Dean’s Gift Day 2025

Each year the Dean’s Gift Day Appeal focuses on an aspect of Cathedral life which will enhance the worship of God. Last year, as a result of your extremely generous support of this Appeal, a new console,pedal board, and bench (on which the player sits!)  have been provided for the mighty Willis organ, for which please accept my sincere gratitude.

The 2025 Appeal is also very related to worship  in that we are inviting you to support a very down-to-earth, yet spiritually significant appeal: the purchase of new chairs for the Lady Chapel and the Nave, due to the very encouraging increase in the size of the congregations.

These are no ordinary chairs. We have chosen designs that are elegant, durable, comfortable, and worthy of the sacred space they will inhabit—chairs that will serve both beauty and
purpose. They are carefully crafted pieces, made to blend aesthetically with the
Cathedral’s historic architecture while standing up to the
everyday needs of a living,
active, and vibrant worshipping  community.

There is something both appealing and practical about seating and
that it should be the focus of our giving. From the earliest days
of the Church, hospitality has been a holy duty. Making room for the stranger – offering a seat (or a pew!) – has always been a sign of Christian welcome. In gifting a chair, it is not merely a question of donating a piece of furniture – rather of  extending an invitation to a person – perhaps known to us, or a stranger come into our midst – to join the worshipping life of Saint Patrick’s.

In so donating to this worthwhile cause we are providing a place for the tired to rest, the curious to reflect, the faithful to kneel, the music-lover
to listen, and the community to gather. The message is: there is room for you here. Your generosity will quite literally support others – and be
appreciated every time someone takes a seat in this sacred space.

Join us, then, in this very tangible act of welcome. Take a seat -and help someone else do the same.

Dean’s Gift Day will be held in the Cathedral

on Saturday 19 July from 11.30a.m. to 1.00p.m.

I am deeply conscious of your faithful giving to this appeal over the years, and to so many other good causes as well; I assure you, your support is  deeply appreciated .

With thanks and every blessing : Dean of Saint Patrick’s, Dublin