FOLLOW JESUS ONLY
...find me in the digital world

is a native of Ocean Springs, Mississippi and the youngest of five children. He graduated from Ocean Springs High School in 1983, and from the University of Southern Mississippi in Hattiesburg in 1987, where he received his bachelor's degree in psychology.

 

Upon graduation, Father O'Connor was commissioned into the United States Air Force as a Second Lieutenant. He served as a military officer, both on active duty and in the Mississippi Air National Guard, principally in Radar Operations, Surveillance, and Air Weapons Control. Father O'Connor attained the rank of Major and worked full-time for the Mississippi Air National Guard from 1990 until he answered the call to enter the seminary in 2000.

 

Father O'Connor attended Notre Dame Seminary in New Orleans, Louisiana and was ordained a priest of the Lord Jesus Christ on June 11, 2005. In 2007, he was appointed pastor of Sacred Heart Catholic Church in Dedeaux (Pass Christian, Mississippi), and in 2014 Fr. O'Connor was appointed pastor of Our Lady of the Gulf parish in Bay St. Louis, Mississippi.

 

In addition to parish ministry, Father O'Connor has done a number of parish missions and religious pilgrimages. He also serves as the spiritual director for the Cursillo Movement of South Mississippi, is a member of the Deacon Formation board, and is on the bishop's Presbyteral Council where he has served as Chair. Father O'Connor has run two marathons and enjoys fishing in his spare moments.