David M. O'Connell

David Michael O'Connell (born April 21, 1955) is an American Catholic prelate who has served as Bishop of Trenton since 2010. He is a member of the Congregation of the Mission and a past president of the Catholic University of America (CUA).

Biography

Early life and education David O'Connell was born on April 21, 1955, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, one of the four sons of Arthur J. and June O'Connell. He was raised in nearby Langhorne, Pennsylvania. Feeling drawn at an early age to the Catholic priesthood, he attended St. Joseph Preparatory High School in Princeton, New Jersey.

After graduating from high school, O'Connell entered Niagara University in Lewiston, New York. He received a Bachelor of Arts in philosophy from Niagara in 1978. He continued his studies for the priesthood at Mary Immaculate Seminary in Northampton, Pennsylvania, where he earned a Master of Divinity in 1981 and a Master of Theology in moral theology in 1983.

O'Connell was named a consultor to the Vatican Congregation for Catholic Education in 2005. In 2006, CUA appointed O'Connell as the John Joseph Keane University Professor for that year. On October 2, 2009, O'Connell announced that he was resigning as CUA president in August 2010. O'Connell chose as his episcopal motto: Ministrare non ministrari, meaning, "To serve and not to be served" . As coadjutor bishop, O'Connell automatically succeeded Smith on December 1, 2010, when he retired.

In August 2012, O'Connell received records showing that Reverend Matthew Riedlinger had exchanged sexually explicit text messages with a person he believed to be a 16-year-old boy, then tried to set up a meeting with him. O'Connell removed Riedlinger from the parish where he was serving, but did not inform parishioners of the reason for his removal. He only released the information after learning that The Star-Ledger was publishing an article on Riedlinger.

In 2014, the CUA named Father O'Connell Hall in honor of David O'Connell. In December 2014, after O'Connell suffered a severe bone infection, surgeons amputated his left leg. On February 19, 2017, O'Connell and Archbishop Christophe Pierre elevated St. Robert Bellarmine Church in Freehold, New Jersey, to the rank of co-cathedral. It is now known as the Co-Cathedral of St. Robert Bellarmine.