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Irish Citizen of the Year

Rev. Glenn L. O'Connor, M.Div.

Father Glenn O’Connor grew up in Indianapolis, attending St. Matthew Grade School (’66) and Latin School High School (’70) before entering St. Meinrad Seminary. He graduated from St. Meinrad College (’76) and earned his Master of Divinity from the St. Meinrad School of Theology (‘80).

On May 17, 1980, he was ordained a priest and began his first assignment as Associate Pastor at St. Gabriel parish in Connersville. In 1982, he served as Associate Pastor at St. Simon the Apostle parish, Indianapolis until 1985, when he was appointed Pastor of St. Philip Neri parish in Indianapolis. Since 1991, he has been at St. Joseph parish, Indianapolis, and in 1997, he also assumed the responsibilities of Pastor at St. Ann parish, Indianapolis.

In addition to his current parish responsibilities at St. Joseph and St. Ann, Fr. Glenn also wears the hats of: Airport Chaplain for the Indianapolis International Airport (since the chaplaincy was commissioned in 1991); spiritual director for Cursillo; IRL Ministry Chaplain; Chaplain for the Ancient Order of Hibernians; and co-founder and President of the Board of Directors for Seeds of Hope, a halfway house for women recovering from chemical addiction. Despite his busy schedule, Fr. Glenn manages to make time each month of May to serve as a pit crew member at the Indianapolis 500, a tradition that started more than 30 years ago.

Fr. Glenn is very proud of his Irish heritage and extremely humbled to be named 2010 Irish Citizen of the Year.