James Joseph O'Brien (born 5 August 1930 in

Wood Green Wood Green is a suburban district of the London Borough of Haringey, London, England. Its postal district is N22, with parts in N8 or N15. The London Plan identifies it as one of the metropolitan centres in Greater London, and today it forms ...

Haringey The London Borough of Haringey ( , same as Harringay) is a London borough in north London, classified by some definitions as part of Inner London, and by others as part of Outer London. It was created in 1965 by the amalgamation of three forme ...

, England, 11 April 2007) was a British

clergyman Clergy are formal leaders within established religions. Their roles and functions vary in different religious traditions, but usually involve presiding over specific rituals and teaching their religion's doctrines and practices. Some of the ter ...

and

Roman Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...

auxiliary bishop An auxiliary bishop is a bishop assigned to assist the diocesan bishop in meeting the pastoral and administrative needs of the diocese. Auxiliary bishops can also be titular bishops of sees that no longer exist as territorial jurisdictions. ...

in the Archbishopric of Westminster.

Biography

On 12 June 1954 O'Brien received the

priest A priest is a religious leader authorized to perform the sacred rituals of a religion, especially as a mediatory agent between humans and one or more deity, deities. They also have the authority or power to administer religious rites; in parti ...

ordination Ordination is the process by which individuals are Consecration in Christianity, consecrated, that is, set apart and elevated from the laity class to the clergy, who are thus then authorized (usually by the religious denomination, denominationa ...

Westminster Westminster is the main settlement of the City of Westminster in Central London, Central London, England. It extends from the River Thames to Oxford Street and has many famous landmarks, including the Palace of Westminster, Buckingham Palace, ...

Pope Paul VI Pope Paul VI (born Giovanni Battista Enrico Antonio Maria Montini; 26 September 18976 August 1978) was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 21 June 1963 until his death on 6 August 1978. Succeeding John XXII ...

appointed him as

in the archbishopric of Westminster on 28 June 1977 and as

titular bishop A titular bishop in various churches is a bishop who is not in charge of a diocese. By definition, a bishop is an "overseer" of a community of the faithful, so when a priest is ordained a bishop, the tradition of the Catholic, Eastern Orthodox an ...

of Manaccenser in North Africa.La Manaccenser
at www.gcatholic.org The Archbishop of Westminster,

Cardinal Cardinal or The Cardinal most commonly refers to * Cardinalidae, a family of North and South American birds **''Cardinalis'', genus of three species in the family Cardinalidae ***Northern cardinal, ''Cardinalis cardinalis'', the common cardinal of ...

Basil Hume George Basil Hume (born George Haliburton Hume; 2 March 1923 – 17 June 1999) was an English Catholic prelate who served as Archbishop of Westminster from 1976 until his death in 1999. A member of the Benedictines, he was made a cardinal i ...

, gave him the bishop's

on 21 September of that year. Co-consecrators were the

s in Westminster

Basil Christopher Butler Christopher Butler (7 May 1902 – 20 September 1986), was a convert from the Church of England to the Roman Catholic Church, a Benedictine monk, then a Bishop and a biblical scholar. After his Solemn Profession as a monk and his Ordinat ...

, Victor Guazzelli, Gerald Mahon, Philip James Benedict Harvey, and David Every Konstant. As an auxiliary bishop of Westminster, O'Brien had particular pastoral oversight of the deaneries of Hertfordshire for 28 years, succeeding Bishop Christopher Butler; Bishop Butler remained as an auxiliary until his retirement in 1986, though not in a geographical role. On 30 June 2005

Pope Benedict XVI Pope BenedictXVI (born Joseph Alois Ratzinger; 16 April 1927 – 31 December 2022) was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 19 April 2005 until his resignation on 28 February 2013. Benedict's election as p ...

accepted Bishop O'Brien's age-related resignation. He died on 11 April 2007.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:OBrien, James Joseph 1930 births 2007 deaths 20th-century Roman Catholic titular bishops 21st-century Roman Catholic bishops in England 20th-century Roman Catholic bishops in England