Brendan Barnicle named Trinity's Fourth Dean

We are overjoyed to share that Bishop Diana Akiyama has accepted and the Chapter has unanimously approved the Search Committee's recommendation to call the Very Rev'd Dr. Brendan Barnicle as the fourth Dean of Trinity Episcopal Cathedral.

This search has been intentional and prayerful, rooted in the priorities our community identified through the Holy Cow survey and Parish Profile: dynamic preaching, intentional pastoral care, support for families with children, and demonstrated administrative leadership.

The Search Committee was committed from the beginning to confidentiality, to the fair and rigorous evaluation of every candidate, and to ensuring that the process itself was worthy of the trust you placed in it. Applications were carefully assessed, online materials including sermons and presentations were reviewed, and Zoom interviews were conducted with selected candidates. Bishop Akiyama was consulted throughout.

The Rev'd Dr. Brendan Barnicle

Through that faithful and conscientious process, it became clear that our own Interim Dean Brendan Barnicle embodies everything this community is looking for in our next dean: warm and substantive preaching, a deep commitment to expanding Trinity's pastoral care for our community, and financial and administrative expertise grounded in two decades of corporate leadership and three books on faith and finance – a rare combination in a dean.

After prayerful discernment and further conversation with Bishop Akiyama, we are thrilled that Brendan has accepted the call. His personal touch and vision for Trinity and for the Episcopal Church in Western Oregon resonates deeply with our community's values and vision for the future, and we feel confident that his unique gifts will help lead us into the next chapter.

We are deeply grateful for your patience, your trust, and your prayers. They were not incidental to this process; they were essential to it. We invited the Holy Spirit into our work, listened for the call, and heard it clearly.

As we celebrate Trinity's 175th anniversary, we give thanks and step joyfully into the future together.

With gratitude,

Mary E. Shibley

Senior Warden

Elaine Stewart-Harris & Kirk Dobbins-Kitchen

Search Committee Co-chairs

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About Brendan

The Very Rev'd Dr. Brendan J. Barnicle currently serves as Interim Dean of Trinity Episcopal Cathedral. Previously, he served as Rector of St. Francis of Assisi Episcopal Church in Wilsonville, Oregon, and Rector of St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church in Portland, Oregon, where his ministry was heavily focused on serving the unhoused. He has served on the Church Pension Fund Board of Trustees since 2022.

Prior to ordination, Brendan spent 20 years working in investment banking, corporate law, and financial management. For most of that time, he was managing director, leading equity research of the software industry at a major investment bank. In earlier roles, he advised on mergers and acquisitions, initial public offerings, and private financings both as an investment banker and as a lawyer.

He has combined his financial background with his ministry in academic work focused on faith and finance. He published Financial Anxiety in 2021, Talking Dollars & Sense: Leading Theological Discussions on Money in 2022, and in 2026, he published Doing Well by Doing Good: The Missional Benefits of Church-Based Economic Enterprises.

He received a PhD in Practical Theology at Claremont School of Theology, a DMin from Bexley Seabury, an MDiv from Church Divinity School of the Pacific, a ThM at the Jesuit School of Theology at Santa Clara University, a JD from the University of Washington, and a BA from Harvard University.

Brendan has three grown children and lives in Northwest Portland with his wife Spitzi and their dog George.

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A Note from Brendan

When I came to Trinity a year ago, I said that I wasn’t here for a long time, but I was here for a good time. Now, it seems that I will be here for both.

Our ministry over the last year has been blessed by the abundance of the Holy Spirit, and I am so excited to continue our work together. As we celebrate Trinity’s last 175 years, I am excited to see where God will lead us for the next 175. I am so honored by this call and eager for our work building God’s Beloved Community.

­— Brendan