Angelus News | March 22, 2024 | Vol. 9 No. 6

nell broke through to “a new
The late bishop’s close friend
dependence on God.”
Msgr. Jarlath Cunnane, pastor
of St. Cornelius Church in
“His prayer became more mystical,”
said Cunnane. “He became
Long Beach, speaks at the end
of the Feb. 24 memorial Mass.
more uninhibited in his faith, in his
love for Jesus and for the Blessed
Mother.”
He also recalled how O’Connell jokingly questioned his
appointment by quipping that while there was a shortage of
vocations of young men for the priesthood, “there was no
shortage of vocations among young priests wanting to be
bishops.”
“His comment, not mine,” said Cunnane to waves of laughter
in the church.
O’Connell’s mark was felt throughout the liturgy celebrated
by Archbishop José H. Gomez, together with four LA
auxiliary bishops and more than 30 priests. During holy
Communion the choir sang the Irish prayer known as “St.
Patrick’s Breastplate”: “Christ beside me, Christ before me,
Christ behind me,” and after, the words of a prayer meditation
O’Connell used to teach: “Welcome to my heart, Lord
Jesus.”
After the Mass, Archbishop Gomez led a procession of
people next door to the sacristy of the recently remodeled
Mission San Gabriel, where he blessed an exhibit with
mementos from the slain bishop’s life, including vestments,
pictures, and his Jerusalem Bible.
Many of the more than 700 people at the service hailed
from parishes where they’d met O’Connell as a priest.
Esperanza Navarro came from St. Frances X. Cabrini
Church in South LA, where O’Connell served for more than
15 years. She has an image of O’Connell on her prayer altar
at home, where she makes time to ask for his intercession in
prayer.
“He loved our community, and all of us — people of all ages
— loved him,” said Navarro. “He had that gift of knowing
how to be with people.”
Others noted how they still benefit from the practical prayer
techniques he’d taught them, like making time during the
day to tell Jesus “I love you” or reciting the “prayer of the
heart” regularly.
“He was a part of my very early faith formation, and just
planted a seed that has grown ever since,” said Juliette Cacigas,
who was a student at St. Hilary Catholic School in Pico
Rivera when O’Connell was assigned to the parish in the
mid-’80s.
Decades later, just a few months before his death last February,
O’Connell helped lead a first-year retreat for couples in
the archdiocese’s diaconate formation program. She and her
husband, Rafael, were among them.
“It feels like it
After the Mass,
Archbishop José H.
Gomez and more
than 30 priests
blessed a special
exhibit with some
of O’Connell’s
belongings in the
sacristy of Mission
San Gabriel.
came full circle,
and it’s been a
tragedy and heartbreak
this year,”
said Cacigas, who
now attends St.
Bruno Church in
Whittier.
During his
homily, Dyer said
that rather than
let O’Connell “rest in peace,” it
was time to turn to his intercession
in helping address the continued
violence, homelessness, and crime
plaguing society, especially in LA.
“I say we shouldn’t let Dave rest at
all,” said Dyer, fighting back tears.
“We should call on him all the
time. I think he’d like that.”
Pablo Kay is the editor-in-chief of
Angelus.
March 22, 2024 • ANGELUS • 19