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Feeding the Homeless Was Late Bishop’s Passion

Bishop David O’Connell was known for his work in some of the poorest neighborhoods in Los Angeles.

Skid Row isn’t just one of the roughest communities in the country, it also has some of the largest groups of people who are homeless. 

Michelle Powers tells us, despite the gritty exterior, Bishop O’Connell still called those streets home.

Lenten Pilgrimage Marches on At St Mark’s Church in Sheepshead Bay

The Diocese of Brooklyn’s Lenten pilgrimage is pushing on with parishioners stopping at St. Mark’s church in Sheepshead Bay on Thursday.

The day was packed with services for pilgrims to take part in, starting with Mass at 8:30am with Bishop Robert Brennan.

Included in the festivities were a holy hour for vocations, rosary, chaplet of divine mercy, holy hour for young people and eucharistic reposition.

In his homily, Bishop Robert Brennan advised those young and old about the importance of having a trusting friendship with Jesus Christ and each other.

Friend of Bishop O’Connell Recalls How the Slain Priest Changed the Landscape of LA

The stories about Bishop O’Connell are endless but one example is something people are calling a possible miracle when he was the pastor of St Michael’s Church in South Central Los Angeles.

He served there as a priest before he became a bishop. It’s a notoriously violent and impoverished neighborhood. A friend of the bishop, Matt Meeks, says O’Connell changed that for so many.

To view an extended cut of our exclusive interview with Meeks, visit the Currents News Facebook page.

L.A. Faithful Remember ‘Humble’ Bishop Who Was Pro-Life Advocate

LOS ANGELES — If Catherine Contreras had the opportunity to have one more conversation with the late Auxiliary Bishop David O’Connell, she would thank him for his unwavering support of pro-life advocates and for being a father figure to so many.

“Thank you for your support. Thank you for your prayers. Thank you for being [fatherly], being warm, and giving to us so selflessly,” Contreras said she would tell Bishop O’Connell. “We appreciate your dedicated work, and we know the sacrifices that he made for all of us.”

Contreras offered the message on March 1, looking down upon the nation’s largest burial site of aborted babies, which Bishop O’Connell blessed last year. Located in Odd Fellows Cemetery in East Los Angeles, there are almost 16,500 aborted babies found buried there in the 1980s.

Contreras is the president and executive director of Vox Vitae, a Los Angeles-based pro-life advocacy organization. Bishop O’Connell provided the seed money for the organization’s Help and Hope sidewalk advocacy program, but beyond that, she added, he was a steadfast champion of the pro-life cause who always made himself available.

“All I had to do was text or call him and say, ‘Can you help us,’ ” Contreras explained.

“Our bishop made it a point to be available, praying outside of abortion facilities, praying exorcism prayers outside of abortion facilities, and if a mother ever needed help, he was there,” she continued, adding that Bishop O’Connell would often say pro-life advocacy is “the most important work that we need to be doing.”

Other pro-life advocates also say their final message to him would be one of thanks.

Dahlia and Arnold Mayorquin never met Bishop O’Connell, but they said he was integral in their decision last year to follow through with the birth of their baby boy, Joshua, who they were encouraged to abort because he had a very small chance of living. Joshua was born on Feb. 10, 2022, and lived 40 days until March 18, 2022.

“There are no words that we can express for the gratitude that we have for him because we know that his prayers are what most likely helped him live those 40 days,” Dahlia explained. “Our son was pronounced dead in the womb, to them, he wasn’t going to be born alive, and he lasted 40 days. … I’m pretty sure that had something to do with Bishop O’Connell’s prayers.”

The couple said that Bishop O’Connell was key in helping them in other ways, as well, including with things like money, food, and other essential items. Albert said if he could tell Bishop O’Connell one thing, it would be, “Thank you, I appreciate everything.

“I can’t say I had a physical way of meeting him, but probably a mental way through his prayers,” Albert said.

Similarly, Glendy Perez, the 40 Days for Life Coordinator in El Monte, California, would tell Bishop O’Connell, “Thank you for taking the time to be here with us, for the humbleness, for his courage, for his love.” She said Bishop O’Connell visited with them twice.

“When he came to do his special deliverance prayers … we felt the difference,” Perez said. “Even the people that were here were all feeling this tension, and then after he finished with the prayers, we felt this big load get off of our chest. It was such a feeling of peace, courage, and strength. He was so humble, down to earth.”

When asked how Vox Vitae will carry on without Bishop O’Connell, Contreras acknowledged that right now, they’re still heartbroken about the situation but noted that they know they’ll be OK if they continue to rely on their faith.

“He was here in the line of the apostles and the apostles, and our bishops, they’re here because of God. And with God, we’re always going to be OK,” she said. “We’re heartbroken, and we will have to regroup emotionally, but we have God.”

Perez added that she prays there will be another bishop who joins them in their advocacy efforts the way Bishop O’Connell did, saying, “Maybe wherever he is, he can pray for one to come.”

