A suspect has been arrested in connection with the Feb. 18 shooting homicide of Los Angeles Auxiliary Bishop David O’Connell, the Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department (LASD) said Monday.
A press conference will be held at 12 p.m. PST.
Prior to the arrest, there was a standoff between the subject and law enforcement in the city of Torrance, Sergeant Cueva, who declined to give his first name, told CNA Monday. Cueva is the watch commander at the LASD Carson Station.
Torrance is about a 45-minute drive southwest from Hacienda Heights, where O’Connell was found dead.
The LASD said in a statement Sunday that they responded to a medical emergency call around 12:57 p.m. on Saturday at the 1500 block of Janlu Avenue, Hacienda Heights.
An anonymous law enforcement official told the Los Angeles Times that O’Connell, 69, was found deceased in his bed with one gunshot wound.
The LASD could not confirm to CNA on Monday whether O’Connell was killed in his own home, although several local media reports have reported that it was his home.
Citing “multiple law enforcement sources,” the LA Times reported that there were no signs of “forced entry” into the home where O’Connell was killed, and added that “the crime was not believed to be random.”
A native of Ireland, O’Connell was named a bishop by Pope Francis in 2015. He ministered to immigrants, the poor, and victims of gang violence for 45 years in the South Los Angeles area.
This is a developing story.
If you value the news and views Catholic World Report provides, please consider donating to support our efforts. Your contribution will help us continue to make CWR available to all readers worldwide for free, without a subscription. Thank you for your generosity!
Click here for more information on donating to CWR. Click here to sign up for our newsletter.
Bishop James Conley leads a eucharistic procession outside Lincoln’s Cathedral of the Risen Christ, one of the passport pilgrimage sites. / Diocese of Lincoln
St. Louis, Mo., Aug 17, 2023 / 14:15 pm (CNA).
A new initiative from the Diocese of Lincoln, Nebraska, aims to bring pilgrims to every corner of the state to visit its many adoration chapels.
Dubbed the “Eucharistic Passport Pilgrimage,” the diocesan initiative is modeled after the Nebraska Passport, a project of the Nebraska Tourism Commission designed to encourage exploration of the state’s various attractions.
“The Nebraska Passport Program has been a very popular way to promote Nebraska and its beautiful sites. It is my hope and prayer that our diocesan Eucharistic Passport Pilgrimage will offer an opportunity for thousands of Nebraskans to make a spiritual pilgrimage across our state,” Bishop James Conley wrote in a recent column announcing the new initiative.
“I pray that this might be an occasion of true encounter with our eucharistic Lord, hidden in the Blessed Sacrament and an opportunity for true renewal and revival for our eucharistic Lord. And, like the Nebraska Passport Program, [that] we might be inspired to travel across our beautiful state in a spirit of prayer and gratitude.”
The Lincoln Diocese encompasses a large and mostly rural swath of southern Nebraska that stretches from the Missouri River in the east to the border with Colorado. Catholics make up about 94,000 of the diocese’s population of 621,000. The diocese spans nearly 25,000 square miles of territory and 134 total parishes, according to the diocese.
The idea for the passport, Conley said, is to lead pilgrims to 17 designated eucharistic adoration chapels in Nebraska and offer the pilgrims a stamp on their passport to prove that they went there. Conley said they plan to offer a prize of some sort for any pilgrims who visit all 17 locations (though what exactly the prize will be has yet to be determined).
Conley said he hopes pilgrims will visit the adoration chapels and pray specifically for their intentions as part of the National Eucharistic Revival, a three-year initiative by the U.S. bishops that aims to inspire, educate, and unite the faithful in a more intimate relationship with Jesus in the Eucharist.
Conley said central to the passport project is sharing the importance of visiting and adoring Christ in person.
