Los Angeles Auxiliary Bishop David G. O’Connell, a native of Ireland who spent most of his four decades as a priest ministering in L.A.’s inner city, has died. He was 69.
According to local news reports, he was fatally shot Feb. 18, 2023. Local news reports said Los Angeles Country sheriffs arrived at 1 p.m. to the bishop’s home and found him dead of a gunshot wound to his upper torso. An investigation was under way for a suspect and motive.
“I am very sad this afternoon to report that our beloved Auxiliary Bishop David O’Connell has passed away unexpectedly,” said Archbishop José H. Gomez of Los Angeles in a statement Feb. 18. “It is a shock and I have no words to express my sadness.”
Despite his long list of accolades and accomplishments, O’Connell was known as a low-key priest with a down-to-earth demeanor and an Irish brogue he never bothered to try hiding. Those who knew him testify that he seemed most at ease with the people he spent all those years with in south L.A.
“It’s been the great joy of my life to be the pastor of these people, especially the ones who are suffering or in need or facing difficulty,” O’Connell said after being named a bishop in 2015. “And it’s been a great privilege, a great blessing to be given these parishes all these years, to be pastor all these years. The people have touched my heart the way they are sincere.”
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With thanks to National Catholic Reporter (NCR), OSV News and Pablo Kay, where this article originally appeared.
