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AUDIO: To hear Fr Paul reflect on his consecration click here:
1991-06 Reminiscing about My Golden Jubilee of Profession (7m) .mp3
Biography
Father Paul Hinnebusch: Saintly Beloved Friend to All
“I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me,
and gave himself up me.”’ (Gal 2:20)
Mary Ann and Jack Metz, their children, and their cousins called him uncle. His parents called him son, or Gerard. Fr. John Frederick Hinnebusch, O.P. in Washington, DC and Sr. Clair Hinnebusch in Columbus, OH called him brother, as did his other siblings: Fr. William Hinnebusch, O.P., Sr. Regina Ann and Sr. Dorothy, Ray, Joe, Mary. His Dominican brothers called him brother Paul. Others called him spiritual director or confessor; still others called him writer, friend, Father Honeybunch, or even Papa.
Who was this man?
Father Paul Hinnebusch, Order of Preachers, Master of Sacred Theology.
He was a tall man, leanly built whose large fine-boned hands moved in poetic accompaniment as he spoke. His eyes always sparkled as he shared enthusiastically about Jesus. He had a well-tuned sense of humor, was able to laugh at himself and his human foibles, and was always ready to share a joke or favorite story. He was a world-class listener, totally present when someone shared confidences. He also intently listened for God's thoughts to present when appropriate.
Family Influences and Decisions
Fr. Paul Hinnebusch, O. P., S.T.M. was born January 27, 1917 in Pittsburgh, PA, son of John and Anne Hinnebusch, the sixth of their ten children. He was baptized Gerard Leonard, and added Albert (after St. Albert the Great) as his confirmation name. He chose “Paul” when he entered the Dominican Order, after St. Paul, one of his favorite New Testament authors.
He grew up in the Bloomfield section of Pittsburgh, a wonderful parish community. His older sisters and brothers helped educate the younger ones in spiritual and moral values. Paul, at his brother Joe's advice, was a daily communicant from the time of his first communion. When Joe was a college student he suggested that he and Paul read scripture for 15 minutes daily and that practice too was a lifelong habit for Paul.
Their parents set an example more by their actions than words. Before she became too ill, his mother went to daily mass. During Lent, his father would drive her to church and Paul always went with them. He just loved to hear the sermons. It was his mother's desire that some of her children be priests and religious. Of the ten Hinnebusch children, four sons became Dominican priests and three daughters became Dominican sisters. [At this time, the only living Hinnebusch siblings are Dominicans Sr. Clair and Fr. John Frederick.]
From a very early age Paul was aware he had a vocation to the priesthood and by the time he was in high school he was ready to announce it. When it was time for him to go away to become a Dominican, he finally told his mother, and she said "You didn't have to tell me. I always knew you were going to do that; all through the years I knew."
Father Paul was always ready to encourage and affirm others, especially children. He remembered the encouragement his father had given him all those years ago for his first writing efforts. Father Paul said that He began his writing career in the third grade when he wrote a story about a picture the Sister showed him, but he earned his first 'royalty' as a pre-school child. Paul's father paid him a penny for a song he composed in praise of the snow.
One rainy day when he had nothing to do young Gerard (as he was then called) put together a two-page hand printed family newspaper "The Harum Scarum Weekly." He wrote headlines, a story about the family car getting stuck in the mud, added a comic strip with stick-figure pictures, a few jokes from a book he was reading, and news items of that week's family happenings. Hand printed, it was a two page newspaper. He never showed this to anyone. When his father found it in a stack of papers on the library table he thought it was wonderful and told his son, "Hey, you ought to do this often." With that his budding publishing career began. Every week for the next two years Paul produced a hand printed edition of "The Harum Scarum Weekly," receiving contributions from other family members. This career ended when he left for boarding school.
Schools and Seminary to Ordination and Priesthood
In 1937, after completing his sophomore year at Duquesne University in Pittsburgh, Paul entered the Dominican novitiate in Springfield, KY, the oldest Dominican establishment in the country. He later studied philosophy and theology at the Dominican House of Studies in River Forest, IL, where he was ordained June 8, 1944 (two days after D-Day).