“We live in such a digitized virtual world, especially since the pandemic years … Anytime we can get away from our screens and out into God’s beautiful creation, whether it’s on a walking pilgrimage, or up in the mountains, or on the beach, or any time we have contact with the really ‘real,’ it’s a remedy for this world, which is becoming more and more in our head,” the bishop said.
Father Christopher Eckrich, diocesan master of ceremonies and Conley’s priest secretary, told CNA that they hope to provide pilgrims with a true sense of “adventure” with the passport program.
“[Visiting all 17 sites] might be harder than people think,” Eckrich said via email.
“People will have to be strategic as adoration is not offered every day in some places. So, people will only be able to get their stamps on certain days — which will add to the adventure! It’s really about creating a pilgrimage environment for people to discover the beautiful adoration chapels, and churches in our diocese, and go visit places they never would have visited before. And the arduousness adds to the excitement upon its completion.”
The passports debuted after Masses the weekend of Aug. 12-13 throughout the Diocese of Lincoln. The passports include informational literature about the 17 designated sites and a map indicating the locations.
The passports will remain available for anyone to pick up in the back of churches across the Lincoln Diocese for the next year, Eckrich said. (If a parish runs out, it can request more from the chancery, he said.)
Baton Rouge, La., May 8, 2019 / 11:00 am (CNA).- A proposal to allow voters to decide if capital punishment should remain legal in Louisiana has been defeated in the state senate.
Senate Bill 112 would have added a question to the next state-wide ballot proposing a constitutional amendment to abolish the death penalty. It was defeated Monday by a vote of 25-13 against, having needed a two-thirds majority to pass.
The measure narrowly passed out of legislative committee on April 30. Speaking during the senate debate, the bill’s sponsor Sen. Dan Claitor, (R-Baton Rouge) said that respect for all human life was paramount.
“It’s a morally wrong thing to do, and at the end of the day, it cheapens life,” Claitor said.
The senator, a former prosecutor, argued that execution did not work as an effective deterrent, was often flawed in its application, and had resulted in miscarriages of justice.
Claitor was supported by a minority of senators across party lines.
Sen. JP Morrell (D-New Orleans) spoke during the committee debate about the high percentage of exonerations of death row inmates which suggested the potential for mistaken executions.
“It’s indisputable that we had people on death row who were [then] found innocent,” Morrell said in support of Claitor’s bill.
State representative Terry Landry (D-New Iberia) has proposed a similar measure in the House. A former superintendent of the Louisiana State Police and a former supported of capital punishment, he said that his beliefs had evolved and that he “now believe[s] the death penalty is wrong.”
The measure was supported by the Catholic bishops of the state. Speaking on behalf of the Louisiana Conference of Catholic Bishops, executive director Rob Tasman said that “justice can never be wrought by killing a human being.”
Pope Francis has called the death penalty a rejection of the Gospel and of human dignity, calling on civil authorities to end its use. Last year, he ordered a revision of paragraph 2267 of the Catechism of the Catholic Church to describe the death penalty “inadmissible” and urging its elimination.
Opponents of the measure said that Claitor’s argument about deterrence was irrelevant.
“Nowhere does [the law] say we shall ‘deter,’ said Sen. Bodi White (R-Baton Rouge). “It says ‘shall be punished’ and that’s what this does.”
District Attorney Scott Perrilloux of the 21st district told News Star that deterrence was not a relevant factor in cases where he sought the death penalty.
“What we consider is the victims and what victims consider as justice” he said.
The last execution to take place in Louisiana was in 2010.
Although there are currently 72 inmates on death row in the state, Gov. John Bel Edwards has imposed a moratorium on any further executions until July of this year because of the unavailability of the drugs used in lethal injections.
CNA Staff, Apr 28, 2020 / 03:25 pm (CNA).- A lawsuit filed in a Manhattan federal court accuses the head of Catholic Charities of New York of sexual harassment and discrimination.
Sixty-three-year-old former employee Alice Kenny filed the lawsuit on S… […]
Leave a Reply