didn’t know O’Connell personally but
Mourners pay their
respects to Bishop
O’Connell during a
daylong open-casket
public viewing
at the cathedral
Thursday, March 2.
| VICTOR ALEMÁN
felt the need to be at
the cathedral the day
of the viewing.
“Seeing him there,
he’s telling us to
be closer to Jesus
Christ and to do his
will here on earth as
best as we can,” said
Raquel, a parishioner
of Mother of Sorrows
Church in South LA.
The couple felt a connection to
O’Connell through his presence on
El Sembrador, a Spanish-language
Catholic TV station that would often
livestream O’Connell’s Masses. After
spending some time in prayer before
his casket, they were both confident in
the assurance from Archbishop Gomez
in the days since O’Connell’s murder.
“A lot of sadness is felt, but we know
that he’s with Jesus in his glory,” said
Raquel. “May he intercede for us now,
since he’s already with Jesus.”
Reporting courtesy of Tom Hoffarth,
Editor-In-Chief Pablo Kay, and Mike
Cisneros.

Saying GOODBYE to ‘Uncle Dave’
From across an ocean and a continent,
Bishop David O’Connell was a devoted family man.
BY PABLO KAY
David O’Connell as a seminarian in Ireland with his two oldest nieces, Ciara and Orla. | PHOTOS COURTESY OF O’CONNELL FAMILY
Christmas 2022 was like no other
for the O’Connells.
The family — nieces, nephews,
aunts, and uncles, most living in
Ireland — were accustomed to getting
together for the holidays. This year, 16
sat down for Christmas dinner in the
backyard of Bishop David O’Connell’s
home in Hacienda Heights to servings
of ham, turkey, and sweet potato mash.
It was their biggest gathering ever.
“We were thinking that if it was our
last time with Uncle Dave, then it was
the best time,” recalled his sister-inlaw
Paula O’Connell, who is wife of
O’Connell’s youngest brother, Kieran.
Such moments — filled with laughter,
food, and an endless supply of jokes
— are what the O’Connells brought
back home with them to Ireland after
traveling to Los Angeles to say their last
goodbyes to their uncle.
O’Connell, who was murdered Feb.
18 at his home, was laid to rest March
3 following a standing room-only funeral
at the Cathedral of Our Lady of
the Angels. The emotional two weeks
of tributes and memorial services saw
more than 10,000 turn out to pay their
respects for a priest and bishop who
served in some of LA’s poorest neighborhoods
for much of the past 40 years.
For his relatives, he was more than
“Bishop Dave.” He was also a beloved
and devoted family man who took an
intense interest in the lives of each of
his eight nieces and nephews and was
a constant source of encouragement
His family remembers O’Connell as a good student
with a rebellious streak.
16 • ANGELUS • March 24, 2023

’
and love — even from an ocean and a
continent away.
“There aren’t words to describe how
a bishop could support family life so
strongly,” said Paula.
It was a bond forged by experiences
of pain and joy for the family started by
O’Connell’s parents, David and Joan
O’Connell of County Cork, Ireland, in
the 1940s.
David was born in 1953, the third of
the couple’s five children. To support
the family, his father maintained the
family farm in Brooklodge, outside the
city of Cork, while also working for
a local sugar company, among other
jobs.
That work ethic passed easily from
father to son.
The future bishop “was always a hard
worker,” Kieran said, recalling that his
older brother would finish his work on
the farm before everyone else — and
then proceed to help them with theirs.
“He’d be the one you go to just to get
the stuff done,” said Kieran, 63.
The young David was “a bit rebellious”
growing up, a middle child who
liked good jokes and even became
“a bit wild” during his teenage years.
But when it came to his calling in life,
Kieran said, there never seemed to be
much doubt.
“He always wanted to be a priest,” he
told Angelus.
The boy’s faith was nurtured by his
mother, a woman of deep devotion
who would bring David on pilgrimage
to the shrine of Our Lady of Knock in
northwest Ireland every year. During
his high school years, he enrolled at
Farranferris College, the local minor
seminary.
Then came a trial that would mark
the family’s lives — and their faith —
forever: the sudden death of the patriarch,
David Sr., from a heart attack at
the age of 53.
In the shock and upheaval that
followed, David was “the one that kept
us together,” a “connector” who made
sure that each of us siblings had what
they needed, Kieran recalled.
Their mother turned to prayer for
consolation. Prayer, too, helped
O’Connell forge ahead with the
difficult decision to leave for Dublin to
enter the seminary.
But before leaving, O’Connell had
another fateful
experience that
would change his
life. He would
tell his family the
story of how one
day at seminary
one of his teachers,
the future
bishop of Cork,
Father John
Buckley, asked
David about his
plans for the
summer.
“I don’t know,”
David answered.
“What are you
doing for the
summer?”
Buckley
explained that he was traveling to the
States to visit the newly appointed
archbishop of Los Angeles, Timothy
Manning, himself a Cork County
native.
“Sounds exciting,” O’Connell replied.
Buckley would go on to propose to
Manning that he recruit O’Connell to
serve in Los Angeles as a priest. The
rest is history.
“He would always say that one conversation
changed his whole life,” said
Paula.
Niece Ciara O’Connell remembered
the day, July 10, 1979, that her Uncle
Dave became “Uncle Father Dave.”
“It wasn’t like he was an uncle or a
priest,” said Ciara, who was six at the
time. “It just became a bigger part of
him … it was an and.”
In the years that followed, O’Connell
always made the most of family visits.
There were outings to Universal
Studios, trips to the mountains, and
dinners at restaurants they remember
as “exotic.” Kieran and Paula remember
arriving at LAX with their young
children to find O’Connell waiting
with a surprise. Once he was wearing
a (fake) long ponytail, another time a
green beard.
During stays at St. Frances X. Cabrini
Church — located in one of the
roughest parts of South LA — O’Connell
would make clear that the kids
were not to go beyond the parish gate.
After finishing Mass one day, O’Connell
discovered they had escaped by
O’Connell (far right) with this parents, three brothers, and sister in an family photo.
themselves to a donut shop down the
street.
“He came [out of Mass] and he was
nearly having a heart attack that they
had gone out on their own,” said Paula,
chuckling as she recalled the frantic
priest running down the street in
search of the children.
Other times, O’Connell, who like
many of his fellow LA priests had
learned Spanish in Mexico, would load
them in a van full of donated food, and
take them with him as he made one of
his regular trips across the border to an
orphanage in Tijuana, one of the many
“food runs” organized by his former
parish of St. Raymond in Downey.
“What a culture shock that was,”
Kieran recalled.
When it was O’Connell’s turn to visit
home, his nieces and nephews would
pile into the family car for the two-hour
ride to Shannon Airport in County
Clare.
“There was no room for David, because
we all wanted to go and pick him
up,” remembered Ciara. “He’d have a
suitcase full of gifts from Disneyland,
and a small bag of his own clothes.”
The trips were opportunities to
baptize his nephews and nephews,
and later, to celebrate their weddings.
Once, when Kieran was out of town on
business, David found himself accompanying
Paula to the hospital for the
delivery of one of her children. (“I am
a father, but I’m not the father,” she
remembered O’Connell explaining
March 24, 2023 • ANGELUS • 17

O’Connell (second from right) in an undated photo with fellow seminarians in Ireland.
with a smile.)
But even from afar, his family could
see changes in “Uncle Dave.” The
years after the 1992 LA Riots were a
particularly “tough time” for his brother,
Kieran said, as he bore the tensions
of negotiations with police officials and
local gangs in efforts to bring peace to
South Central.
Kieran noticed that as he got older,
O’Connell tried focusing more on
parish and community work. His spirituality
changed, too.
“I felt that his faith got more distilled,
and he was more sure of his faith,” said
Kieran. When it came to preaching,
O’Connell “knew what he wanted
to say because it came from real life
experience.”
That faith became a bedrock for his
nieces and nephews, who came to
confide in O’Connell during visits or
over the phone.
When it came to career plans,
O’Connell was their number one
supporter, encouraging them to trust
in God’s plan and the Blessed Mother’s
help in making decisions. Every
text message from O’Connell, they
fondly recalled, ended with his favorite
signature: a green shamrock and a
sunglasses emoji.
In recent years, O’Connell’s yearning
for his family seemed to grow, Ciara
said.
Their last moments together were
spent in the chaos of the LAX Airport
departures area at the end of their
Christmas trip. The children were
being dropped off in one car, while
Kieran and Paula were being taken
by O’Connell in another. The bishop
wanted a quick farewell.
“Dave never liked to say goodbye to
us,” said Paula. “It was too painful for
him.”
The younger O’Connells were getting
out several cars ahead of their uncle’s.
But Paula wouldn’t let him leave until
his nieces and nephews had a chance
to say a proper goodbye.
On the busy terminal sidewalk they
said their goodbyes, not knowing it
would be their last.
“They all ran and they put their arms
around him, hugging him before he
left,” she remembered through tears.
“Thank God we did that.”
Pablo Kay is the editor-in-chief of Angelus.

