Fr. Michael O'Connor is a native of Ocean Springs, MS.  He graduated from Ocean Springs High School in 1983 and went on to graduate from the University of Southern Mississippi in 1987 with a degree in psychology. Upon graduation he was commissioned into the United States Air Force. Fr. O’Connor worked for the Mississippi Air Guard from 1990 until he answered the call to enter the seminary in 2000. 
He attended Notre Dame Seminary in New Orleans and was ordained a priest on June 11, 2005.  After ordination he was assigned to The Cathedral of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Biloxi.  He is currently the pastor of Our Lady of the Gulf parish in Bay St. Louis.
In addition to parish ministry he has done a number of parish missions and religious pilgrimages.   He also serves as the spiritual director for the Cursillo movement of South Mississippi, is a member of the Deacon Formation Board, and is on the bishop’s Presbyteral Council.