Soul friends to the end
From Ireland to Southern California, soul friends to the end
This story is part of a series featured in a commemorative issue honoring Bishop David O’Connell. Read more stories at the Bishop Dave Commemorative Issue web page.
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.