Trenton Bishop released from Rome hospital after heart attack 

Matt McDonald   By Matt McDonald for CNA

January 9, 2024 Catholic News Agency News Briefs 0 Print

 

Following his release, Bishop David O’Connell (third from left) joined Father Jean Felicien, Monsignor Thomas N. Gervasio, and Monsignor Sam Sirianni at their hotel in Rome. / Credit: TrentonMonitor.com staff photo

CNA Staff, Jan 9, 2024 / 17:40 pm (CNA).

Bishop David M. O’Connell of the Diocese of Trenton, New Jersey, was released from a hospital in Rome on Tuesday, five days after suffering a heart attack, a spokesman for the diocese said.

He was taken to Santo Spirito hospital last Thursday, where he had surgery to open the completely blocked left anterior descending artery, which is the largest cardiac artery in the body, according to the diocese. The type of heart attack the bishop sustained is known as a “widowmaker.”

O’Connell, 68, told other diocesan officials by email that he feels “very lucky” to have gotten medical care quickly after the heart attack, according to TrentonMonitor.com, the news website for the diocese, which consists of four counties in central New Jersey.

Bishop David O'Connell after his release from the hospital. Credit: TrentonMonitor.com staff photo
Bishop David O’Connell after his release from the hospital. Credit: TrentonMonitor.com staff photo

“He also gratefully acknowledged that he has received hundreds of get well wishes from throughout the diocese and the wider Church. He again thanked everyone for their support and prayers,” TrentonMonitor.com reported Tuesday.

O’Connell grew up not far from Philadelphia. He is a member of the Congregation of the Mission, which is more commonly known as the Vincentians, after its founder, St. Vincent de Paul.

He served as president of The Catholic University of America from 1998 to 2010. He has served as bishop of Trenton since 2010.

In December 2014, O’Connell had the lower part of his left leg amputated because of recurring infections caused by diabetes.

The bishop went to Italy recently to lead a pilgrimage of 20 priests and two lay diocesan staff members to holy sites in Rome and Assisi.

He plans to return to New Jersey later this week with the other pilgrims and there continue his recovery and rehabilitation.

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Amid rise in gang violence, Irish archbishop calls for new temperance movement

July 9, 2019 CNA Daily News 0

Armagh, Northern Ireland, Jul 10, 2019 / 12:18 am (CNA).- An archbishop in Northern Ireland has called for the reigniting of a “temperance movement” to address the problem of alcohol and drugs, in the wake of increasing gang violence in the country.

“We see how addictions like this can devastate family life and social life…There is no future in a life of crime associated with drugs,” Archbishop Eamon Martin of Armagh, primate of all Ireland, told the Irish Independent on Sunday.

His comments were prompted in part by a spate of violence in Drogheda, a town 30 miles north of Dublin, which has included shootings and arson attacks, the most recent being a gasoline bomb attack on a house Tuesday morning. The attacks are thought to be the result of a feud between rival gangs.

Drogheda has seen around 80 violent incidents in recent months, including gasoline bombings, shootings and assaults in the town linked to the gang violence, the Irish Independent reports.

The archbishop spoke after Mass at St. Peter’s Church in Drogheda to honor the martyred Irish saint Oliver Plunkett, who was hung, drawn and quartered on July 1, 1681 in England. St. Oliver gave up alcohol over concerns that it was damaging the priestly life of the clergy, Martin noted.

Martin said he has been discussing the problems of drugs and violence with priests and community leaders in Drogheda, and said many of them are “quietly working on the ground” to encourage peace.

In addition to gang violence, several arson attacks on Catholic churches have taken place in Northern Ireland in recent months. Sacred Heart Church in Ballyclare, about 13 miles north of Belfast, was desecrated with paint in the early hours of Easter Sunday morning April 21. Police arrested a 26 year-old man related to the “criminal damage.”

A group of young people started a fire in a shed on the parish property of Holy Family parish in Derry the night of May 24. No one was harmed, but both the church and parochial house were damaged.

 

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