A unique tribute to late San Gabriel Valley bishop has emerged at Encino church
The last time Anisha Virgen spoke to the late Bishop David O’Connell was via text. “Let’s go do breakfast,” she wrote him, attaching an image she had drawn of a chalice.
“That is beautiful,” O’Connell replied. A month later, the auxiliary bishop of the San Gabriel Pastoral Region, 69, was found dead of a gunshot wound in his home in Hacienda Heights. Nearly 5,000 mourners attended his funeral at the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels on March 3.
Virgen, director of outreach and social justice at Our Lady of Grace Church in Encino, remembered her friend as she looked over an 80-foot sawdust carpet running down the center aisle of the church. The colorful artwork, inspired by traditional Central American “alfombras,” depicts eight different scenes from the bishop’s life. It will accompany churchgoers at the start of Holy Week and will be on display through the 11 a.m. Mass on Palm Sunday, April 2.
Our Lady of Grace Parish in Encino, is starting Holy Week celebrating the life and ministry of the late Bishop David O’Connell with the display of an 80-foot sawdust carpet on the center aisle inside the church. The colorful artwork, with 9 panels is inspired in the traditional Central American “alfombras” or living carpet in the center aisle on Friday, March 31, 2023. (Photo by Dean Musgrove, Los Angeles Daily News/SCNG)
Our Lady of Grace Parish in Encino, is starting Holy Week celebrating the life and ministry of the late Bishop David O’Connell with the display of an 80-foot sawdust carpet on the center aisle inside the church. The colorful artwork, with 9 panels is inspired in the traditional Central American “alfombras” or living carpet in the center aisle on Friday, March 31, 2023. Panel of Bishop O’Connell with Our Lady of Guadalupe. (Photo by Dean Musgrove, Los Angeles Daily News/SCNG)
Our Lady of Grace Parish in Encino, is starting Holy Week celebrating the life and ministry of the late Bishop David O’Connell with the display of an 80-foot sawdust carpet on the center aisle inside the church. The colorful artwork, with 9 panels is inspired in the traditional Central American “alfombras” or living carpet in the center aisle on Friday, March 31, 2023. Panel of The Eucharist. (Photo by Dean Musgrove, Los Angeles Daily News/SCNG)
Our Lady of Grace Parish in Encino, is starting Holy Week celebrating the life and ministry of the late Bishop David O’Connell with the display of an 80-foot sawdust carpet on the center aisle inside the church. The colorful artwork, with 9 panels is inspired in the traditional Central American “alfombras” or living carpet in the center aisle on Friday, March 31, 2023. Panel of a Mary and John. (Photo by Dean Musgrove, Los Angeles Daily News/SCNG)
Our Lady of Grace Parish in Encino, is starting Holy Week celebrating the life and ministry of the late Bishop David O’Connell with the display of an 80-foot sawdust carpet on the center aisle inside the church. The colorful artwork, with 9 panels is inspired in the traditional Central American “alfombras” or living carpet in the center aisle on Friday, March 31, 2023. Panel of the Sacred Heart. (Photo by Dean Musgrove, Los Angeles Daily News/SCNG)
Our Lady of Grace Parish in Encino, is starting Holy Week celebrating the life and ministry of the late Bishop David O’Connell with the display of an 80-foot sawdust carpet on the center aisle inside the church. The colorful artwork, with 9 panels is inspired in the traditional Central American “alfombras” or living carpet in the center aisle on Friday, March 31, 2023. Panel of Bishop O’Connell with a cross. (Photo by Dean Musgrove, Los Angeles Daily News/SCNG)
Our Lady of Grace Parish in Encino, is starting Holy Week celebrating the life and ministry of the late Bishop David O’Connell with the display of an 80-foot sawdust carpet on the center aisle inside the church. The colorful artwork, with 9 panels is inspired in the traditional Central American “alfombras” or living carpet in the center aisle on Friday, March 31, 2023. Panel of a young Pope Benedict XVI. (Photo by Dean Musgrove, Los Angeles Daily News/SCNG)
Our Lady of Grace Parish in Encino, is starting Holy Week celebrating the life and ministry of the late Bishop David O’Connell with the display of an 80-foot sawdust carpet on the center aisle inside the church. The colorful artwork, with 9 panels is inspired in the traditional Central American “alfombras” or living carpet in the center aisle on Friday, March 31, 2023. Panel of a younger Bishop O’Connell and a niece and nephew. (Photo by Dean Musgrove, Los Angeles Daily News/SCNG)
Our Lady of Grace Parish in Encino, is starting Holy Week celebrating the life and ministry of the late Bishop David O’Connell with the display of an 80-foot sawdust carpet on the center aisle inside the church. The colorful artwork, with 9 panels is inspired in the traditional Central American “alfombras” or living carpet in the center aisle on Friday, March 31, 2023. Panel of Jesus and Mary. (Photo by Dean Musgrove, Los Angeles Daily News/SCNG)