To Bishop O’Connell, the man who could
communicate with everyone, unify anyone
at odds and who made people feel loved
through his charity and leadership.
Rest in peace my friend.
Roman Catholic
The Most Reverend Joseph V. Brennan, D.D.
and the Dioceses of Fresno

Soul FRIENDS to the end
Sustained by a
friendship spanning
more than 50 years,
two Irish priests found
joy in their vocations
serving in some of LA’s
toughest corners.
BY GREGORY ORFALEA
To remember his dear friend
Bishop David O’Connell, Msgr.
Jarlath “Jay” Cunnane resorted
to a joke that David often told to
explain the different characters of their
native counties in Ireland: Sligo and
Cork.
“A Cork man might leave without
saying goodbye,” said Cunnane in his
homily at O’Connell’s March 3 funeral
at the Cathedral of Our Lady of the
Angels. “A man of Sligo would say
goodbye, but he wouldn’t leave.”
A relief of laughter rippled through
the cathedral in that moment — humor
shrank it to a chapel. But the cruel
reality was lost on no one. O’Connell
had left this world without saying
goodbye.
Among the other friends he left quietly
was Martin Ashe, an auxiliary bishop
in Melbourne, Australia, who made
the trip to Los Angeles for O’Connell’s
funeral. Ashe, Cunnane, and O’Connell
had all been seminary mates at All
Hallows College in Dublin.
In their memories, O’Connell was
something of a rebel. There was the
time he and Ashe went to a comedy
club to interpret an onstage adaptation
of the popular Irish comedic television
twosome, Cha and Miah. O’Connell
played Miah, the clown to Cha’s more
serious philosopher.
“They were dressed in their long, old
grubby coats and caps sitting on a wall
on the street, cracking jokes,” as Ashe
Bishop David O’Connell and his close friend Msgr. Jarlath “Jay”
Cunnane during a visit to Glendalough, Ireland, in 2017. The two
first met in seminary in Ireland in 1971. | SUBMITTED PHOTO
described them.
The act earned them a summons to
the seminary rector’s office. A couple
of their jokes had pushed the envelope.
“Time to tone it down!” he told
O’Connell.
To Cunnane, who first met O’Connell
in 1971, those were best understood
as “rebellious times.”
“Let’s just say Dave would not have
been voted the most likely to succeed,
more likely — to be expelled from
seminary!”
He recalled the convener of the Second
Vatican Council, St. Pope John
XXIII, wanting to “open the windows
of the Church.”
“Well, Dave took that as an invitation
to jump out the seminary windows, to
go to town,” Cunnane smiled. “He was
inclined to challenge the staff members
in class.”
After O’Connell’s ordination to the
diaconate was initially held up in Dublin,
Cardinal Timothy Manning of Los
Angeles performed the deed in 1978,
one year after Cunnane arrived to LA
as a newly ordained priest.
What had brought each to the
priesthood in the first place? It may
20 • ANGELUS • March 24, 2023

have been solitude itself — and loss. In
Cunnane’s case, it was a disability: “My
struggles with stuttering drove me to
seek solace in prayer.”
For O’Connell, it was the death of
his beloved father when he was only
17. David Sr. died literally with his
beet field inspector’s boots on — red
wingtips that had been sent over from
relatives in America. Those American
red shoes were the last image the son
retained of his father.
“He had to change schools,” Cunnane
said. The world saw the antics
and rebelliousness. But inside something
else was going on. O’Connell
took long walks saying the rosary, musing
on the shortness of life, the urge to
do something greater in memory of his
much-beloved father.
Years later, the two would reflect on
the parallels in their callings.
“That pattern born of prayer out of
isolation and pain was for both of us an
essential part of the vocation,” Cunnane
recalled.
If isolation birthed it, community
was what helped the two Irishmen
halfway around the world grow in their
missionary vocations.
Soon they had the adventure of a lifetime,
arm-in-arm under the sunshine
of Southern California bringing back
parishes whose numbers were dwindling,
evangelizing the poorer sections
of South Los Angeles, advocating for
immigrants, and even mediating amid
great social upheavals, as O’Connell
did after the Rodney King riots.
“I really didn’t like the idea of being
a priest in Ireland,” O’Connell told
the Los Angeles Times in 2001. “You
spend 30 years being a curate, an associate
pastor — you’re a glorified altar
boy, basically. … Whereas here, there’s
so much to be done, you have a lot of
freedom to work hard.”
They were following a tradition, the
misty green to the dusty brown by the
Pacific Ocean — though always the
ocean! By the time O’Connell and
Cunnane were ordained, All Hallows
had produced some 4,000 priests since
the mid-19th century to serve around
the world — about 1,000 of them in
California.
Opposites attract, no doubt. Cunnane
is the fourth generation of his family
to serve in the Golden State. It began
with a great-great uncle who was pastor
in St. Patrick Church in Watsonville,
where many of the early artichoke,
berry, and potato farmers spoke Gaelic.
Both friends learned Spanish, a key
ingredient for success with many
Southland souls. They also brought
joy, zeal, and not a little humor.
Cunnane spent years at St. Thomas
the Apostle Church, a heavily Central
American immigrant parish in LA’s
Pico-Union neighborhood. O’Connell
won hearts at St. Frances X. Cabrini
Church on Imperial Highway east of
LAX Airport as pastor from 1987 to
1999, and at a handful of other parishes
in the area in the years that followed.
When Cunnane arrived in 2011 to
Our Lady of Grace Church in Encino,
my childhood parish, I witnessed the
upper middle-class suburban pews
begin to fill with Latino, African, and
Asian immigrant families. He left
in 2019 and went to St. Cornelius
Church in Long Beach to be near an
ailing brother. My mother, Rose, 95,
was among the many who lamented
Cunnane’s leaving.
In 2020, Cunnane suffered a dangerous
artery blockage to the heart.
O’Connell visited his old friend nearly
every day in the hospital for what they
came to call the “Kombucha run.”
As Cunnane explained it, “I had
developed a yearning for kombucha, or
anything that would put a taste in my
mouth.”
Over the years, the two shared their
mutual love of books at Thursday night
dinners together. They favored the
mid-century Irish poet Patrick Kavanaugh,
they quoted “Four Quartets” of
T.S. Eliot (“In my end is my beginning”),
as well as Robert Frost. They
were fond of the British novelist D.H.
Lawrence, whose classic “Women in
Love” contains one of literature’s great
male friendships (Birkin and Gerald),
whose women loves become friends,
too. O’Connell had a steady friendship
with the award-winning Irish novelist
who had settled in Malibu, Brian
Bishop O’Connell with friends
from his high school and seminary
days in Ireland after his
episcopal ordination in 2015.
| SUBMITTED PHOTO
Moore.
“I was more a ‘fool for books’ than
Dave,” Cunnane admitted, invoking
another Frost reference. “But he read
more deeply and remembered more.”
What does it mean to be a ‘fool for
books’? At one of my book signings for
my biography of St. Junípero Serra,
O’Connell came and sat in the front
row. I was nervous, to say the least.
But instead he beamed from ear to
ear and put me at ease. I was honored.
Another night we had dinner together
— Jay, David, and I — at Café Bizou
in Pasadena, which has sadly gone to
its Maker. We three all ordered rack of
lamb.
A real fool for books falls in love not
March 24, 2023 • ANGELUS • 21

Fathers O’Connell and
Cunnane with St. Pope
John Paul II at the Vatican
during an audience with
LA priests in 1989.
| SUBMITTED PHOTO
only with flesh-and-blood people, but
also with characters, which after all,
are timeless. Who can forget Hester
Prynne, Charles Darnay, Captain
Ahab, or Emma?
Cunnane didn’t forget Tom Joad of
Steinbeck’s “The Grapes of Wrath,”
and even quoted him at O’Connell’s
funeral as O’Connell himself had a
few months earlier in a homily at a
parish in Orange County: “Wherever
there is a fight for the hungry to eat, I’ll
be there. Wherever there is a victim of
violence to be comforted, I’ll be there.”
Characters like Tom Joad are not
real. But being timeless, they are, in a
sense, super-real. Perhaps it is in books
that we grasp the soul of man. That is
where the fools go. It is also, of course,
where we find Our Lord.
As Cunnane would recount later, the
pair’s last dinner was two days before
the bishop’s untimely death. They
passed on their usual grilled fish and
went all the way to Brentwood, where
the owners of a restaurant had long
been inviting them. A case of wine was
given to them as a fundraiser for youth
going to World Youth Day this summer
in Lisbon.
“We had a wonderful meal,” Cunnane
recalled with relish and a welling
of eyes. “We both broke down and
went for the lamb,” which, to him, was
“a fitting last supper menu.” Worthy is
the Lamb, indeed. As for O’Connell,
“he was in great form, full of plans, going
to invite me to speak at his parishes
concerning a new religious education
model.” Speak he did, quoting Yeats,
“Think where man’s glory most begins
and ends/And say my glory was I had
such friends.”
Gregory Orfalea is the author of 10
books, including the St. Junípero Serra
biography, “Journey to the Sun” (Scribner,
$28).

