If the late Bishop David O’Connell had anything to say to his former parishioners at a recent Sunday Mass at St. Frances Xavier Cabrini Church in South LA, the words were on the white posterboards held by several parishioners during the entrance procession.
“Help me love my family more and more,” read one of the signs in Spanish. “Help me to follow you more closely.”
“Make yourself present in me, stay with me,” read another. “Come into my heart, come today into my life.”
Anyone who’d been a parishioner of O’Connell’s over the years could recognize the one-line prayers. He would teach them in his homilies and contemplative prayer sessions, and repeated them enough that they still stuck.
At the standing-room only noon Mass on Sunday, Feb. 9, those signs were a poignant reminder of the deep mark that O’Connell left on the people of St. Frances, now a heavily Latino parish but still home to several longtime Black parishioners.
It was here that O’Connell burnished his reputation as a bridge-building inner-city pastor from 1988 to 2003, bringing police, activists, and other faith leaders together to help rebuild and unite a community torn apart by the LA Riots.
And it was here that, two years after his death, parishioners welcomed Archbishop José H. Gomez for the dedication of a new memorial garden in O’Connell’s honor. Administrator Father Christopher Felix envisions the space, located between the church and a parish office building, as a place anyone can visit to pray, relax, meditate, or even share a meal.
“We wanted to dedicate this area to him for what he’s done to this community, and the healing that we can receive from him going forward,” said Felix.
Since arriving at St. Frances last summer, Felix said he’s noticed that parishioners are still suffering from O’Connell’s sudden death in February 2023 — including those who knew him from a brief second stint in 2015 at the parish before Pope Francis named him a bishop.
“I don’t think there’s been closure for them,” said Felix. “So I see this garden as a place where they can heal, a place where they can feel close to him again and feel his love.”
Longtime parishioners Charles Nall and his adult son, Jason, are among those still feeling the absence of “Father Dave.” As soon as the young Irish priest arrived at St. Frances in 1988, he found a barber — and a friend.
“I did his hair for 28 years,” said Charles. “I knew him very closely. We could talk about things, he helped me in a lot of things.”
As a youth figuring out life during those years, Jason found in O’Connell an easy person to talk to, whether about sports or cracking jokes.
“He was always a person you could go to, no matter what you were going through, no matter how egregious the sin was,” said Jason with a laugh. “He always found a way first to show you grace, and to give you the spiritual way out of it. And I always appreciated it.”
Joining Archbishop Gomez at the special noon Mass was Auxiliary Bishop Brian Nunes, O’Connell’s successor as the regional bishop of the Archdiocese of LA’s San Gabriel Pastoral Region. In his homily, Nunes compared the amazement of the disciples at Jesus’ miraculous catch of fish in the Sunday Gospel to the kind of “greatness” that O’Connell inspired in others.
“As the person who has followed Bishop O’Connell, I know what it is like to be in the presence of greatness,” said Nunes, who preached in both Spanish and English. “His generosity, his kindness, his love … it’s a little difficult to measure up to him, but this experience has helped me a lot.”
After the Mass, hundreds gathered to witness Archbishop Gomez’s blessing of the space, marked by a poster collage of photos of O’Connell. So far, grass and a few flower beds have been installed. In the coming weeks, benches and lights will be added, a replica statue of Our Lady of Lourdes will arrive, and a water fountain donated by a parishioner at American Martyrs Church in Manhattan Beach will be installed.
After being ordained a priest in 2014 and assigned to a parish in San Gabriel, Felix got to know O’Connell during his first years as a bishop in the region. He stressed that the garden is meant as a place for everybody, including visitors from around the vast archdiocese.
“He was here for everybody… and I think that’s what he left here: his love for everybody,” said Felix. “No matter what, he took the time to be with the people.”
Kim Collins was among those marveling at the garden that Sunday. A former Baptist who converted thanks to her husband, a member of St. Frances, she remembered peeking inside the church during a visit more than 30 years ago. Accustomed to her Baptist church’s strict dress code, she was reluctant to go inside wearing shorts, until she caught the eye of O’Connell, who happened to be inside the empty church.
“Come on in, everyone’s welcome,” O’Connell told her.
Collins credits that encounter with helping convince her to become Catholic.
“That’s how he was, he welcomed everybody. I miss him, we miss him,” said Collins, who went on to serve as president of St. Frances’ women’s council for more than 20 years. “That’s going to stay with me forever.”