Our Lady of Grace Parish in Encino, is starting Holy Week celebrating the life and ministry of the late Bishop David O’Connell with the display of an 80-foot sawdust carpet on the center aisle inside the church. The colorful artwork, with 9 panels is inspired in the traditional Central American “alfombras” or living carpet in the center aisle on Friday, March 31, 2023. Panel of a young Bishop O’Connell (Photo by Dean Musgrove, Los Angeles Daily News/SCNG)
Our Lady of Grace Parish in Encino, is starting Holy Week celebrating the life and ministry of the late Bishop David O’Connell with the display of an 80-foot sawdust carpet on the center aisle inside the church. The colorful artwork, with 9 panels is inspired in the traditional Central American “alfombras” or living carpet in the center aisle on Friday, March 31, 2023. Volunteer, EricK Gomez who with a team of others assembled and applied the materials. (Photo by Dean Musgrove, Los Angeles Daily News/SCNG)
Our Lady of Grace Parish in Encino, is starting Holy Week celebrating the life and ministry of the late Bishop David O’Connell with the display of an 80-foot sawdust carpet on the center aisle inside the church. The colorful artwork, with 9 panels is inspired in the traditional Central American “alfombras” or living carpet in the center aisle on Friday, March 31, 2023. Panel detail of Bishop O’Connell. (Photo by Dean Musgrove, Los Angeles Daily News/SCNG)
Our Lady of Grace Parish in Encino, is starting Holy Week celebrating the life and ministry of the late Bishop David O’Connell with the display of an 80-foot sawdust carpet on the center aisle inside the church. The colorful artwork, with 9 panels is inspired in the traditional Central American “alfombras” or living carpet in the center aisle on Friday, March 31, 2023. Panel detail of Bishop O’Connell. (Photo by Dean Musgrove, Los Angeles Daily News/SCNG)
Our Lady of Grace Parish in Encino, is starting Holy Week celebrating the life and ministry of the late Bishop David O’Connell with the display of an 80-foot sawdust carpet on the center aisle inside the church. The colorful artwork, with 9 panels is inspired in the traditional Central American “alfombras” or living carpet in the center aisle on Friday, March 31, 2023. (Photo by Dean Musgrove, Los Angeles Daily News/SCNG)
Our Lady of Grace Parish in Encino, is starting Holy Week celebrating the life and ministry of the late Bishop David O’Connell with the display of an 80-foot sawdust carpet on the center aisle inside the church. The colorful artwork, with 9 panels is inspired in the traditional Central American “alfombras” or living carpet in the center aisle on Friday, March 31, 2023. Catholic artist Amy Rodriguez, designed the project. (Photo by Dean Musgrove, Los Angeles Daily News/SCNG)
A ninth panel honors Pope Benedict XVI, who died in December.
“He was Jesus to me,” Virgen said. “If he saw this, he’d have a big smile and he would say, ‘Let’s raise a pint.’ He was always with the jokes.”
Digital artist Amy Rodriguez, 29, of Pasadena, designed the panels depicting O’Connell as a child, rookie priest, and bishop. About 15 volunteers then spent about three days laying stencils down and filling them with colored sawdust and salt.
“As soon as I found out the Bishop had died, I knew I wanted to create an art piece in his honor,” Rodriguez said. “I first met him through Catholic young adult ministries and I joined a pilgrimage he led to Panama in 2018. He made you feel like family no matter who you were.”
Karla Gómez Araya, communications coordinator for the Encino parish, saw Rodriguez’s art on Instagram and asked her to design the artistic tribute.
“I wish people will remember the life, legacy and mission of Bishop Dave,” Gómez Araya said. “We hope to bring the beauty of this art and help them reflect on the beauty of his life.”
Erick Gomez, 18, of North Hollywood, spent seven hours on the sawdust tapestry.
“The process was fun and after, I felt more part of the community,” Gomez said. “It felt good.”
This is the second year that Our Lady of Grace used art to welcome Holy Week. Last year, the “alfombras” focused on sending a message of peace and solidarity to Ukrainians. This time, attendees can write messages that will be sent to O’Connell’s family in Ireland. It is a gesture that resonates with Rodriguez, who said remembering such a joyful person of faith, whether in words or through art, will always be a blessing.
The last time Rodriguez spoke to O’Connell in person was after Mass at St. Philip the Apostle Church in Pasadena three months before his death. She asked for help because a pilgrimage she was planning to Portugal was not attracting many takers.
“He said, ‘Ask Our Lady to help you, she will help you,’ and now I have 35 pilgrims signed up,” she said. “He had so much love, so much warmth. I’m better for knowing him.”
