John Joseph O'Hara (born February 7, 1946) is an American

prelate A prelate () is a high-ranking member of the Minister (Christianity), Christian clergy who is an Ordinary (church officer), ordinary or who ranks in precedence with ordinaries. The word derives from the Latin , the past participle of , which me ...

of the

Catholic Church The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

, who served as an

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. ...

of the

Archdiocese of New York The Archdiocese of New York () is a Latin Church ecclesiastical territory or archdiocese of the Catholic Church located in the New York (state), State of New York. It encompasses the boroughs of Manhattan, the Bronx and Staten Island in New York ...

from 2014 to 2021.

Biography

Early life

O'Hara was born on February 7, 1946, in

Jersey City, New Jersey Jersey City is the List of municipalities in New Jersey, second-most populous

, and was educated in a Catholic elementary school in

Ridgewood, New Jersey Ridgewood is a Village (New Jersey), village in Bergen County, New Jersey, Bergen County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. Ridgewood is a suburban commuter town, bedroom community of New York City, located approximately northwest of Midtown M ...

, and at

Don Bosco Preparatory High School Don Bosco Preparatory High School (Don Bosco Prep) is a private, all-boys Catholic high school from ninth through twelfth grades. Founded in 1915 as a boarding school for Polish boys, by the Salesians of Don Bosco, a religious community of pr ...

in Ramsey, New Jersey. He earned a Bachelor of English degree from

Seton Hall University Seton Hall University (SHU) is a Private university, private Catholic Church, Catholic research university in South Orange, New Jersey, United States. Founded in 1856 by then-Bishop James Roosevelt Bayley and named after his aunt, Saint Elizab ...

in South Orange, New Jersey. While a student, O'Hara was active in the school's radio station,

WSOU WSOU (89.5 FM) is a non-commercial, student-run college radio station. The station broadcasts from the campus of Seton Hall University in South Orange, New Jersey. History WSOU began broadcasting on 89.5 FM on April 14, 1948, under the direct ...

, serving as news director during the 1966-67 academic year. O'Hara worked in

broadcast journalism Broadcast journalism is the field of news and journals which are broadcast by electronic methods instead of the older methods, such as printed newspapers and posters. It works on radio (via air, cable, and Internet), television (via air, cable, ...

for 13 years before entering St. Joseph's Seminary in Yonkers, New York.

Priesthood

O'Hara was ordained into the priesthood for the Archdiocese of New York by Archbishop

John O'Connor John O'Connor may refer to: Clergy * John O'Connor (Archdeacon of Emly) ( 1854–1904), Archdeacon of Emly, 1880–1904 * John J. O'Connor (bishop of Newark) (1855–1927), Roman Catholic Bishop of Newark * John O'Connor (priest) (1870–1952), ...

on December 1, 1984. His assignments, both in

Staten Island Staten Island ( ) is the southernmost of the boroughs of New York City, five boroughs of New York City, coextensive with Richmond County and situated at the southernmost point of New York (state), New York. The borough is separated from the ad ...

, included St. Charles Parish' as

parochial vicar A vicar (; Latin: ''vicarius'') is a representative, deputy or substitute; anyone acting "in the person of" or agent for a superior (compare "vicarious" in the sense of "at second hand"). Linguistically, ''vicar'' is cognate with the English pre ...

from 1984 to 1992, and St. Teresa's Parish from 1992 to 2012 as both parochial vicar and

pastor A pastor (abbreviated to "Ps","Pr", "Pstr.", "Ptr." or "Psa" (both singular), or "Ps" (plural)) is the leader of a Christianity, Christian congregation who also gives advice and counsel to people from the community or congregation. In Lutherani ...

. O'Hara served as the director of strategic pastoral planning for the archdiocese from 2012 to 2022, where he led the "Making All Things New" planning process for parish mergers.

Auxiliary Bishop of New York

O'Hara was named

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 Ath Truim and an auxiliary bishop of the Archdiocese of New York by

Pope Francis Pope Francis (born Jorge Mario Bergoglio; 17 December 1936 – 21 April 2025) was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 13 March 2013 until Death and funeral of Pope Francis, his death in 2025. He was the fi ...

on June 14, 2014. He was consecrated by Cardinal

Timothy Dolan Timothy Michael Dolan (born February 6, 1950) is an American Catholic prelate who has served as Archbishop of New York since 2009 and as a cardinal since 2012. Dolan served as the president of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops ( ...

in St. Patrick's Cathedral in Manhattan on August 4, 2014. Auxiliary bishops Gerald Walsh and Dominick Lagonegro were the co-consecrators. O'Hara's

crosier A crozier or crosier (also known as a paterissa, pastoral staff, or bishop's staff) is a stylized staff that is a symbol of the governing office of a bishop or abbot and is carried by high-ranking prelates of Roman Catholic, Eastern Catho ...

had been used by Cardinal

Terence Cooke Terence James Cooke (March 1, 1921 – October 6, 1983) was an American Catholic prelate who served as Archbishop of New York from 1968 until his death, quietly battling leukemia throughout his tenure. He was named a cardinal in 1969. Cooke pre ...

, a former archbishop of New York. In October 2017, O'Hara intervened to prevent the International Human Rights Art Festival from performing at one of the churches in the archdiocese due to some gay and

transgender A transgender (often shortened to trans) person has a gender identity different from that typically associated with the sex they were sex assignment, assigned at birth. The opposite of ''transgender'' is ''cisgender'', which describes perso ...

content. The archdiocese offered to host the event if these specific acts were rejected, but the festival director declined. In contrast, after Staten Island's 2020 Saint Patrick's Parade was heavily criticized for excluding supporters of LBGTQ+ rights, O'Hara planned to meet with the "hard line" parade organizer to urge "change in the future".

Retirement

On February 7, 2021, O'Hara reached the mandatory retirement age of 75 and submitted his letter of resignation as auxiliary bishop of New York to Pope Francis, as required by

canon law Canon law (from , , a 'straight measuring rod, ruler') is a set of ordinances and regulations made by ecclesiastical jurisdiction, ecclesiastical authority (church leadership) for the government of a Christian organization or church and its membe ...

. On April 7, 2021, the pope accepted O'Hara's resignation. He has continued to serve as episcopal vicar of Staten Island and as vicar of planning for the archdiocese.

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:OHara, John Joseph 1946 births Living people Clergy from Jersey City, New Jersey Don Bosco Preparatory High School alumni Seton Hall University alumni Saint Joseph's Seminary (Dunwoodie) alumni People of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of New York 21st-century American Roman Catholic titular bishops Roman Catholic bishops in New York (state) Catholics from New Jersey Bishops appointed by Pope Francis