An APOSTLE of the inner-city
Nowhere did ‘Father Dave’ feel more at home than South LA, where he
spent nearly 30 years building bridges and touching souls.
BY PABLO KAY AND MIKE NELSON
Father David O’Connell first
arrived in Southern California
as a newly ordained priest from
Ireland in the summer of 1979. He was
looking forward, like many newcomers
to the region, to visiting Hollywood.
But he wasn’t sure how to get there.
So, one day while in South LA, he
approached a woman and politely
declared, “I’m new to the area. Is Hollywood
close by?”
The woman looked at him, smiled
and said, “No, honey, you’re in Watts.
We’re a long way from Hollywood.”
It was ironic, then, that O’Connell
went on to find unparalleled joy as a
priest serving the people and parishes
of South Los Angeles, a world apart
from the glamor of Hollywood.
Catholics who spent time with
O’Connell in South Los Angeles —
notably Deanery 16, where the future
bishop served for nearly 30 years as a
pastor in different parishes — remember
O’Connell as a leader, friend, and
brother who knew how to reach people
at the parish and in the streets.
“Bishop Dave was always there for
us,” said Anderson Shaw, director of
the African American Catholic Center
for Evangelization. “He stood in the
gap to help us, he knew how to get
the help we needed. He counseled us,
prayed with us, prayed for us — and
now we pray for
him.”
From 1988
to 2003, Msgr.
O’Connell served
as pastor of
twinned parishes
St. Frances X.
Cabrini Church
(on Imperial
Highway near
Then-Msgr. David
O’Connell with St. Frances
X. Cabrini Church
parishioners after Mass
on July 19, 2015, two
days before his appointment
as auxiliary bishop
by Pope Francis.
| JOHN RUEDA
Normandie) and Ascension Church (at
Figueroa and 112th Street). He then
moved north to pastor at St. Michael
Church (at Manchester and Vermont)
from 2003 to 2015, and concurrently
for a time as pastor of nearby St. Eu-
24 • ANGELUS • March 24, 2023

gene Church (on Haas near Van Ness).
His time at St. Frances coincided
with the lead-up to and aftermath of
the 1992 LA Riots, which left entire
city blocks in South Central destroyed
and brought tensions between various
ethnic communities and law enforcement
at a breaking point. He and other
religious leaders would organize meetings
with police and sheriff’s deputies
in people’s homes so that frustrations
could be aired and wrongs be forgiven.
O’Connell’s presence in South LA
led to his involvement in OneLA, a
local community organizing network
that brought together leaders from
various faith traditions and nonprofits.
In a statement released after his death,
OneLA said O’Connell’s early work
on the South Central Organizing
Committee (SCOC) “addressed gun
violence, historic disinvestment … poverty,
and the plight of undocumented
immigrants.” His work also “led to the
passage of California’s assault weapons
ban in 1989, helped thousands of
immigrants become citizens after the
1986 Immigration Reform and Control
Act passed during the Reagan administration,
and shut down liquor stores
in the wake of the riots following the
Rodney King beating.”
Among those he worked with were
longtime Congresswoman Maxine
Waters and future LA Mayor Karen
Bass, then co-founder of Community
Coalition, an organization founded to
improve social and economic conditions
in South Los Angeles.
“The metaphor I used is, he built
bridges between broken hearts,” said
Father Stanley Bosch of the Missionary
Servants of the Most Holy Trinity.
Bosch was a pastor in Compton when
he first met O’Connell in the 1990s
during their work with OneLA. Even
though O’Connell was looking after
two parishes, he would offer to help
cover Masses for Bosch, who was often
called out to homicides and other
emergencies in the inner city as part of
his gang intervention work.
“I was moved by that,” Bosch said.
Years later, as Bosch moved into fulltime
gang intervention and clinical
therapy work, O’Connell invited him
to live in the rectory at St. Michael.
Bosch was amazed to see O’Connell
leading contemplative prayer sessions
for at-risk youth
before school in
the morning.
“He did what
he’d do so
beautifully: just
invite Jesus and
hold him where
he breathes into
your heart; and
to hold that little
child that’s inside
them that might
be wounded,”
recalled Bosch.
Los Angeles
priest Father
Jonathon Meyer
spent a year with
O’Connell at
St. Michael as
a seminarian
intern in 2012.
He remembered
the line of people
he’d find in the
parish office
waiting to speak
with O’Connell.
There were a
few times he was
asked to be in the
meetings.
“It was listening
to their story, and then teaching
them how to pray,” said Meyer, who
is currently studying moral theology
in Rome but flew to LA for the slain
bishop’s funeral services.
Other times O’Connell would help
parishioners — often out of his own
pocket — in need of food, clothing, or
even rent money, Meyer remembered.
“I remember doing some furniture
runs,” he admitted. “He never really
turned anyone away.”
Before arriving at St. Frances in 1989,
O’Connell spent several months in
Mexico learning Spanish to prepare to
minister to the parish’s growing Hispanic
community. Over the years, he grew
in devotion to Our Lady of Guadalupe,
who would help him evangelize in
unexpected ways.
Vivian Alvarez remembered how, in
1999, a neighbor who was a parishioner
at St. Frances asked if their home
could give “posada,” or welcome, for
nine days to a traveling image of Our
Lady of Guadalupe
that had
been sent out
by O’Connell.
The offer came
at an “opportune
moment, when
our marriage was
falling apart,”
remembered
Alvarez.
O’Connell walks down
Vermont Avenue in South
LA with St. Michael
parishioners during a
living Stations of the Cross
procession on Good
Friday in 2013. | FATHER
JONATHON MEYER
“He sent Our Lady to our home to
heal our homes, and thanks be to God
for that visit,” said Alvarez, who came
to O’Connell’s public viewing at the
Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels
March 2. “It saved our marriage.”
“He never knew that his ministry
impacted our family and provided
that space for healing,” said Alvarez’s
daughter Claudia.
St. Frances parishioner Maria Cruz
was invited by O’Connell to help with
catechism classes at a time when gang
March 24, 2023 • ANGELUS • 25

DR. PATRICK ALLISON
Bishop Dave’s walk
through the playground
Since his death last month, a photo capturing a lighthearted moment
of Bishop David O’Connell with some young admirers has
been stirring hearts among LA’s Catholic school community.
The morning of Dec. 14, 2022, O’Connell celebrated a Mass
with students and blessed a new school building at All Souls World
Language Catholic School in Alhambra, located in the San Gabriel
Pastoral Region where he served as auxiliary bishop.
After the blessing, O’Connell was walking to his car as some transitional
kindergarten (TK) students were playing and kicking around a
soccer ball in the school courtyard. The children swarmed the bishop,
who stopped to talk to them. Then O’Connell did something that
surprised everyone: he picked up the ball and put it in his miter.
“After all these years, I finally figured out what my hat is for!” he
joked.
All Souls principal Maria-Elena Navarro said the moment perfectly
captured the Bishop Dave her school had come to know and love in
recent years.
“He wasn’t in bishop mode in that moment,” recalled Navarro, who
was walking ahead of O’Connell when the photo was taken. “Interacting
in a Christlike, loving way with those kids was important to him. I
don’t think that moment was an accident.”
— Pablo Kay
violence had the neighborhood on
edge. One day, she went to the church
frantically to tell O’Connell that her
husband was in the hospital after being
shot on the street.
“I thought that Father hadn’t understood
me,” said Cruz.
Days later, her husband confirmed
the opposite, recounting with awe how
he had awoken in his hospital room
to find the priest on his knees at his
bedside, begging God for his life.
“He never left us alone, he wanted
our children to have a better future,”
said Cruz. “For me he was a saint on
earth.”
At St. Eugene, Shaw said parishioners
found O’Connell to be “an easy person
to work with.”
“He was always more concerned with
how we were doing and what he could
do to help, rather than nitpicking and
micromanaging everything we were
working on,” said Shaw. “He respected
the gifts and abilities of others.”
Looking back, Bosch believes his
old friend’s time in South LA made
O’Connell the candidate to become
“the perfect bishop.”
“We understood it’s not just about the
four walls [of the church],” said Bosch.
“It’s about being out in the neighborhood
and in the presence of Jesus.
“We would sector off the whole parish
at St. Michael’s and have small groups
in the neighborhoods — especially in
the apartments, which are the most
difficult parts of South LA because the
people living there don’t own them,
and there is more violence there.”
Alice Thomas, a St. Frances parishioner
and grand lady of the local
Knights of Peter Claver Auxiliary
Council, has fond memories of cooking
for O’Connell (“steak and salad”)
and including him in Knights of Peter
Claver activities.
“We never had any arguments or any
kind of discord,” she said of O’Connell,
who was himself a knight in the fraternal
order founded by Black Catholics.
“Father Dave made no distinction
among people, regardless of their race
or background or anything else. He
was everyone’s priest and everyone’s
friend.”
Tom Hoffarth also contributed to this
article.
26 • ANGELUS • March 24, 2023

