O'Driscoll Selected Warden at College of Preachers
Episcopal News Service. July 1, 1982 [82153]
WASHINGTON (DPS, July 1) -- One of Canada's best-known pulpit and broadcast preachers has been called to be the new warden of the Episcopal Church College of Preachers. The Very Rev. Herbert O'Driscoll, dean of the Anglican Christ Church in Vancouver, British Columbia, will be in residence by September on the Washington Cathedral close here.
O'Driscoll's appointment was announced by the Rt. Rev. John T. Walker, Bishop of Washington, following election by the Cathedral Chapter on June 17. Walker nominated O'Driscoll to the chapter on the recommendation of the Council of the College of Preachers.
"We are delighted to report O'Driscoll's selection after a hemisphere-wide search," said the Rev. A. Theodore Eastman, chairman of the College Council.
"His demonstrated excellence in preaching, together with his stature as an author, educator, hymnist and liturgist, assures that the college will continue to be North America's premier center devoted to preaching-centered study, practice and reflection."
The new warden will succeed the Rev. Canon Clement W. Welsh, who retired in 1981. The college has been guided since then by an interim warden, the Rt. Rev. William Marmion, retired Bishop of Southwestern Virginia. The search process centered on a mission statement that defines the college as a national educational center of the Episcopal Church for the preaching ministry, with programs open to clergy and laity in an ecumenical age.
In addition to preaching widely in Canada, O'Driscoll led daily meditations for the Episcopal House of Bishops last fall at its meeting in San Diego. He has addressed the American Baptist Churches Conference, participated in the First Global Conference on the Future and conducted post ordination seminars for clergy. He teaches advanced preaching at the Vancouver School of Theology.
O'Driscoll's brief radio sermons have been broadcast in Vancouver twice a day for many years. He has preached on NBC's National Radio Pulpit, sponsored by the National Council of Churches, and has written television scripts for the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. He has written six books and is the author of this year's Forward-Day-by-Day, a series of devotionals. He has contributed hymns to eleven entities in and beyond the Anglican Communion, and scripted the opening service for the 1983 meeting of the World Council of Churches.
Born in Ireland in 1928, O'Driscoll studied English, Gaelic, psychology and theology at Trinity College, Dublin. He holds bachelor and master of arts degrees, a divinity testamonium in theology and an honorary doctor of divinity degree. Ordained to the Anglican priesthood in 1952, he served parishes in Dublin and the Diocese of Ottawa -- and as a chaplain in the Royal Canadian Navy -- before being called to Vancouver's downtown cathedral in 1968.
O'Driscoll was married in 1955 to Joan Paula Lucy, who teaches music and sings professionally. They have three grown daughters, Diedre, Erin and Moira, and a 14-year-old son Niall.