Catholic News Headlines for Thursday 03/02/2023

 

Thousands came together Thursday to pray for beloved Bishop David O’Connell at the Cathedral of Our Lady of Angels in Downtown Los Angeles.

Crews that are working to clean up the East Palestine, Ohio disaster are getting sick.

The Lenten Pilgrimage pushes on as St. Mark’s Church holds services all day for pilgrims.

Republican Senators Grill AG Garland Over Anti-Catholic Bias

PROSPECT HEIGHTS — Attorney General Merrick Garland faced some harsh questioning from Republican lawmakers on the Senate Judiciary Committee Wednesday.

The senators were questioning whether the Justice Department led by Garland had an anti-Catholic, anti-pro-life bias when it came to the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s methods.

The attorney general labeled a now-retracted Richmond FBI memo that suggested investigating traditionalist Catholics for possible ties to domestic terrorists “appalling.”

A riled Garland defended the DOJ and its agencies during heated exchanges with Republicans over whether federal agencies are biased against the pro-life movement in their enforcement of federal laws.

In response to questioning from Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Missouri, Garland denounced the FBI’s Richmond division’s memo, which defined a strategy to investigate a link between “radical-traditionalist Catholic ideology” and “the far-right white nationalist movement.”

The FBI memo laid out how to investigate Catholic parishes that offer the Traditional Latin Mass and certain Catholic online communities. The document cited a list from the Southern Poverty Law Center to determine which organizations adhere to “radical-traditionalist Catholic ideology.”

Hawley asked Garland whether the Department of Justice is “cultivating sources and spies in Latin Mass parishes and other Catholic parishes around the country.”

“The Justice Department does not do that,” Garland said. “It does not do investigations based on religion. I saw the document you have. It’s appalling. It’s appalling. I’m in complete agreement with you. I understand that the FBI has withdrawn it, and it’s now looking into how this could ever have happened.”

Hawley pressed the issue further, asking Garland how many informants the FBI has in Catholic churches.

“I don’t know, and I don’t believe we have any informants aimed at Catholic Churches,” Garland responded. “We have a rule against investigations based on First Amendment activity, and Catholic churches are obviously First Amendment activity. But I don’t know the specific answer to that question.”

Hawley criticized Garland for not providing a definitive answer to the question.

“You don’t know the specifics of anything, it seems, but apparently, on your watch, this Justice Department is targeting Catholics, targeting people of faith, specifically for their faith views,” Hawley said. “And Mr. Attorney General, I’ll just say to you, it’s a disgrace.”

Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, asked Garland to account for a disparity in the number of prosecutions of pro-life activists and pro-abortion activists under the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances (FACE) Act. The FACE Act made it a federal crime to impede access to a pro-life pregnancy center or abortion clinic.

Lee told the attorney general that there have been 81 reported attacks on pro-life pregnancy centers “and only two individuals have been charged” with violating the FACE Act. Meanwhile, he said, 34 pro-life activists have been charged for blocking access to or vandalizing abortion clinics.

“There are many more prosecutions with respect to the blocking of the abortion centers, but that is generally because those actions are taken with photography at the time, during the daylight, and seeing the person who did it is quite easy,” Garland responded.

“Those who are attacking the pregnancy resource centers, which is a horrid thing to do, are doing this at night in the dark,” he said. “We have put full resources into this. We have put rewards out for this.”

Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, also cited discrepancies in FACE prosecutions that evoked the FBI’s arrest of Mark Houck, a pro-life activist charged by the FBI for allegedly violating the FACE Act, but acquitted on all counts.

“Two dozen agents clad in body armor and ballistic helmets and shields and a battering ram showed up at his house pointing rifles at his family,” Cruz said.

Garland responded by stating, “the decisions about how to do that are made at the level of the FBI agents on the scene” and “my understanding is the FBI disagrees with that description.”

 

Bishop Brennan Celebrates Mass at Our Lady of Grace as Part of Lenten Pilgrimage

A group of Catholic school students got a lesson from Bishop Robert Brennan as he led the next stop in the Lenten Pilgrimage this morning.

On Wednesday Catholics took a trip to Our Lady of Grace in Gravesend where the bishop celebrated Mass with the students of the parish’s catholic academy.

Bishop Brennan spoke about God giving us strength to deal with what we encounter in life.

The bishop also spoke about focusing on putting the needs of others before ourselves.

Bay Ridge Catholic Academy 1st Graders Share the 10 Commandments

A Catholic class in Brooklyn is doing more than their morning prayers, they’re reciting their Ten Commandments.

Students from class 1a at Bay Ridge Catholic Academy performed a special song at a school assembly for kindergartners to fourth graders on Tuesday.

They have been learning about the Ten Commandments in their religion class and decided to share their knowledge.

During the assembly, the school also passed out awards for students of the month.