March 24, 2023 • ANGELUS • 27

‘He always said YES’
Whether marshaling resources or offering personal
help, reaching immigrants in need was ‘a labor of
love’ for Bishop David O’Connell.
BY MIKE CISNEROS AND TOM HOFFARTH
Most of the stories of Bishop
David O’Connell touching
the lives of immigrant families
and children have never been told
publicly — perhaps because there are
so many of them.
But in the weeks since O’Connell’s
Feb. 18 murder at his home in Hacienda
Heights, the world has heard
plenty of new ones: an immigrant
family reunited after being separated
at the border; unaccompanied minors
stranded in a foreign place receiving
free tuition to Catholic schools; homeless
immigrants suddenly finding a safe
place to stay.
O’Connell often made it a three- or
four-step process, showing how one act
of outreach led to another.
A decade ago, he started the interdiocesan
Southern California Task
Force on Immigration while still a
pastor in South LA. What began as an
effort to simply provide assistance to
immigrants had far-reaching effects
of showing God’s love, mercy, and
compassion.
And O’Connell was at the heart of it
all.
Linda Dakin-Grimm, an immigration
lawyer who
worked closely
with O’Connell on
the task force, said
that no matter the
need, the bishop
always had the
heart to help.
“He always said
Bishop David O’Connell
with young men who
came to the U.S. as
unaccompanied minors
at the 2017 LA Religious
Education Congress.
| VICTOR ALEMÁN
yes,” Dakin-Grimm said. “I have seen
him sit and talk and pray with people
at shelters at the border who had
been deported and had little reason
for hope. He paid rent for immigrant
families in LA who were not allowed to
28 • ANGELUS • March 24, 2023

work and were in distress.
“Bishop Dave mentored the high
school-aged unaccompanied young
people whom he had sponsored at
Catholic high schools in the city. He
personally paid tuition for these kids,
too. Once, when I told him that one of
the boys had no place to stay, he drove
to a shelter with a check to get the boy
in.”
When the Arredondo family was
separated at the U.S.-Mexico border
after seeking asylum from their native
Guatemala, the father, mother, and
three daughters were reunited in Los
Angeles more than a year later. O’Connell
personally
provided for the
family’s monthly
rent, as well as
the move-in
deposit, for a
house in South
LA. He also
coordinated for
volunteers to help
with translation,
transportation,
and donating
furniture to the
family.
When migrant
unaccompanied
children were
stranded in the
U.S., O’Connell worked with the task
force and the Catholic Education
Foundation (CEF) to enroll them into
local Catholic schools — often quietly
paying the tuition himself.
“For me, it really is a labor of love,”
O’Connell said of the task force’s work
in 2019. “Because this is, I think, what
our schools and parishes are all about.
Not just for unaccompanied minors
but for all our children. There’s an
epidemic of hurting children, even the
ones who have too much. They feel
we’ve abandoned them. And the migrant
youths have become a metaphor
for our whole society.”
Paul Escala, superintendent of LA’s
Department of Catholic Schools, said
he was impressed by how selfless and
compassionate O’Connell could be.
“He had a budget to help children in
this region,” Escala said. “The bishops
have funds and he was always the first
at the table to help when a school
couldn’t make payroll … or a family. I
knew that because before I could even
ask, he was already there doing it.”
But O’Connell’s charity went beyond
the financial. He walked the walk.
In 2018, O’Connell and other religious
leaders participated in a grueling
hike on both sides of the U.S.-Mexico
border to experience the reality of a migrant’s
journey. The trip, organized by
the archdiocesan offices of Religious
Education and Life, Justice and Peace,
was called “Migrant’s Stations of the
Cross” that connected the passion of
Christ with the suffering of migrants
by artistically incorporating artifacts
left behind by them in the Sonoran
Desert.
In 2021, when unaccompanied migrant
minors began arriving at emergency
shelters in Southern California,
O’Connell was one of several priests to
celebrate weekend Masses for the children
and to spread the love of Christ.
“My heart breaks for what these children
have been through, and I want
to help them any way I can,” O’Connell
said. “Many [of the youth] have
been through difficult times. Jesus
invites each one with a friendship with
himself.”
Why did O’Connell relate so much
to immigrants, especially those from
Spanish-speaking countries?
As many have observed, he certainly
understood the immigrant experience,
having come to the U.S. from a different
country himself.
Others have surmised that his profound
sense of Christ’s example drove
his actions.
“He just seemed to relate to immigrants
and people who didn’t have
much as his people — his peers,”
Dakin-Grimm said.
“He just seemed most at ease in the
immigrant community with people
who didn’t have much. That was home
to him.”
“That shepherding wasn’t just about
forming the structures, but it was his
evangelization to families that didn’t
look like him,
families of color
who spoke a different
language
that he learned,
is so wonderful
on the ears,”
Escala said.
As a Latino,
Escala said he
found O’Connell’s
connection
to the community
to be deeply
authentic. “He
came to understand
the culture
on a linguistic
Bishop O’Connell
speaks at an event of
Catholic advocates for
immigration reform
at Christ Cathedral in
Orange County in 2016.
| VICTOR ALEMÁN
level and made
Our Lady of
Guadalupe his
‘patrona.’ ”
Those observations
help explain
how O’Connell
saw this kind of
ministry: not as
social or political
work, but a way of helping people
come closer to Christ.
In his homily at O’Connell’s funeral
Mass, his close friend Msgr. Jarlath
Cunnane made clear what was behind
the late nights, long trips, language
lessons, and time spent with immigrant
families.
“Yes, he helped the poor,” Cunnane
said. “Yes, he fought for justice. But
most of all, what he wanted to share
was that encounter with Jesus Christ,
that relationship with Jesus Christ.”
March 24, 2023 • ANGELUS • 29

A group of WYD pilgrims from the
San Gabriel Pastoral Region pose
with Bishop David O’Connell in
Panama. | EFREN RODRIGUEZ
Forever YOUNG
From prayer nights to pilgrimages, Bishop O’Connell
found creative ways to stay close to young people.
BY NATALIE ROMANO
is calling you…”
Those words from the late
“Jesus
Bishop David O’Connell at a
prayer event compelled Amy
Rodriguez to take a step forward that
forever changed her faith.
“When I heard that, I immediately
felt that Jesus was speaking through
the bishop,” recalled Rodriguez, from
St. Philip the Apostle Church in
Pasadena. “While adoring the Blessed
Sacrament, I was suddenly overcome
with tears. They were the result of my
soul recognizing that God was truly
present in the host before me … there
was profound peace.”
During his nearly 45 years as a priest
in Los Angeles, reaching young peo-
ple like Rodriguez was a top priority
of O’Connell’s. From street evangelization
to prayer on the beach, he was
known for finding fresh ways to bring
them closer to Christ.
Now 29 and a successful book
illustrator, Rodriguez said she wasn’t
aware of young adult fellowship until
she was invited to a meeting with the
bishop.
“I felt honored … wow, a bishop
wants to talk to me,” recalled Rodriguez.
The experience brought her
into a community of young adult
Catholics that she never knew existed.
That power of invitation as well as
the bishop’s welcoming manner —
jokes included — was important in
drawing young people to explore their
faith, believes Dayrin Perez, coordinator
of Youth Ministry for the Archdiocese
of Los Angeles. She saw him in
action at confirmations, conferences,
and parish events throughout his San
Gabriel Pastoral Region.
“He wanted to be present and wanted
them to know they were loved, they
were seen, and heard,” said Perez. “He
was very good at meeting them where
they were at.”
Following O’Connell’s March 3
funeral, a group of young people gathered
at Mission San Gabriel Arcángel
to pray and reflect. Among them was
Michael Ramirez, moderator for the
San Gabriel Pastoral Region Council.
30 • ANGELUS • March 24, 2023

He was at the meeting the bishop was
supposed to attend the day he was
killed. It was fitting that they come
together, he said, because O’Connell
always urged them to avoid isolation
and “plug-in, build a group.”
“He would call it the epidemic of
loneliness,” explained Ramirez. “The
anxiety, the depression, the suicides,
all the struggles that youth and young
people are going through. He wanted
to find ways that they didn’t feel that
they were alone.”
Under O’Connell’s leadership, the
council created youth outings like
“After Hours,” evenings of eucharistic
adoration with music and food. There
were larger events like “Oceans of
Mercy” in 2017, an open Mass celebrated
on Huntington Beach. In 2019,
he accompanied a group to World
Youth Day in Panama and last year
spoke at the National Catholic Youth
Conference (NCYC) in Long Beach.
O’Connell paid attention in a special
way to mental health issues. In a 2017
interview on “We Are One Body Radio,”
he opened up about his family’s
history with depression and suicide,
and how at times he felt “terrible
anxiety.”
Later, he spoke of how a priest had
introduced him to Neal Lozano’s
book “Unbound: A Practical Guide to
Deliverance,” and that its prayer technique
gave him “peace.” He told host
Father Boniface Hicks, OSB, what it’s
like for people when they let go of a
traumatic past.
“They could be liberated, they could
feel free, they could feel new life,”
said O’Connell, crediting the impact
of Unbound Ministry on his work as
a priest.
In 2016, O’Connell saw an opportunity
in the Year of Mercy declared by
Pope Francis to try something new.
“He called it ‘Mercy on the Streets’
so we walked on the streets, we
knocked on doors, and we said we’re
here,” said Perez. “It was to evangelize
and show them there’s a place that
worries about them, cares about them,
and is very ready to welcome them if
they decide to go to church.”
During the COVID-19 pandemic,
O’Connell didn’t forget his young
flock, posting a video of encouragement
on YouTube. He helped at least
one couple get the Catholic wedding
they wanted when churches were
closed. With the help of a special
emergency dispensation and a Mass
kit, O’Connell celebrated the wedding
of Matthew and Amber Ghanadian at
an outdoor venue. Amber called the
bishop a “shining light” during a dark
time for the couple.
“He reminded us God is ready to
bless this marriage and he allowed
that to happen,” said Ghanadian, now
a parishioner of St. Angela Merici in
Brea in the Diocese of Orange.
Meanwhile, Rodriguez hopes to
continue the work O’Connell started,
leading her own young adult pilgrimage
to World Youth Day in Lisbon this
summer. There, she believes, “Bishop
Dave will be with us in spirit.”
Natalie Romano is a freelance writer
for Angelus and the Inland Catholic
Byte, the news website of the Diocese of
San Bernardino.
March 24, 2023 • ANGELUS • 31

