John Joseph O'Hara


John Joseph O'Hara is an American prelate of the Catholic Church, who currently serves as an auxiliary bishop of the Archdiocese of New York.

Biography

O'Hara was born in Jersey City, New Jersey and was educated in Catholic elementary and high schools there. He earned a bachelor's degree in English from Seton Hall University. He worked in broadcast journalism for 13 years before entering St. Joseph's Seminary in Dunwoodie. O'Hara was ordained a priest by Archbishop John O'Connor on December 1, 1984. His pastoral assignments included St. Charles parish on Staten Island from 1984 to 1992, and St. Teresa parish, Staten Island, from 1992 to 2012 as both parochial vicar and pastor. O'Hara served as the director of strategic pastoral planning for the archdiocese from 2012 to 2014, where he led the "Making All Things New" parish planning process.

Auxiliary Bishop of New York

O'Hara was named the Titular Bishop of Ath Truim and Auxiliary Bishop of New York by Pope Francis on June 14, 2014. He was consecrated a bishop by Cardinal Timothy Dolan in St. Patrick's Cathedral on August 4, 2014. New York auxiliary bishops Gerald Thomas Walsh and Dominick John Lagonegro were the co-consecratiors. Bishop O'Hara's crosier was used by the late Cardinal Terence Cooke who had served as New York's archbishop.
In October 2017 O'Hara intervened to force out the International Human Rights Art Festival from performing at one of the churches in his diocese, because of its gay and transgender content. The church offered to host the event if these specific acts were rejected, but the director of the festival declined.