04.10.2026
Building on 1,000 Years of Witness – New Dean of Christ Church Cathedral, Dublin Installed
Christ Church Cathedral, Dublin, has been a place of Christian witness for almost 1,000 years and yesterday (Saturday October 3 2026) saw another milestone in its long history. The Very Revd Tom O’Brien was installed as the cathedral’s Dean.
With the cathedral’s millennium approaching in 2028, Dean O’Brien gave thanks to God for the legacy of the cathedral’s past and looked to its future.
“May everything we do here continue to honour those legacies as we point beyond ourselves to Jesus Christ,” he stated. “So that a thousand years after Christians first worshipped on this site, a new generation might come through these doors and discover that this monument to a faith once held, remains a living church preaching a living gospel and proclaiming a living Saviour.”
The uplifting service, at which Archbishop Michael Jackson presided, also marked the Dean’s institution as incumbent of the Christ Church Cathedral Group of Parishes, which is connected to the cathedral. Members of the parish, representing the historic churches of St Werburgh, St Michan and All Saint’s Grangegorman, were part of the service and presented the symbols of the teaching and sacramental ministry of their Rector.
Tom was joined in the congregation by his wife Daniela, their son Dylan and daughter Tara–Rose, and their daughter Rebekkah was watching online from Perth, Australia.
Clergy and Lay Readers from across Dublin and Glendalough turned out in great numbers to support the new Dean. The Dean of St Patrick’s Cathedral, the Very Revd William Morton was present along with members of the Chapter there. Ecumenical guests included the Very Revd Kieran McDermott, Administrator of St Mary’s Cathedral, Dublin, and the Very Revd Ivan Tonge, PP of Ringsend Parish. Pastor Florian von Issendorff, Lead Pastor of the Lutheran Church in Ireland was also present.
Many of Tom’s former colleagues and friends from his 30 years of service in the HSE were in attendance. Representatives of the parishes in which Tom has served came from Holmpatrick, Howth, Kill O’ the Grange and Raheny and Coolock and many travelled in from Crinken.
There were many reference to the cathedral’s long history. As the service booklet noted: “Prayer has been offered in this place for close to a thousand years. Deans have come and gone; the city around us has changed beyond recognition; but still the daily round of worship continues, and still this cathedral seeks to be a place of welcome for Dubliners, for parishioners and for visitors from every corner of the world. This evening adds another name to that long history, and asks God’s blessing upon the chapter that unfolds tonight”.
In his sermon, Dean O’Brien turned to the Old Testament reading (Haggai 2: 1–9) and said he was drawn to the story of Zerubbabel. He was given an enormous project – they had returned from exile in Babylon and the temple was in ruins. Zerubbabel had to lead a discouraged people and the Dean suggested that today he might be called a project manager. He suggested that every good project manager knows that they cannot complete the project alone.
“You need people who know things you don’t know. People who tell you when you’re wrong. People who encourage you when you’re struggling. People who sometimes believe in you before you quite believe in yourself,” he said. “And when I look back on the road that has brought me here today, I see so many of those people, many represented here today.”
He said that in his journey in the HSE and in ministry, he learned something that Zerubbabel must have discovered, that leadership is never about the person whose name appears at the top, rather it is about those around them and the people that God surrounded them with.
“And now the journey has brought us here. Christ Church,” the Dean said. “For nearly a thousand years Christians have worshipped on this site. And as we approach that millennium, I find myself thinking again about Zerubbabel standing before the temple. What an inheritance. What a responsibility. What a project! Yet after these first weeks here, I already know that I am not undertaking it alone.”
He commended the dedicated cathedral team and paid tribute to his family who, he said, had given so much of themselves to the work of the church and without whom he could not walk the road of ministry.
This commitment people had offered throughout his life brought him to the New Testament reading from Colossians (1: 15–23). He said that the future of the cathedral was not about Dean Tom O’Brien but about the work God is doing in him through his spirit and the many friends He put in his path along the way.
“Everything is about Christ. He is to be encountered in our worship, proclaimed in this city and, I hope, reflected in our care for those who find themselves on the margins,” he stated.
Dean O’Brien continued: “So as we move towards the millennium of this extraordinary place, I do not know everything God will ask of us. Although we have an amazing past, we will not fear the future. I am empowered also to know that I do not attempt it alone. Together we will step forward in faith. We thank God for the past and for the faithful legacies left behind, including those of Dean Dermot and Celia. May everything we do here continue to honour those legacies as we point beyond ourselves to Jesus Christ.”