The HEART of a father
In the eyes of his brother priests, Bishop O’Connell
always came across as ‘the real deal.’
BY TOM HOFFARTH
In the summer of 2020, an arson fire
ravaged Father John Molyneux’s
new parish. The historic Mission
San Gabriel Arcángel was just a year
away from the 250th anniversary of its
founding. It was a moment of helplessness
for parishioners who had invested
so much spiritually in a building now
rendered uninhabitable.
But if Molyneux saw his parish needed
divine intervention at a time when
COVID-19 was already causing tragic
consequences, he can now recognize
that it came in the form of Bishop
David O’Connell’s presence.
“So many hearts were broken that
day, and he was such a great comfort to
all of us,” said Molyneux. “With Bish-
op Dave, it was like he was one-on-one
praying with the people, meeting them
amidst the rubble.”
As pastor, Molyneux considered the
fire “a death in the community.” But
two years later, O’Connell was there
for its rebirth when it reopened last
September at the close of its 250th
jubilee year. Then last month, Catholics
in the San Gabriel Pastoral Region
where O’Connell served were shaken
by the news of another violent act.
Before the fire, Molyneux said plans
were in place to renovate the sacred
gardens and remodel the museum,
with architectural designs by a local
Gabrielino-Tongva Nation member.
“Bishop Dave secured the funding
for that entire
project,” admitted
Molyneux, who
hopes to name
a new memorial
garden at the
mission after
O’Connell.
Father Marcos
Gonzalez, pastor
Bishop David O’Connell
greets newly ordained
Father Albert van der
Woerd at the 2016
priest ordination Mass
at the Cathedral of Our
Lady of the Angels.
| VICTOR ALEMÁN
at St. Andrew Church in Pasadena,
also served under O’Connell in the
San Gabriel Region. Before that, the
two were pastors in the same deanery,
when Gonzalez was pastor at St. John
Chrysostom in Inglewood and O’Connell
served at St. Michael’s Church
and St. Frances X. Cabrini Church,
32 • ANGELUS • March 24, 2023

oth in South LA.
Gonzalez replaced O’Connell as
the area’s dean when he was made a
bishop in 2015. But O’Connell continued
to mentor him, including when
Gonzalez arrived at St. Andrew in the
summer of 2019 and had to confront
several challenges in the parish.
“Out of the blue, Bishop Dave would
call me, just to check in, always concerned,”
said Gonzalez. “Usually when
a bishop calls, there’s a problem. But
there weren’t these times.”
Their relationship was key when St.
Andrew became the first parish in the
archdiocese to open with COVID-related
restrictions after the pandemic
lockdown. Gonzalez had to submit a
reopening plan with extensive protocols
to the regional bishop for approval.
O’Connell replied within an hour.
“Thanks to him,” said Gonzalez.
“He had a very practical head on his
shoulders. His concern was always all
about meeting the people’s needs and
giving them access to the sacraments.”
That kind of concern also helped bring
together people of different faiths for
important causes, said archdiocesan
inter-religious officer Rt. Rev. Alexei
Smith.
Smith remembered the rainy day in
April 2016 when more than 60,000
people filled the LA Coliseum for
“Azusa Now,” where several Catholic,
Protestant, and ethnic community
groups gathered to celebrate spiritual
unity. Smith was one of the featured
speakers, and he recalled O’Connell
not only went with him, but stood at
his side as he made his speech.
O’Connell went on to help start an
outreach program for Catholics at Azusa
Pacific University, a predominantly
Evangelical Pentecostal school in his
San Gabriel Region.
At the March 3 cathedral funeral
Mass for O’Connell, an Episcopalian
deacon recalled to Smith the time
he recently met O’Connell at a local
City Hall meeting to address the local
homelessness crisis.
“The deacon told me at one point
Bishop Dave turned to him and said,
“Is this going to lead to doing something?
Or are we just here to talk?” recalled
Smith. “I knew at that moment,”
the deacon told him, that “he was a
man of action — he was the real deal.”
Msgr. John Barry, pastor at American
Martyrs Church in Manhattan Beach,
shared a special bond with O’Connell:
Both were from the same region of
Ireland, County Cork.
“We were born in the shadow of the
same sky,” explained Barry. “But we
were on opposite sides of the River
Lee. This river has two branches, and
it came together — coincidentally,
where he was.”
In remarks at a special parish Mass
celebrated for O’Connell the day of
his funeral, Barry admitted he often
received phone calls from O’Connell
asking for help with education-related
projects, like ones involving inner-city
school scholarships.
“He was a Robin Hood of our time,”
Barry said in his evening homily. “He
knew how to put his hand in the pocket
of those who could afford it, and
spread it out to meet the needs of the
poor. He never thought of himself.”
After getting back from the Friday
funeral Mass, Barry heard from a
parishioner asking if he could visit their
mother and father, both in hospice
care. They had made arrangements
earlier with O’Connell to perform the
anointing of the sick. O’Connell never
made it.
“This shows he’s still very active,”
said Barry of his old friend. “After this
Mass, I will go to visit them with the
sacraments as he would have done.
He’s always inviting us to walk in the
footsteps of the Lord.”
Capuchin Father Peter Banks was
another one of
O’Connell’s
countrymen serving
in Southern
California. The
two spent years
serving together
in South LA.
When Banks, 77,
Father Marcos Gonzalez
with Bishop David
O’Connell at a post-confirmation
lunch with
parish staff at St. Andrew
Church in Pasadena.
| SUBMITTED PHOTO
was first sent to serve at St. Lawrence of
Brindisi Church in Watts decades ago,
he remembered feeling lost at first.
Father O’Connell helped him.
“It was all about loving them, sharing
laughs with them, that’s what David
O’Connell had…” said Banks, wiping
away tears in an interview before the
March 3 funeral Mass.
“I’m very sorry I’m so emotional — I
felt he was like a brother,” said Banks,
now stationed at Mission Santa Inés in
Solvang. He compared O’Connell to
St. Oscar Romero, the martyred archbishop
who took on social injustice
and violence in El Salvador.
“I’ve never cried over a priest as much
as I have over David. I prefer to be
softhearted than hardhearted because
that’s exactly how Bishop Dave would
be.
“He always put his heart out there. It
makes it so much harder the way he
died. The tragedy adds so much to this.
But hearing all that’s been said about
him now, it’s an amazing resurrection
of the people’s love for him.”
Tom Hoffarth is an award-winning
journalist based in Los Angeles.
March 24, 2023 • ANGELUS • 33

Bishop O’Connell during a talk
at the National Catholic Youth
Conference in Long Beach last
November. | NCYC
A FRIEND of Jesus
Losing Bishop Dave has been tough. His words about
others — and about Christ — can still help us.
BY J.D. LONG-GARCÍA
Just about everyone I knew was
surprised that Msgr. David O’Connell
— a priest working in South
LA — was appointed auxiliary
bishop of Los Angeles.
I heard the news earlier than most. I
was working at The Tidings and Vida
Nueva in 2015, and I was asked to
write about the appointment before
the public announcement. O’Connell
was named auxiliary bishop
along with Msgr. Joseph Brennan and
Father Robert Barron. Of the three,
Bishop Dave was the hardest to reach.
When I finally did reach him, the
first thing he asked was about me and
my family. Bishop Dave didn’t care to
talk about himself much. Frankly, we
wanted to write more about his work
before his appointment, but he didn’t
really cooperate. He always suggested
someone else we should write about.
“It’s been a great privilege, a great
blessing to be given these parishes all
these years, to be a pastor all these
years. The people have touched my
heart the way they are sincere,” he
eventually told me. “They follow
Jesus. … Despite the fact that they are
poor or suffering, they still love their
Catholic parish, and they still help as
much as they can.”
Like so many of you, I was devastated
to hear of Bishop Dave’s murder.
I haven’t stopped thinking about
him, replaying my interactions with
him in my mind and rereading old
stories that quote him. I remember
seeing him in deep conversations
with co-workers at the Archdiocesan
Catholic Center. And the time he
introduced me to Carmelite Father
Tracy O’Sullivan, a retired priest who
was serving in El Salvador when I
interviewed him.
What became clear was Bishop
Dave’s eagerness to talk about the
good work of others. And he sure did
like to talk about Jesus.
He worked alongside community
leaders and law enforcement in various
gang intervention programs. He
also started the SoCal Immigration
Task Force, was the adviser for the
Catholic Men’s Fellowship of California,
and was involved with community
organizing efforts. He visited
inmates in prison and immigrants in
detention.
“When I work for immigrants, work
for the poor, work for prisoners, work
for gang intervention, it’s to help
them know that Jesus cares for them,
34 • ANGELUS • March 24, 2023

