Bishop Mark, as he prefers to be called,
is the Bishop-Designate
for the Roman Catholic Diocese of Albany.
He will be installed on
Friday, December 5, 2025.
Bishop O’Connell was born June 25, 1964, in Toronto, Canada to American parents. His family returned to Massachusetts when he was 12 years old. His father, Thomas, who passed away in 2013, was a University Librarian first at York University in Toronto and then at Boston College. His mother, Margaret passed away in 2018. Bishop O’Connell is the youngest of four children. He has two brothers and a sister. His late uncle was a Boston Priest, Rev. David Delaney ’61 and his aunt, Sr. Jean Delaney, O.P. is a religious sister in the Dominican Order of Peace.
A graduate of Dover Sherborn Regional High School ’82, he earned degrees from Boston College ’86 and Saint John Seminary ’90. Following his ordination to the priesthood in 1990, he served five years at Saint Barbara Parish in Woburn, MA and two years at Saint Mary of the Annunciation in Danvers, MA. He continued his studies in Rome in Canon Law in 1997 and received his doctorate in Canon Law (JCD) in 2002 from the Università della Santa Croce. From 2001 to 2007 he served as Assistant to the Moderator of the Curia for Canonical Affairs. Between 2007 and 2016 he served as Judicial Vicar and as a member of the faculty at both Saint John Seminary and Pope Saint John XXIII National Seminary.
After his ordination to the episcopacy on August 24, 2016, he served as pastor of Saint Theresa Parish in North Reading, MA and as the Regional Bishop of the North Region of the Archdiocese of Boston covering 60 parishes. He became the Vicar General and Moderator of the Curia of the Archdiocese in 2023.
Bishop O’Connell succeeds Bishop Edward B. Scharfenberger, who has served in the Albany Diocese since April of 2014. Bishop Scharfenberger submitted his resignation when he reached the mandatory retirement age of 75 in May 2023. He will serve as Apostolic Administrator of the Diocese of Albany until Bishop O’Connell’s installation on December 5, 2025.