A man has been arrested after a much beloved Catholic bishop, David O'Connell, was shot to death in Los Angeles.
Bishop O'Connell, a native of Glanmire, was found shot dead at his home about fifteen miles east of downtown LA.
Bishop O'Connell, 69, had been living and working in California since 1979. The man arrested is the husband of Bishop O'Connell's housekeeper.
O'Connell was widely known for his advocacy for the poor and his work aimed at bringing reconciliation between street gangs.
“He was a prayerful man. He could be caught praying when he thought nobody was looking,” Pablo Kay, editor in chief of the Catholic news outlet Angeles News, told RTÉ Radio's Morning Ireland.
“He was very attentive to people, to their needs, with his dry Irish wit. He spoke very good Spanish. He worked with some of the most recently arrived immigrants from Central America, from Mexico. He was also very loved by the black community in south central Los Angeles,” Mr Kay told RTÉ Radio’s Morning Ireland.
“I’m still a parishioner at a parish that my great grandparents were married in - they were Irish immigrants. It eventually became a black, poorer neighborhood. Since then a lot of Latinos have moved in and so this was Bishop O’Connell’s territory. This was his mission.
“You saw him much more comfortable with these kinds of people, working class folks, immigrant families, victims of gang violence. This was his habitat and I think he wanted to stay in south central LA for all these years. He had four or five different parish assignments - which are like six or seven years each, one after another. He stayed there until the end, until Pope Frances noticed him and made him a bishop.”
According to an Irish Times report, the LA County Sheriff’s Department said that the shooting was reported at 12.57 p.m. on Saturday at Janlu Avenue in Hacienda Heights.
“Deputies responded to the location regarding a medical emergency call. When they arrived, they discovered a male adult suffering from a gunshot wound. Paramedics arrived and pronounced him dead at the scene,” police said.
Archbishop Jose Gomez of Los Angeles expressed his sorrow at the news and urged people to pray for Bishop O’Connell’s family in Ireland.
“We are deeply disturbed and saddened by this news,” he said.
Added the Times report: "Bishop of Cork and Ross Dr Fintan Gavin said the news of Bishop O’Connell’s death had sent shock waves across his native diocese, particularly in the parish of Glanmire.
“Since his ordination in 1979, Bishop David has served as a priest in Los Angeles but has always maintained his connection with family and friends here in Cork where has been a regular visitor. We pray that the Lord will console Bishop David’s many friends in Cork and throughout Ireland.”
The Washington Post reported that Bishop O’Connell had served in the Archdiocese of Los Angeles, the largest Catholic diocese in the United States, for 45 years and was known as “a man of deep prayer,”
“He was a peacemaker with a heart for the poor and the immigrant, and he had a passion for building a community where the sanctity and dignity of every human life was honored and protected,” Archishop Gomez said in a statement. “He was also a good friend, and I will miss him greatly.”
O’Connell, according to the Post, was affectionately known as “Bishop Dave.” He was one of five auxiliary bishops who assist Gomez with pastoral and administrative tasks. Over the years he had served at several parishes in South Los Angeles.
He ministered to people experiencing poverty and gang violence, and he sought to smooth relationships between law enforcement and community members, according to Angelus News, a Catholic newspaper serving the Los Angeles archdiocese.
The Irish Times reported that it was understood that Bishop O’Connell was predeceased by his parents, David and Joan O’Connell, and that he has one surviving brother and several nieces and nephews still living in the Cork area.