loves them,” Bishop Dave told my
friend and former colleague R.W.
Dellinger.
For consolation, I’ve also been
watching Bishop Dave talks on You-
Tube. It helps. I laugh and cry hearing
his voice and seeing his gentle
demeanor. I came across a wonderful
talk posted by the National Federation
of Catholic Youth Ministry.
Bishop Dave tells the story of an
elderly woman he saw at a eucharistic
procession when he was a teenager.
She seemed poor and her hands were
gnarled from arthritis. As the Blessed
Sacrament came into view, the
woman said to the Lord, “Alana, what
could I have done without you all
these years?” (In Gaelic, Bishop Dave
explained, “Alana” means “beloved
child.”)
It was a formative moment in his
life. “I didn’t know you could just talk
to Jesus like that, with love. And that
you could speak to him like a beloved
son or daughter or a beloved friend,”
he said.
Bishop Dave also shared how, at a
low moment in his life, he felt that
Jesus or the Blessed Mother taught
him a new way to pray.
Sit straight with two feet planted on
the ground, he explained. Breathe
softly through your nose. “Imagine
you’re breathing into your heart,” he
said. “Each time you breathe into
your heart, imagine it says ‘Jesus,
Jesus, Jesus,’ or ‘Jesús, Jesús, Jesús.’
Just say his name with love every time
you breathe into your heart. If any
thoughts come into your head, let
them go again and go back to focusing
on soft breathing into your heart,
and your heart saying Jesus.”
The peace and calm that follows will
be from Jesus, he said. “He knows
where you’re hurting. He knows
where you’re damaged. He knows the
traumas in your life. He knows where
the wounds are,” Bishop Dave said.
“But every time you say his name with
love in your heart, he heals one more
wound.”
That prayer has been helping me.
Funny moments in video clips also
help. St. Paul the Apostle Church in
Chino Hills has a lovely video with
Bishop Dave titled “Rebuild My
Church.” As it opens, Bishop Dave
says, “They told me I haven’t changed
a bit since 1984. I said, ‘I didn’t know
I looked so bad in 1984.’ ”
He went on: “Time flies when you’re
enjoying yourself. As I got older, I
realized, time flies even when you’re
not enjoying yourself.”
The jokes, I think, were another tool
that helped him bring Jesus to others.
His humor softened our hearts.
Maybe Bishop Dave even prepared us
to accept Jesus’ words from the cross:
“Father, forgive them, they know not
what they do.”
It is good to celebrate his life, but
lately I’ve been thinking it is not
enough. To truly honor Bishop Dave,
we must follow his example and make
Jesus the center of our lives.
“That’s the way of the apostles, you
know,” he told me of the path to Jesus.
“You choose it again and again. And
we travel deeper on that journey.”
J.D. Long-García is a senior editor at
America magazine. He is the former
editor-in-chief of Angelus and its predecessor,
The Tidings.

36 • ANGELUS • March 24, 2023

Restocking the kitchen cabinet
Will Francis’ ‘Council of Cardinals 2.0’ finally live up to its promise?
BY JOHN L. ALLEN JR.
ROME — When Pope Francis a
decade ago announced the creation
of a Council of Cardinals
to advise him on Vatican reform and
other matters of Church governance,
it seemed a whole program of governance
in miniature.
First of all, these were residential cardinals,
not Vatican potentates, which
appeared to signal that under Francis,
the voices of the local churches would
count for at least as much as that of the
Roman Curia.
Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio of
Buenos Aires, Argentina, after all,
had himself been the leader of a
local church for a decade and a half,
sometimes chafing against what he
considered Roman micromanagement
and incomprehension.
Indeed, the decree establishing the
council said the idea had been floated
during general congregation meetings
of cardinals during the run-up to the
conclave, suggesting this was the new
pope’s determination to act on the
advice he had received.
Second, this was clearly and deliber-
ately a global
group. The
original lineup
included:
Cardinal
Óscar Andrés
Pope Francis leads a meeting
of his Council of Cardinals at
the Vatican Feb. 21, 2022.
| CNS/VATICAN MEDIA
Rodríguez Maradiaga of Tegucigalpa,
Honduras (coordinator); Cardinal Laurent
Monswengo Pasinya of Kinshasa,
the Democratic Republic of Congo;
Cardinal Oswald Gracias of Mumbai,
India; Cardinal Reinhard Marx of
Munich, Germany; Cardinal Francisco
Javier Errázuriz Ossa of Santiago,
38 • ANGELUS • March 24, 2023

Chile; Cardinal Sean O’Malley of Boston,
United States; Cardinal George
Pell of Sydney, Australia; and Cardinal
Giuseppe Bertello, president of the
Vatican City State.
In 2014, Italian Cardinal Pietro Parolin,
the pope’s new secretary of state,
was added to the group.
Of those original nine nominees,
two were from Latin America and one
each from Africa, Asia and Oceania,
with the remaining three from Europe
and one from North America. In other
words, more than half the membership
came from outside the West, paralleling
the broader Catholic population in
the 21st century.
Third, the choice to create such a
“kitchen cabinet” also suggested this
was to be a collegial papacy, though
the preferred term later would become
“synodal.” In any event, the idea was
that under Francis, decisions would reflect
broad consultation and a sense of
shared participation, rather than simply
papal or Vatican fiat.
Now 10 years on, it’s a matter of debate
how much of that original promise
has been realized.
In terms of deference to local
churches, there did seem movement
in that direction in 2017 when Francis
returned authority over liturgical
translation that had been centralized in
Rome under Pope John Paul II to local
bishops and bishops’ conferences.
More recently, however, critics argue
the trend lines have been running in
the opposite direction. Over the last
12 months, Francis has centralized
control over the foundation of new religious
orders, financial administration
over previously autonomous entities,
and permission for celebration of the
old Latin Mass, in each case taking
away authority that once belonged to
local churches.
As for globality, Francis has realigned
the traditionally western ethos of the
Vatican in multiple ways.
The Holy See’s diplomatic line on
Ukraine, for instance, arguably has
more in common with Beijing and
New Delhi than with Washington and
Brussels.
Yet in other respects, critics argue that
the pontiff’s globality extends only so
far. Some observers believe his progressive
theological agenda, for instance,
owes more to avant-garde intellectual
circles in western Europe, especially
German-speaking regions, than it does
to the more traditional orientation of,
say, the Church in Africa, or much of
Asia, or the Middle East and Eastern
Europe.
Similar observations could be made
about the synodal thrust of the Francis
papacy, which is projected to come
to a crescendo with the pontiff’s two
summits of bishops in Rome this fall
and in October 2024.
Here, too, critics would argue that the
early promise of synodality, including
the role of the Council of Cardinals,
over time gave way to the reality of a
pontiff increasingly inclined to rule by
decree.
Many observers actually believed that
Francis might be content simply to
allow the Council of Cardinals to fade
into oblivion.
In that sense, a recent reboot of the
council takes on outsized importance
as a harbinger of the direction of the
pontiff’s broader reform.
On March 7, the Vatican announced
that the council was being renewed.
O’Malley would remain, along with
Parolin and Gracias, as well as Cardinal
Fridolin Ambongo Besungu, Monsweongo’s
successor, who was named
to the body in October 2020.
New members include:
Cardinal Jean-Claude Hollerich of
Luxembourg, president of the Commission
of the Bishops’ Conferences of
the European
Union; Cardinal
Fernando
Vérgez Alzaga,
president of the
Governorate
of the Vatican
City State; Cardinal
Juan José
Pope Francis greets
Cardinal Gérald C. Lacroix
of Quebec as he arrives to
lead his general audience in
the Paul VI Audience Hall at
the Vatican Jan. 4.
| CNS/PAUL HARING
Omella Omella of Barcelona, Spain,
president of the Spanish Bishops’ Conference;
Cardinal Gérald Lacroix of
Quebec, Canada; and Cardinal Sérgio
da Rocha of São Salvador da Bahia,
Brazil, former president of the Brazilian
Bishops’ Conference.
By effectively creating the “Council
of Cardinals 2.0,” Francis has signaled
he wants the body to return to a protagonist’s
role, obviously outliving its
original mandate of advising Francis
on the reform of the Roman Curia,
which is now a fait accompli with the
2022 apostolic constitution “Praedicate
evangelium” (“Preach the gospel”).
The extent to which the new council
models the concept of synodality
that Francis aspires to — not merely
echoing the pope’s proposals, in other
words, but also pursuing its own agenda,
reflecting the outlooks and desires
of the local churches it’s intended to
represent — will go a long way toward
determining whether this second act
of the “C-9” leaves behind a different
legacy than the first.
John L. Allen Jr. is the editor of Crux.
March 24, 2023 • ANGELUS • 39

