O'Connell was ordained a priest of the Congregation of the Mission (the Vicentians) by Joseph McShea on May 29, 1982, in the chapel of the Mary Immaculate Seminary. After his ordination, the Vicentians assigned O'Connell as a teacher at Archbishop Wood Catholic High School in Warminster, Pennsylvania, where he taught religion classes and served as director of student activities.[1]
O'Connell moved to Washington D.C. in 1985 to study at the CUA School of Canon Law. During this period, he also worked as registrar and an assistant professor of canon law, theology, and philosophy at Mary Immaculate Seminary. O'Connell was awarded a Licentiate of Canon Law in 1987 and a Doctor of Canon Law in 1990.[1] He also served as an ecclesiastical judge and canonical consultant for:
Between 1990 and 1998, O'Connell served at St. John's University in New York City as associate dean, professor of theology and religious studies, academic dean and dean of faculty. O'Connell was named as associate vice president of the university in 1995 and assistant legal counsel in 1996.[1]
President of Catholic University of America
In 1998, O'Connell was appointed president of CUA. At his inauguration, O'Connell took the controversial Oath of Fidelity, expressing his support for Ex Corde Ecclesiae, issued by Pope John Paul II in 1990. The document was criticized as an attack on academic freedom at Catholic Universities.[2]
O'Connell was named a consultor to the VaticanCongregation 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.[1]
In 2014, the CUA named Father O'Connell Hall in honor of David O'Connell.[5] 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.[1]
Transparency
In August 2012, O'Connell received records showing that Fr 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.[6]
