October 17, 1928 – July 25, 2024
With immeasurable sadness, we announce that the Rev. Canon Dr. Thomas Herbert O’Driscoll (known to many as Herb) died peacefully at home in Victoria, BC on July 25, 2024, surrounded by family and friends after a 4-year battle with melanoma.
Herb O’Driscoll was an eloquent preacher, a prolific writer, an inspiring teacher, and perhaps above all, a uniquely gifted, natural, lifelong storyteller. He was also a persuasive apologist for Christian spirituality in an increasingly secular age. Author of more than fifty books and dozens of hymns, and leader of countless retreats and pilgrimages throughout North America and beyond, he was one of the great church leaders of the second half of the 20th century, whose active career continued well into the 21st.
Herb O’Driscoll was born to Annie and Terence in Cork, Ireland in 1928: as he later wrote, “a wide-eyed Protestant boy, caught up in the surge of a vast Roman Catholic tide.” His Celtic roots ran deep, and greatly influenced his later ways of thinking, writing and speaking. He attended Trinity College, Dublin, where he won the gold medal for oratory, and was ordained in 1952 in Christ Church Cathedral by the Archbishop of Dublin. “Never forget,” said the dean in his sermon that day, “that on that step where you will kneel, men have been ordained for 950 years.” Herb would always combine a love of tradition with a keen consciousness of change, and an equally keen appetite to embrace it – and to connect the two.
His first curacy was at Monkstown Parish Church, County Dublin, where he first met his future wife, Paula. They reconnected in the square of Trinity College, Dublin, and he invited her for a cup of tea. Herb already knew he was planning to move to Canada and, in time, asked Paula if she was ready for a future together. After about a year in Canada, Herb (always “Herbie” to Paula) returned to Paula’s home town of Holywood, County Down, Northern Ireland, for their wedding on July 23, 1955.
Back in Canada, there were early postings in the nation’s capital and the Ottawa Valley, and three years as a Navy chaplain in Halifax: an experience that taught him how to communicate to a diverse, often non-church community. Six years in the early 1960s, as Rector of Ottawa’s high-profile downtown parish of St. John the Evangelist, included a widely heard radio ministry, which led to the fateful call in 1968 to become dean of Christ Church Cathedral in Vancouver, BC. It was a time and place of great cultural change, from which the church was not exempt. It was to be a crucible for Herb O’Driscoll for the next decade and a half; the experience shaped him for the rest of his life, and provided a unique opportunity for him to exercise his special gifts of ministry.
He welcomed the counter-culture, recognizing within it a longing for meaning and fulfillment. On one occasion, he invited a group of Vietnam protesters into the cathedral, much to the consternation of many parishioners. He spoke the language of “spiritual but not religious” long before the phrase was fashionable. Savvy in the ways of media, he soon became a popular fixture on local daily radio (where his One Man’s Journal column ran for years) and was a frequent go-to commentator for national television. He was also a much-in-demand visiting guest speaker, not only at numerous and varied church gatherings, but also on the world stage: addressing the World Council of Churches, senior Canadian government ministers, American Supreme Court judges, and audiences of civil servants, scientists and business people. He was also an early advocate of ecumenical and inter-faith dialogue; some still remember a headline-making visit of the Dalai Lama to the Vancouver cathedral in 1980.
His tenure as dean also saw a bitter conflict over the future of the cathedral building. Eventually, under his leadership, a way was found to preserve that heritage building for future generations, while also ensuring the long-term financial sustainability of the parish, through a then-unprecedented air rights agreement with a major developer: a template for what has since become common practice for churches in urban centres across the country.
Within a year of moving to the West Coast, Herb and Paula and their family discovered a second home at Sorrento Centre: camping in a tent trailer, sitting around a bonfire on the beach, connecting with old and new friends and continuing Herb’s teaching ministry in a unique, natural setting, which he always referred to as one of those “thin places” where the spiritual realm feels especially close at hand.
Having been invited to speak at conferences and retreats throughout North America, it was inevitable that the United States would come calling. In 1982, Herb O’Driscoll became warden of the College of Preachers at the National Cathedral in Washington, DC. While administration and fund-raising were not his first love, his hands-on, experiential approach to teaching the art of preaching influenced countless preachers-in-training, and he continued to offer week-long programs at the college for many years after his relatively brief tenure as warden. His commitment to narrative preaching in particular is celebrated and extended through the Herbert and Paula O’Driscoll Forum in Preaching and the Liturgical Arts, an annual fixture of the summer program at Vancouver School of Theology. He continued to send weekly sermon notes to clergy on his email distribution list up through the last year of his life. He was, as he himself said, “hard-wired for preaching.”
Herb returned to Canada to serve for nine years in the later 1980s and early 1990s as Rector of Christ Church, Elbow Park in Calgary, Alberta. There his unique combination of compelling preaching, engaging pastoral care and visionary leadership guided the congregation, which grew and flourished in this period. They also generously gave him the flexibility to continue working on a wider stage, through his published writings, speaking tours and leading numerous pilgrimages, notably to the Holy Land and to Celtic Christian sites.
In the mid-1990s, Herb and Paula “retired” (inverted commas very much intended) to Victoria, BC. “Welcome to virtual retirement,” he told a friend some years later. “You’re going to be busier than ever.” And so it was for Herb, whose energy was boundless. Serving as honorary assistant at the cathedral, he offered wise counsel to a series of deans, and helped revitalize the office of choral evensong there. At the same time, he continued speaking and travelling, devising liturgies and creating hymns, writing and publishing – notably a collection of autobiographical memoir pieces entitled I Will Arise and Go Now (Morehouse Publishing). Not surprisingly for a life-long communicator, he embraced new technologies, and during the pandemic, while well into his nineties, delivered Zoom talks to clergy conferences and an Easter sermon to the local parish where members of his family worship. He also continued to work on a compilation of his writings on preaching. He spoke with characteristic insight and style at the inaugural O’Driscoll Forum lecture at VST, just a year before his death.
Herb and Paula supported each other over 69 years of married life – what he always described as “a life-long love affair.” Herb loved family gatherings, with all the lively conversation, laughter and usual chaos, where he would naturally move into the role of storyteller, drawing on his vast knowledge of history, literature and popular culture.
Herb is survived by his wife Paula (nee Lucy), his four children: Deirdre (Peter), Erin (Rick), Moira (Colin), Niall (Mary-Ann), eleven grandchildren and two great-grandchildren, brothers Percy (Sue), and Terry (Sharon).
Sincere thanks to all those who cared for Herb, including Dr. Vanessa Bernstein, Dr. Boris Valev and the Oncology team at BC Cancer Agency (Victoria), the staff at Amica On The Gorge residence, the staff on 5SE at Royal Jubilee Hospital and Victoria General Hospital ER.
A celebration of Herb’s life will take place on Saturday, Oct. 5, 2024 at 2 p.m. at Christ Church Cathedral, Victoria BC (livestreamed at christchurchcathedral.bc.ca). In lieu of flowers, donations are welcomed to the BC Cancer Foundation (directed to melanoma research) or Sorrento Centre.
This obituary was written by Ian Alexander and the O’Driscoll family.