“Christ in the Wilderness,” circa
1515-20, by Moretto da Brescia
(Alessandro Bonvicino). | THE
METROPOLITAN MUSEUM OF ART
The layers of Lent
For early Christians, the meaning of the liturgical season was shaped by
different customs, new converts, and the possibility of martyrdom.
BY MIKE AQUILINA
Lent is rich in meanings these
days. Comedians portray it as a
long stretch of Catholic masochism.
People who gained weight at
Christmas plan for it as a time to diet.
Fundraisers welcome it as a windfall
of weekly fish fries.
Its original meaning — dating back
to the origins of Christianity — was
probably very simple.
It was a necessary moment in a yearly
imitation of the life of Jesus. The
Church let the calendar tell the story.
In Egypt, the year began with the
commemoration of Jesus’ birth at
Christmas, followed by the visit of the
Magi at Epiphany and then the feast
of the Lord’s baptism.
And what should come next? The
Gospels say that after Jesus was baptized,
“the Spirit immediately drove
him out into the wilderness” (Mark
1:12) for 40 days of fasting and prayer.
So the Christians took their cues most
literally from the text. They scheduled
a 40-day period of fasting to follow
“immediately” after the feast of Jesus’
baptism.
The calendar enabled Christians
to accompany the Lord as he moved
from infancy toward his public ministry
— and then, later, to his passion
and death at the time of Passover.
That’s how the seasons ran in Egypt
anyway. The Church in Rome
developed its calendar more slowly, it
40 • ANGELUS • March 24, 2023

seems, and added its long fast somewhat
later in the year.
But the Romans didn’t tether their
observance to a literal reading of the
biblical text. They understood their
springtime fast to be not so much a
remembrance of Jesus’ time in the
desert — but rather an extended
preparation for the Church’s greatest
feast of all: Easter Sunday.
Easter was the day when Romans
preferred to baptize new converts. So
the fast was seen as a preparation for
Christian initiation as well.
Eventually, the Egyptians rearranged
their custom to match the Roman
observance — though some athletes
of prayer tried to keep both seasons,
now fused into a single, super-long
fast that stretched from mid-January
till Easter Sunday. Realizing that this
was unhealthy overkill, St. Athanasius
discouraged it.
Not until the Council of Nicaea in
A.D. 325 was the Roman fast, 40 days
leading up to Easter, made standard
for the whole Church.
Even then, fasting meant something
different from place to place. Some
churches urged their members to do
without meat, fish, eggs, dairy, and
wine. Some restricted the Christian
diet to bread, water, salt, and vegetables
(boiled or raw). Others reduced
the number of daily meals.
Gradually, however, Christians came
to a common understanding of the
season that encompassed both the
Egyptian and Roman customs.
Yes, Christians were fasting 40 days
in imitation of Jesus — whose own
fast was anticipated by those of Moses
and Elijah in the Old Testament (see
Exodus 34:28 and 1 Kings 19:18).
But Jesus’ fast, like everything in his
public ministry, was remote preparation
for something yet to come. It was
training for the suffering he would
endure in his saving passion. It was
remote preparation for his paschal
mystery.
So the Roman custom was following
the Gospel text just as faithfully as the
Egyptian custom had. But rather than
counting forward from Jesus’ birth and
baptism, the Romans looked backward
from his death and resurrection.
Some Christians, then, interpreted
the Lenten fast as a preparation for
death, the universal destiny. Over the
course of 40 days they would learn
from the Master how to be gradually
detached from the things of this
world — how to “lay down their lives”
(see John 15:13) and go willingly to
death, even if that meant martyrdom
preceded by torture. Indeed, the duration
of 40 days may have first been
established during a time of intense
persecution. Sts. Augustine and Jerome
claim that it was.
As the days of Lenten preparation
drew to a close, Christians would
learn also to “watch and pray”
because, as Jesus said, “the spirit is
willing, but the flesh is weak” (Mark
14:38).
In the early centuries of Christianity,
then, Lent was all these things:
• An imitation of Christ (and Moses
and Elijah)
• A preparation for Easter
• A preparation for baptism
• A time of instruction in religious
doctrine and practice
• A time of repentance
• A time of disciplined preparation for
martyrdom
Over the centuries, the particulars
changed, the measurements varied,
the disciplines diversified. Christians
discovered countless ways to count to
40!
The meanings, moreover, multiplied
— or rather they accumulated in
layers. At root Lent was, and remains,
a time when Christians strive to walk
closely with Jesus, and this is done in
many time-honored ways. With him
we go forward from baptismal grace,
through temptation and deserts, to
dying, rising, and ultimate glory.
Mike Aquilina is a contributing editor
for Angelus and general editor of the
“Reclaiming Catholic History” series
for Ave Maria Press.
THE 40 DAYS
THAT WE NEED
“This charge I give you, before
Jesus the Bridegroom of
souls come in. ... A long notice
is allowed you; you have
forty days for repentance: you
have full opportunity both to
put off, and wash, and to put
on and enter. ... If anyone is
conscious of his wound, let
him take the salve; if any has
fallen, let him arise.”
— St. Cyril of
Jerusalem, A.D. 347
March 24, 2023 • ANGELUS • 41

DESIRE LINES
HEATHER KING
St. Joseph, the silent knight
To those who complain that the
Church gives short shrift to
women, I always want to say —
Excuse me.
Mary: the “Magnificat,” prayed by
every priest and nun in the world each
evening at Vespers; Joseph: silence.
Mary: the rosary; Joseph: an old-timey
cough syrup. Mary: crowned queen
of heaven and earth; Joseph: gets his
statue buried in the backyard so people
can sell — or buy — a house.
With St. Joseph’s feast day on March
19, enter art historian Elizabeth Lev’s
“The Silent Knight: A History of St.
Joseph as Depicted in Art” (Sophia
Institute Press, $18.95).
Lavishly illustrated, the book delivers
a lively overview of Joseph’s evolution
throughout the centuries in the mind
and heart of the Church.
“It is a guidebook of sorts,” writes Lev,
“through the numerous historical,
apocryphal, and theological vicissitudes
of devotion to St. Joseph, revealing how
each new facet of veneration produced
A statue of St. Joseph at St. Joseph’s Seminary in Yonkers,
New York, Sept. 16, 2021. | CNS/GREGORY A. SHEMITZ
a different trend in imagery.”
Joseph hardly even featured in Christian
art for hundreds of years — an
absence that allowed the virgin birth
and the divinity of Christ to take firm
theological primacy.
He appeared on stage in A.D. 431,
the year of the dedication of Rome’s
Basilica of St. Mary Major. “Virile and
attentive,” clad in a brilliant orange
tunic, he was given pride of place on a
series of splendid mosaics adorning the
church’s triumphal arch.
But during the next many long years
Joseph suffered a marked comedown.
When he appeared at all he was old,
even doddering; a superfluous, sidelined
figure playing, at best, a supporting
role in salvation history.
He was not even included in the
Roman canon that was codified in the
seventh century, a liturgical omission
that would not be corrected until 1962
by Pope Pius XXIII.
The reliquary boxes, Nativity icons,
and mosaics from the centuries leading
up to the first millennium are charming.
Still, as Lev notes, “Present only in
Nativity and Magi scenes, Joseph was
depicted as a diminutive figure behind
Mary’s throne, or a pensive elder
crouched in a corner.”
It was only when the Church began
to acquire wealth and political power
that Joseph assumed his rightful,
chivalric place as protector against
corruption, greed, and impurity.
After all, in an age that worshipped
feudalism, who had a better lineage
than Joseph?
St. Bernard became an early champion,
and in 1189 the first church dedicated
to Joseph was built in Bologna.
In stained glass, frescoes, and a resplendent
“Flight to Egypt” by Duccio
di Buoninsegna (c. 1308) — a panel
from a 16-foot-high altarpiece commissioned
by the City of Siena — Joseph
is portrayed as both a man of action
and a contemplative, guided by angels
yet firmly in charge of Mary and the
infant Christ on their perilous journey.
During the next couple of centuries
the Franciscans and Dominicans —
mendicant orders — celebrated Joseph
as “an everyday man with a profession
and plans.” This Joseph “was called to
bear witness to the Incarnation, and,
through him, a more vernacular form
of praise and worship, perhaps less
exalted, but no less sincere, became
possible.”
Franciscan artist Giotto’s “Nativity”
mural (c. 1320), placed above the
tomb of St. Francis in Assisi, is emblematic
of this period.
The scene, in “jewel-like” tones of
gold and midnight blue, spotlights
Mary and the child. Joseph is a
pensive, dignified figure on the lower
left who serves as protector and will
also attend to his son’s earthly needs of
clothing and food.
42 • ANGELUS • March 24, 2023

