(LifeSiteNews) — Pope Leo XIV last week named Bishop Mark O’Connell, an auxiliary bishop in the Archdiocese of Boston, as the next bishop of Albany, New York.
In 35 years as a priest, O’Connell, 61, has called for listening to so-called “LGBT Catholics,” and voted against drafting a document that highlighted then-President Joe Biden and other pro-abortion politicians cannot receive the Holy Eucharist. O’Connell replaces Bishop Edward Scharfenberger, 77, as the 11th bishop of Albany and will be formally installed on December 5.
“I am delighted and deeply grateful to God and the Holy Father, Pope Leo, for calling me to serve as the 11th Bishop of Albany,” O’Connell said after his appointment. “Wherever this journey leads, I will walk with you, guided by the hope and peace of the Risen Lord. I ask for your prayers and goodwill, and I pledge the same to you.”
Pope Leo XIV Accepts Resignation of Bishop Edward Scharfenberger of the Diocese of Albany; Appoints Bishop Mark O’Connell as Successor
Read the full release at: https://t.co/G9bElTupmd pic.twitter.com/f0loz89Z3E
— U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (@USCCB) October 20, 2025
Support for ‘listening’ to ‘LGBT Catholics’
O’Connell, while never denying the Church’s teaching on same-sex “marriage” or gender ideology, has long advocated for more outreach toward “LGBT Catholics.” During a 2018 interview with Michael O’Loughlin, who now serves as the executive director of Father James Martin’s dissident Outreach organization and is “married” to another man, for the Jesuit-run America Magazine, the bishop emphasized the importance of “listening” to Catholics who identify as “LGBT” and called for the Church to develop a “new language” when speaking about these issues.
“I feel inspired by Pope Francis to find new language to express the beauty of our truth,” the bishop said. “We need to work on language that we can all agree on.”
O’Connell appeared to suggest that the Church should adjust its language to be “more inclusive” toward “LGBT Catholics” instead of explicitly promoting Catholic teaching.
The Catholic Church condemns homosexual activity, declares homosexual inclinations “objectively disordered,” and calls homosexuals to chastity and conversion.
The Catechism of the Catholic Church teaches that “homosexual acts are intrinsically disordered” and “contrary to the natural law.” “Under no circumstances can they be approved,” the Catechism states. Homosexual acts are also mortal sins; therefore, anyone who commits these sins and does not repent through the sacrament of Confession is in danger of hell.
READ: Pope Leo appoints bishop linked to McCarrick, Fr. James Martin to New Orleans archdiocese
At another point in the interview, O’Connell rightly noted that the Catholic Church is not prejudiced toward those with same-sex attraction but also admitted and expressed no concern that there are many “chaste” homosexual priests in active ministry. The Church prohibits not only active homosexuals but also men with “deep-seated homosexual tendencies” from entering seminary or receiving holy orders.
Later in the interview, the bishop lamented the “challenges” faced by the Church as more individuals identify as “transgender.”
“The dizzying pace of progress for L.G.B.T. people has also presented the church with new challenges,” he said. Turning to these “challenges” faced by Catholics who identify as “transgender,” O’Connell stressed that Our Lord never explained how to “speak about ‘transgender’ people.”
While this is true, the Church, which was founded by Jesus Christ, has consistently condemned gender ideology.
Several Catholic clerics have spoken out against gender ideology and transgenderism, including Cardinal Raymond Burke, who in an August commencement speech at Thomas Aquinas College condemned it as an “attack on reason and nature.”
“(T)o say that I can change my nature: I was born a male and that I can, through the use of various chemicals and mutilation, make myself a woman – this is an attack on reason, on nature,” Burke said.
O’Connell also served as the chairman of the Archdiocese of Boston’s committee tasked with creating “gender identity guidelines” for the archdiocese’s elementary and middle schools. As committee chair, he was criticized by “transgender” Catholics for not being transparent on the drafting of these guidelines and not inviting anyone who identifies as “transgender” to speak to the committee.
‘Not up to me’ to deny Biden Communion
In June 2021, just months into Joe Biden’s lone term as president, during a virtual United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) meeting, O’Connell was among the 55 bishops who voted against drafting a teaching document on the Eucharist to highlight the need for Catholics to publicly live out the Church’s teaching, including on abortion, before and after receiving the sacrament.
READ: Cardinal Burke condemns Biden’s reception of Holy Communion as ‘sacrilege’
After the vote, O’Connell said he feared the document would be interpreted as calling to deny the then-president and other pro-abortion politicians Holy Communion, which would “further polarize” the faithful.
“I fear the whole process of writing the document will lead to more and more opportunity for some bishops and writers to further polarize our people,” he wrote. “It is not up to me (or you to deny anyone Holy Communion). Canon law leaves it to (Biden’s) individual bishop and pastor to speak with him and that is a private conversation.”
The new Bishop of Albany thinks denying unrepentant public sinners the Eucharist is a “complicated issue” https://t.co/nzOk7erwxY
— Anthony Stine (@pontificatormax) October 20, 2025
Apparent support for Latin Mass
While speaking about top issues the Church in Boston faces at a 2017 event, O’Connell appeared to briefly express support for the celebration of the Traditional Latin Mass (TLM). The bishop noted how new pastors shouldn’t interfere with their parish’s liturgical preferences and touted how the faithful in the archdiocese have a variety of options for attending Mass, including the “Latin Mass.”
“I like the variety of the Church. Problems arise when a new priest comes into a parish and tells (parishioners) what (kind of a parish it) is going to be,” he said. “We have everything, if you want a Latin Mass or a charismatic one or a priest who gets it all done in 20 minutes, we got it.”
O’Connell’s stance on permitting the celebration of the Tridentine Mass will be of particular importance in his new diocese, as his predecessor, Bishop Scharfenberger, had suppressed its celebration in 2023, citing Traditionis Custodes, at all parishes. The TLM continues to be celebrated at Our Lady of Martyrs Shrine because it is not a parish church.
READ: Brooklyn bishop restricts Latin Mass to just two sites
O’Connell, a native of Toronto, is the nephew of a Boston priest, the late Father David Delaney, and a nun, Sr. Jean Delaney, O.P. Since his ordination to the priesthood in 1990, he has served at multiple parishes within the Boston archdiocese.
From 2001 to 2007, he served as Assistant to the Moderator of the Curia for Canonical Affairs, and between 2007-2016 as Judicial Vicar, and a member of the faculty at both Saint John Seminary and Pope Saint John XXIII National Seminary. O’Connell holds a doctorate in Canon Law (JCD) from the Università della Santa Croce in Rome.
Since his 2016 episcopal consecration by Cardinal Sean O’Malley, OFM, O’Connell has served as the Regional Bishop of the North Region of the Archdiocese of Boston, which covers 60 parishes. Since 2023, he has served as the Vicar General and Moderator of the Curia of the archdiocese.
The Diocese of Albany, which O’Connell will now lead, has faced a massive sex abuse scandal, recently reaching an $8 million settlement with abuse victims.
