Monsignor Cornelius (Con) O’Mahony grew up in Ireland and in 1982 he immigrated to Canada as a newly ordained priest for service in the Diocese of Hamilton. He has served in Parishes in Georgetown, Hamilton, Kitchener and Waterloo and Oakville before returning to Hamilton in late June 2025 as pastor of St. Margaret Mary Parish. In November 2010, he was appointed Vicar for Education for the Diocese of Hamilton by Bishop Douglas Crosby OMI and leaves this position at the end of June, 2026. On December 29th 2022, Pope Francis bestowed on him the honor of Monsignor for his service to Catholic Education and the church.

 

Con has taught courses in Religious Education and Faith and Culture at St. Michael’s College, Toronto, Brock University, St. Paul’s University, Ottawa and for twenty-five years, with the OECTA religious education formation program for teachers in many parts of Ontario.

 

He served on the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops Commission on Religious Education from 1989 to 1992. From 2002 to 2007, he was one of two Canadian participants in an Australian led research and study project on faith formation for teachers with participants from New Zealand, England, Australia and Canada that concluded with a month-long residency at Edith Cowan University in Perth, Australia in September 2007.

 

Con has written on faith and culture and was an editorial advisor and regular book reviewer for Celebrate. His 2010 essay on The Parish in a Culture of Change won first place in the Feature Article Category at the US Catholic Press Association Awards Ceremony and later in the year, at the Canadian Church Press Awards. He is co-author with Bernadette Gasslein of “Life is Changed Not Ended” which was published in Canada in 2005 and has been republished several times since. He served as the Bishops Delegate for ten years on the Board of Governors for St. Jerome’s University. In 2019 he received the OCSOA Honorary Membership Award for his contribution to Catholic Education in Ontario. He has had a long association with ecumenical and interfaith initiatives that bring people together in dialogue and to respond to community needs.

 

His interest in travel has taken him to many parts of the world including an overland journey from Lhasa in Tibet and the Himalayas to Kathmandu, Nepal and down the Mekong River through Laos and Cambodia.
 

In his spare time, Con likes to cook for friends, explore new writing and cinema and travel.