Paul Hillebrand

Paul Hillebrand is a musician, artist and spiritual leader. Originally from Evanston, Illinois, he relocated to attend Arizona State University with spiritual leaders including musical artist Tom Booth [1] [2] and Bible scholar Kevin Saunders [3]. Paul graduated ASU with honors and a degree in choral education and later complemented his music with additional theological studies by completing a certificate advanced liturgical studies at Corpus Christi Center in Phoenix. [4]

Paul has been writing and performing music and has been involved in Liturgical Music Ministry for since the early 1980s. Starting out as a skinny talented student, he began bringing the word of God through music at St. Jerome's in Glendale, AZ and grew in talent and experience at St. Maria Goretti Catholic Church, in Scottsdale, Arizona, where he was the Director of Music and Liturgy for 15 years. Since 2001 Paul has been the Director of Music at St. Patrick Catholic Church in Scottsdale, Arizona, [1]. which is perhaps the fastest growing parish in Arizona. Parishioners will often tell you how much the music has attracted them to St Patrick's, where Paul, Fr Eric Tellez and Kevin McGloin have joined together to create a vibrant liturgical team.

Paul lives in Tempe, Arizona and is a devoted husband to his beautiful wife Nan and their five children. His youngest daughter Julia died of a brain tumor in December 2010, shortly before her 13th birthday. His other children are very involved in the Catholic Church, with Michael playing the keyboards and piano at most Masses and MaryClaire is on staff at St. Patrick's as the coordinator of the Edge Program. Madeline and Peter also are musically gifted and join in on many occasions.

Paul leads prayer concerts, workshops and retreats throughout the year. He has sung on many recordings for various Liturgical artists. In addition to spreading God's word through song, Paul is a pianist and guitarist and his goal is to share his talent "with others through music workshops and instruction so that all generations can be inspired by beautiful and meaningful music."

Years ago following the Second Vatican Council, Avery Dulles, prominent American Jesuit theologian, presented a thorough evaluation of the primary historical and theological images of various churches and religious organizations in Models of the Church (1991) [1]. Dulles offered six basic models of church, one of which is the Pilgrim Church. In the October 2007 of the Preacher's Exhchange [2] by Dominican Friars of Raleigh, Inc, Jude Siciliano, OP writes on the current development of the pilgrim church and growth in church participation and states, "Many people tell me how they travel a distance to participate in a particular parish because of its family religious education programs, outreach to the poor, good preaching, selection of music and well planned liturgies." He specifically references Mr. Hillebrand's "Body of Christ" as uses specific imagery of using the pilgrim model as a theological slant that encourages those listening and attending to want to participate as fully as possible in the life of the church.

The effectiveness of this approach may be evident in that St. Patricks, where Paul is Director of Music [3], is a parish of over 4,000 families and has been indicated as one of the fastest growing parishes in Arizona.

Paul's latest release is a compilation album entitled "Towards Jesus, Songs of Comfort and Hope" - Inspired by Julia Hillebrand." This album contains works from Paul, Matt Maher, Tom Booth, Aaron Thompson, Michael John Poirier, Audrey Assad and Julia Hillebrand. Money raised from this album will be donated to Pediatric Brain Tumor Research.

He has 3 collections of his original Liturgical music. “Promise”, “How Shall We Know You? and “Journey to You”, and 4 other collections of various composers…”I Will Lift Up My Voice”- Sung sacred Classics, “Seasons of Prayer”, “Come to Us, O Lord” a Christmas album and “Songs of the Good Shepherd” a children’s collection. Paul is also published at Oregon Catholic Press, Spirit and Song, and World Library Publications. A recent critique of Paul's recent album was published in the Catholic Sun. [1]