In his roles as priest and teacher he served in pastoral work in South Dakota (1945-48), taught high school religion in Illinois (1949-54), lectured in Sacred Scripture and Dogmatic Theology at St. Mary's Dominican College, New Orleans, LA (1954-62) and at the Dominican Sisters Novitiate at Rosaryville near Ponchatoula, LA. (1962-68). During his lifetime he also lectured on contemporary spirituality at Notre Dame University (1968), at the University of Dallas (1977), and at St. Louis University (1979).
Charismatic Renewal
His involvement in the Charismatic Renewal began in the summer of 1968 while at Notre Dame University where he was to teach Contemporary Spirituality. He had read something about those "Pentecostals" and had planned to look into it. Then some Holy Ghost Fathers asked him to speak to them on prayer. After his talk, one of them came up to him and said, "Thanks for explaining the Pentecostals to me." Father Paul replied that, he knew nothing about them and he'd never been to a prayer meeting. He was simply talking about prayer as it happens in the Acts of the Apostles. The priest continued, "You are explaining something I didn't understand," and dragged Father Paul off to his first prayer meeting. Favorably impressed, he continued attending the prayer meetings for the six weeks he taught classes there. He was sent to Iowa and then to Minnesota where there were no prayer meetings. The next prayer meeting he attended was a few years later when he came to Dallas, TX.
His provincial thought a House of Prayer might be a way to generate a spirit of prayer in the Dominican province. "Nudged by the Holy Spirit I volunteered myself and a friend to come," he remarked with a smile that began at his eyes. The Dominicans at Bishop Lynch High School offered them space and the one-year experiment began in 1971. It was a tremendous experience for each participant.
In 1972, an old friend, Father O'Conner, author of "Catholic Pentecostals," organized a theological symposium to discover what was going on in the renewal and how to explain it in the light of traditional Catholic theology. When Father Paul told him how impressed he was with the prayer meetings, Father O'Conner invited him to participate in the symposium. This was the nudge he needed. He knew he could not reflect on the renewal unless he had experienced it for himself. Father Tamberello sent him to Bobbie Cavnar's home for a Tuesday night meeting where they were preparing the Life in the Spirit Seminars, and ever since then Father Paul attended the Christian Community of God's Delight prayer meetings until he was transferred to a nursing facility in New Orleans, LA., nine months before he died. During his lifetime in Dallas he never missed one of those meetings unless he was sick or out of town. He went to that symposium too. “The Holy Spirit was kind of tricky in the way he got me to Dallas," he shared with a big smile. From 1974 until Bishop Tschoepe retired in 1990, Father Paul served the bishop as liaison and provided spiritual direction to the renewal in Dallas, TX.
Christian Community of God's Delight
Father Paul had a deep and true covenant love for the people of God's Delight and lived daily his call to be part of the mission God had placed on their lives. In return, they celebrated with him, served with him, prayed with him, and loved and appreciated him. 'Father Honeybunch' (a special nickname) was truly part of the very fabric of their lives. Friendship in the Lord, written during his second year in Dallas includes a chapter on the Community of God's Delight.
Father Paul believed in total commitment to Jesus Christ and the call placed on his life. He shared this in his dedication to the people of God's Delight as well as to his own Dominican Community. Ever since he came to those first meetings at Bobbie Cavnar's home, he participated as fully as possible. He helped the dream to come true for the women's ministry team as the first women's retreats became reality. He even had taken part in the women’s "bag skits."
He was at prayer meetings almost every Sunday and was available to those who called on him for confession, spiritual direction, baptisms, weddings, anniversaries, last rites, wakes, and funerals. He shared joys, sorrows, frustrations, and victories. He was always ready with an encouraging word and an insight that led to a deeper love of our Lord. His love for Jesus was especially apparent when he presided at the Eucharist. When he pronounced, "Look! This is Jesus, the Lamb of God who died to take away our sins...," you knew without a doubt that Jesus was present in the host you would soon receive.
Writing Ministry
Father Paul's enthusiasm was apparent in his books on prayer, community, friendship, Our Lady, and scripture. Many of his lectures from 19 years as a teacher were distilled in his books and articles. More than 120 of his articles were published in religious and theological journals and other collections. He authored 18 published books, five of which were also published in foreign language translations. His most popular books were Friendship in the Lord and Praise a Way of Life. Dynamic Contemplation, Mother of Jesus Present with Us and Come and You Will See: St. John's Course in Contemplation, were still in print in 1994. The Lord's Prayer in the Light of Our Lord's Life and Preaching was published in 1996, and The Beatitudes, Seeking the Joy of God’s Kingdom, was published in 2000. He left 11 unpublished books, and notes for other planned unpublished books and articles.