Heather King is an award-winning
author, speaker, and workshop leader.
Over time, Joseph came to fulfill
myriad other roles in addition to that of
father, protective sentinel, and worker.
By the 17th century, painters from
France and Italy began to portray his
death, and he became a guide into the
afterlife.
In 1679, he was selected as patron by
the era’s missionaries and morphed
into a worldwide evangelist.
In Mexican painter Miguel Cabrera’s
“The Patronage of St. Joseph” (1753),
a young Joseph, garbed in a floral silver
robe, arms outstretched in a maternal
embrace and looking, as Lev points
out, very much like Jesus, seems to be
levitating.
Supplicants from every walk of life
kneel at his feet, and the white lily he
brandishes aloft in his right hand could
almost be tickling the chins of the
overlooking guardian angels.
When a 19th-century “tsunami of
secular forces” — many Enlightenment
thinkers and politicians; France’s
“Reign of Terror” — threatened the
Church, Joseph again swooped in to
help save the day.
Pope Gregory XVI (1831-1846) promoted
a devotional practice called “the
Seven Sundays,” based on a 16th-century
miracle attributed to Joseph.
On the feast of the Immaculate Conception
in 1870, Blessed Pope Pius IX,
desperate to guard his flock, consecrated
the entire Church to Joseph in the
decree “Quemadmodum Deus.”
And so on up to today: 2021 was
declared the Year of St. Joseph for the
universal Church.
Strangely, however, art depicting
Joseph has stagnated.
Notes Lev, “Despite his ubiquity …
he has returned to the sidelines of
artistic innovation. The statues go unnoticed;
his placement at the Nativity,
pro forma; his might and authority,
almost forgotten. Joseph has become so
visible as to have become invisible.”
Nonetheless, Lev points to contemporary
artists, among them the New
York-born Janet McKenzie and young
Irish sculptor Dony MacManus: glimmers
of hope who “portray handsome
men, role models of self-restraint in the
modern age of bodily objectification.
[These Josephs] are made to love and
be loved.”
Never have we needed Joseph more.
May we artists get cracking.
March 24, 2023 • ANGELUS • 43

■ FRIDAY, MARCH 17
St. Clare’s Fish Fry. 9606 Calla Way, Canyon Country,
4:30-8 p.m., two or three pieces of beer-battered cod,
coleslaw, and choice of two sides (fries, rice, or beans) or
fish tacos with rice and beans. Dine in or take out. Cost:
$15/2-piece dinner or tacos, $16/3-piece. Family pack/
$55. For more information, call 661-252-3353 or visit
st-clare.org.
Torrance Fish Fry. Nativity Annex, 1415 Engracia Ave.,
Torrance, 5-7 p.m. Hosted by Knights of Columbus
Council #4919. Baked or fried fish, baked potato or fries,
coleslaw, roll, and cake. Dine in or take out. Cost: $12/
adults, $10/seniors, $7/children under 12.
■ SATURDAY, MARCH 18
Lenten Retreat. St. Barnabas Church, 3955 Orange Ave.,
Long Beach, 10 a.m.-4:30 p.m., vigil Mass, 5 p.m. Led by
Father Joseph Miller, SVD, retreat is free and open to all,
includes confessions and adoration. Visit stbarnabaslb.
org or call 562-424-8595.
Catholic Education Foundation LA Marathon Fundraiser.
Dodger Stadium, 1000 Vin Scully Ave., Los Angeles.
Faculty and staff from local Catholic schools and other
CEF Racing Team supporters will be raising money to
make Catholic education possible for more children by
running the Big 5K, the Charity Half Marathon, and the
Los Angeles Marathon March 18 at 8 a.m. and March 19
at 7 a.m. Visit cefracingteam.funraise.org.
United Together: Homeless Ministry Resource Fair.
Bishop Conaty Our Lady of Loretto High School, 2900 W.
Pico Blvd., Los Angeles, 9 a.m.-12:30 p.m. Learn about resources
available and connect with organizations working
to end homelessness. For more information or to RSVP,
visit angelusnews.com/events-calendar.
■ SUNDAY, MARCH 19
Stations of the Cross. Calvary Cemetery, 4201 Whittier
Blvd., Los Angeles, 2 p.m. Stations will be held each Sunday
of Lent. For more information, visit CatholicCM.org/
stations or call 323-261-3106.
■ MONDAY, MARCH 20
Opus Sanctorum Angelorum: Three Evenings of Recollection.
Sacred Heart Chapel, 381 W. Center St., Covina.
March 20-21, 5:30-6:15 p.m. confessions, 6:30 p.m.
Mass, 7:15 p.m. conference. March 22, 5:30-6:15 p.m.
confessions, 6:30 p.m. conference, 7:30 p.m. Mass, with
formal reception of the Consecration to the Guardian
Angels to follow. Preachers: Father William Wagner, ORC,
and Father Ludwig Oppl, ORC. For more information, call
Trish or Anthony at 877-526-2151.
■ WEDNESDAY, MARCH 22
“What Catholics Believe” weekly series. St. Dorothy
Church, 241 S. Valley Center Ave., Glendora, 7-8:30 p.m.
Series runs Wednesdays through April 26. Deepen your
understanding of the Catholic faith through dynamic
DVD presentations by Bishop Robert Barron, Dr. Edward
Sri, Dr. Brant Pitre, and Dr. Michael Barber. Free event,
no reservations required. Call 626-335-2811 or visit the
Adult Faith Development ministry page at www.stdorothy.org
for more information.
■ FRIDAY, MARCH 24
Visio Divina Prayer. Holy Spirit Retreat Center, 4316 Lanai
Rd., Encino, 7 p.m. Led by Sister Chris Machado, SSS,
Sister Marie Lindemann, SSS, and team. Visit hsrcenter.
com or call 818-784-4515.
Alleluia Dance Theatre, Trust in the Lord! Holy Spirit
Retreat Center, 4316 Lanai Rd., Encino. Friday, 5 p.m.-Sun.,
1 p.m. or Saturday only, 9:30 a.m.-6 p.m. With Stella Matsuda,
Marti Ryan, and Emmalyn Moreno. Visit hsrcenter.com
or call 818-784-4515.
■ SATURDAY, MARCH 25
Archdiocese of Los Angeles Eucharistic Procession.
Mission San Gabriel, 428 S. Mission Dr., San Gabriel, 8:30
a.m. Mass celebrated by Archbishop José H. Gomez, 9:30
a.m. procession to St. Luke the Evangelist Church, Temple
City, and return to the mission. 12:30 p.m. benediction at
Mission San Gabriel. For more information or to register,
visit lacatholics.org/eucharist.
Disability Awareness Day. Calvary Chapel Costa Mesa,
3800 Fairview St., Santa Ana, 10 a.m.-2:30 p.m. Includes
lunch from 12:30 to 1:30 p.m. and an inspirational message
from Joni Eareckson Tada, founder of Joni and Friends. For
more information, visit joniandfriends.org.
Lenten Retreat with Father Mark Villano, CPS. Pauline
Books & Media, 3908 Sepulveda Blvd., Culver City, 10:30
a.m.-3:30 p.m. Retreat will reflect on steps on the road to
your soul. Donation/$30, including lunch. Mass at 4 p.m.
RSVP to 310-397-8676 or email culvercity@paulinemedia.
com.
■ SUNDAY, MARCH 26
Virtual Diaconate Information Day. 2-4 p.m. To register,
email Deacon Melecio Zamora at dmz2011@la-archdiocese.org.
A Celtic Christian Journey of the Heart: Crossing the
Threshold Towards Holy Week. Holy Spirit Retreat
Center, 4316 Lanai Rd., Encino. With Deidre Ni Chinneide
and Dennis Doyle. Visit hsrcenter.com or call 818-784-
4515.
■ FRIDAY, MARCH 31
Labyrinth Walk. Holy Spirit Retreat Center, 4316 Lanai
Rd., Encino, 7 p.m. Led by Sister Chris Machado, SSS, and
Sister Marie Lindemann, SSS, and team. Visit hsrcenter.com
or call 818-784-4515.
■ SATURDAY, APRIL 1
Sacred Collage: Broken, Brave, Bold, and Beautiful. Holy
Spirit Retreat Center, 4316 Lanai Rd., Encino, 9:30 a.m.-
3:30 p.m. With Chantel Zimmerman. Visit hsrcenter.com or
call 818-784-4515.
The Unshakable Hope of the Holy Spirit. St. Finbar
Church parish hall, 2010 W. Olive Ave., Burbank, 12-4
p.m. Uplifting time of praise and worship, teaching, healing
prayer, and Palm Sunday vigil Mass. Special presentations
by Father Ethan Southard, Father Bill Delaney, SJ, Deacon
Barry Harper, and Maria Velasquez, LMFT. For more information,
visit events.scrc.org or call 818-771-1361.
Bereavement Support Group. St. Bruno Church, 15740
Citrustree Rd., Whittier, 9 a.m.-12 p.m. RSVP by March 27
to Cathy at 562-631-8844.
■ SUNDAY, APRIL 2
Reenactment of the Passion of Christ. Calvary Cemetery,
4201 Whittier Blvd., Los Angeles, 2 p.m. Presented by Resurrection
Church. For more information, visit CatholicCM.
org/stations or call 323-261-3106.
Items for the calendar of events are due four weeks prior to the date of the event. They may be emailed to calendar@angelusnews.com.
All calendar items must include the name, date, time, address of the event, and a phone number for additional information.
March 24, 2023 • ANGELUS • 45