Grieving parishioners lean on faith
‘He gave us hope’: Grieving parishioners lean on faith after bishop’s death
Nearly 900 parishioners and Catholics from around the Archdiocese of Los Angeles gathered to pay tribute to the late Bishop David G. O’Connell at a special Feb. 23 Mass at St. John Vianney Church in Hacienda Heights, the parish where he lived for the last seven years.
“He is bishop, martyr, and saint in every way,” declared pastor Msgr. Timothy Nichols during his homily. Nichols, who was close friends with the 69-year-old O’Connell for more than two decades, didn’t try to hide his own pain during the Mass.
“I had the difficult moment of seeing Bishop in his house at his death,” he continued, speaking both in English and Spanish during the bilingual service. “It is a vision that sticks in my brain. I stand before you with a broken heart.”