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Fr. Hemann gives new music CD to pope

By RENEE WEBB, Globe editor
(Email Renee)

A trip to Rome last month to participate in festivities for the 150th anniversary of the North American College presented another unique opportunity for one priest musician from the Diocese of Sioux City.

While in Rome, Father David Hemann, pastor at parishes in Ida Grove, Holstein and Odebolt, knew he wanted to give Pope Benedict XVI a copy of his latest CD, titled the Psalms of David.

As a graduate of the NAC, this Iowa priest was one of about 250 alumni and current students to have a private audience with the pope. After that audience, the pontiff greeted them individually and that provided him with a chance to present the CD.

“When he came to me, he gave me a great big smile and I smiled right back,” Father Hemann described. “Then he shook my hand and I said, ‘Holy Father, this is a gift for you. I put my favorite Psalms to music.’”

Father Hemann remembered that the pope had looked very intently at the cover. Using the pope’s accent, the priest repeated the words of the Holy Father, “Psalms of David. How wonderful. Thank you.”

The diocesan priest said it was a blessing to be able to present the CD to the pope directly. If he hadn’t been able to give it to the Holy Father, he was going to mail it to the 82-year-old pope.

“He was looking great and he had the sweetest smile. I could see his holiness,” Father Hemann said. “He’s a wonderful pope.”

What made this all the more meaningful was his knowledge that Pope Benedict has a great love of music.

“The pope has said, ‘I am convinced that music is the universal language of beauty by which all men and women can be brought together,’” he said. “I have a wonderful picture of the pope playing a piano. He has said that music has been a constant companion of his life and I can say that music is a constant companion of my life.”

Sharing two great loves with the pope – the love of the church and love of music - is a great thrill for Father Hemann, who will celebrate his 25th anniversary to the priesthood this summer on July 20. Given the upcoming jubilee, it made it even more important for him to participate in the 150th anniversary of his alma mater.

“Pius IX established the seminary over there 150 years ago so that America could have a good connection with the seat of Rome,” he noted.

After Father Hemann had given the CD to the pope, his friend, Msgr. Michael Heras commented that the experience was more than the Holy Father merely receiving the CD, it was a blessing on his priestly ministry and the music ministry.

This wasn’t the first time that Father Hemann had met Benedict XVI. He met him when he was still a cardinal. Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger had lectured to his class when he was a seminarian attending the NAC. And this wasn’t the only pope who has received one of the Iowa priest’s CDs.

Father Hemann gave his In God’s Company CD to the late Pope John Paul II. He remembered that when he gave the CD to JPII, the pope blessed it and gave it back. Father Hemann told him it was a gift for him and the pope looked at it and said, “That’s you. Thank you.”

“That was a thrill too,” Father Hemann said. “Both of them really love music.”

With the recent trip to Rome, another moving part of the trip came in the Omaha airport. He was stranded in the airport for 14 hours before his departure and began evangelizing to various people – Christian, Jewish and an atheist.

“I was sharing with an atheist and I could tell he really wasn’t following, was fed up with the theological jargon and then he asked if I was a musician because he saw my guitar,” said Father Hemann, who played his CD, Psalm 139, for the man.

After listening, the man began to cry and he told Father Hemann that he was a recovering alcoholic who had left the church. He said he could understand the music.

“I could tell that the music broke through some barriers that my words couldn’t,” he said. “When people have an experience of beauty, there is a mystery to it. When we experience beauty, we want to find the one who is all beauty and then we start to develop a theology and seek God. God draws us to himself by showing us his beauty – through nature, music, tenderness, love.”

How to get CD

Psalms of David is available for $17.50 – $15 for the CD plus $2.50 shipping and handling. Send your checks to: Father David Hemann, Sacred Heart Church, PO Box 244, Ida Grove, IA 51445. To see his other CD’s go to www.fatherdavid.net.