Msgr. Albert G. O’Connor, a beloved priest of the Diocese of Sacramento for more than 56 years, died on April 11 in Sacramento. He resided most recently at Mercy McMahon Terrace in Sacramento.

Bishop Jaime Soto will preside at a funeral Mass on Thursday, April 25 at 10:30 a.m. in the Cathedral of the Blessed Sacrament, located at 1017 11th St. in Sacramento. A reception will follow the Mass in Mercy Hall. The burial will follow at 2:30 p.m. at St. Mary Cemetery, located at 6509 Fruitridge Road in Sacramento.

The viewing and vigil will be held on Wednesday, April 24, at Holy Spirit Church, located at 3159 Land Park Dr. in Sacramento. The viewing will begin at 4 p.m. and the vigil will begin at 7 p.m.

During my early years as a priest in the 1980s and 90s, I served a number of years in the city of Santa Ana. During that time, the city underwent dramatic demographic changes. Like most of Orange County, Santa Ana had once been dedicated mostly to agriculture. True to the county’s name, many citrus groves – mostly orange groves – thrived in the area. The older towns – Anaheim, Fullerton, Orange and Santa Ana – had packing houses for sorting, storing and shipping citrus as well as other local produce. The emergence of the aerospace industry and the arrival of Disneyland ushered in a new economy.

Jaime Soto, Bishop of Sacramento, has filed for reorganization of the Diocese of Sacramento’s debts in U.S. Bankruptcy Court. He had announced in December the diocese’s plan to file bankruptcy.

The diocese’s filing comes as it faces more than 250 lawsuits alleging sexual abuse of minors by clergy and other employees reaching back to the 1950’s. This wave of new claims followed a 2019 law allowing victim-survivors to file lawsuits regardless of when the abuse occurred. The likely cost of the lawsuits far outstrips the diocese’s funds available for litigation or settlement.

Bishop Soto described the bankruptcy filing as the best way left to him to provide some compensation to victim-survivors of abuse.