IN MEMORIAM: KEVIN G. O’CONNELL, S.J.
By Mark S. Smith
Kevin O’Connell, S.J., and I met at Harvard Divinity School in January, 1979. In his Hebrew Rapid Reading course, we tackled Exodus (he was an expert on this biblical book). A demanding teacher, Kevin was unfailingly patient in explaining Hebrew and no less generous with his time.
Kevin was also a natural at saying Mass and serving people. On Sundays I would attend the Mass that he provided at Weston School of Theology. It would be a small group of about 15 people, and Kevin delighted in everyone. He offered support with kind words and smiles, as he listened to the latest, often laughing.
I followed his progress to John Carroll University in Cleveland and then to Le Moyne College in Syracuse. Phil King and I felt very proud of Kevin at his presidential inauguration at Le Moyne in April 1988, with the address provided by Raymond Brown, S.S., also of blessed memory. With that wonderful voice of his, Brown on that occasion recognized a man dedicated as a priest to teaching people (invoking Malachi 2).
In 1997 I stayed with Kevin at the Jesuit house in Amman, where I watched him in action running the English-speaking Catholic community in Amman. Kevin was warm at Mass, and afterwards he greeted everyone by name. As an outsider, he could empathize with their lives, especially with foreign guest workers who I think took him back to his own modest roots. In an oral history that he gave in 2009, his time in Amman came up when recalling his father’s sense of justice: “I think his spirit has guided me a lot…his sense of justice. Particularly now, in my work in Amman, I really feel that way towards the needs of people.” Kevin seemed most himself when he celebrated Mass and engaged with people.
I saw Kevin last summer at Campion Center. What animated him in our few hours together was his intensive reading in theology and spirituality. He was probing what he had been taught to believe as a Catholic, and he was questioning it, deeply. Where he said he felt most at home in the faith was when he said Mass. I wasn’t surprised. It was touching to visit him there, as he also talked about achieving a pretty vibrant life despite his brain tumor and despite not knowing how much time he had left.
He walked me out to my car, and we hugged. As I drove out, Kevin stood there watching, until I could no longer see him.