Preaching Ministry
Father Paul's choice of St. Albert as his confirmation patron proved prophetic in his life. For many years he was a member of the St. Albert the Great Dominican Province and spent his last years at St. Albert's Priory on the University of Dallas campus in Irving, TX; until he was moved to the nursing facility in New Orleans, LA. (UD is a nationally known Catholic University.)
Father Paul spent much of his time helping with Mass and confession at UD Chapel where he once presided at four daily masses, heard amazing numbers of confessions, and provided spiritual direction to students, faculty, and many other people from the Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex area.
Starting in 1987 he had given weekly conferences on the spiritual life to Mother Teresa's Sisters of Charity in south Dallas. "Every Thursday morning for nine years I was in the traffic at quarter to 7 going through downtown Dallas to their convent near St James parish," said Father Paul.
He read and prayed the scriptures, prepared homilies and conference talks and preached for almost 57 years, and all that time he would put as much work into a homily as he ever did. He seldom used an old sermon, and if so, always modified it to reflect new growth in the Holy Spirit. “It has to be new every time," he once said of his preaching. Lectures he gave 34 years ago on Themes of the Old Testament and courses in the Gospels and the Letters of St. Paul were recorded on old 7-inch reel tape. Father Paul's eyes sparkled when he recalled that the sisters had 24 miles of tape of him talking. Some of his lectures may still be used in the formation of the young sisters by the Cloistered Dominican sisters in Lufkin, TX.
Father Paul's support of those discerning a call to the priesthood or religious life was evident in his presence in Lufkin when Sister Barbara Olive from the Community of God's Delight made her final vows some years ago. He counseled many men and women to help them discern their vocation to the religious life, as well as to marriage or a celibate lay vocation. He served as spiritual director for priests and many cloistered nuns.
While living is Dallas he helped out on weekends at many local parishes, including St. Michael the Archangel parish in Grand Prairie, TX. He provided monthly mass and spiritual direction to a group of young adults in the pro-life movement; and presided at baptisms, weddings, and funerals for fellow members of the Community of God's Delight. In his spare time he enjoyed music, planting mums in the spring for their bright foliage in the fall at St. Albert's priory, and re-reading the favorite novels of his college days by author, Sigrid Undset. Prayer was the constant mainstay of his daily rhythm.
In 1994 the Dominican Order awarded Father Paul the honored post-doctoral degree of Master of Sacred Theology for his many writings on the sacred scriptures and on the theology of the spiritual life.
Celebration of 50 years in 1994
He was ordained to the priesthood June 8, 1944 on the Feast of Corpus Christi, and celebrated his 50th anniversary of ordination June 4, 1994, with the liturgy for the Feast of Corpus Christi. Music was provided by the choir and instrumentalists of God's Delight led by Suzanne Taitte and Chris Cavnar. The celebration continued at the reception in the gymnasium at Mount St. Michael's. His brother Ray Hinnebusch planned the mass and celebration in Canton, OH, that took place July 24, 1994 where about 150 family members and friends gathered from Pittsburgh, PA and Columbus, OH to honor him. His baby brother Frederick (also known as "Johnny") gave the homily. His two oldest sisters Regina Ann and Dorothy are now deceased and his younger sister Clair is retired in Canton, OH.
Paul Gerard Hinnebusch, O.P., joined his parents and many of his brothers and sisters when he laid down his life in death on August 20th, 2002, in union with Jesus, one victim with the Divine Victim.
To some he was known lovingly as Father "Honeybunch", to others he was Big Paul, Uncle Paul, or Father Paul. To God and many, many others he was and is eternally Friend, Faithful and True.
Copyright 1994-2004 by Barbara J Yablonsky; edited by Celine Powers, T.O.C.
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Fr Paul Hinnebusch, O.P. Biographical Timeline
1917- June 8 born in Pittsburg, PA
1935 - 1937 attended Duquesne University in Pittsburgh
1937 entered the Dominican novitiate in Springfield, KY; studied philosophy
and theology at Dominican House of Studies in River Forest, IL
1941 earned B.A. from College of St. Thomas Aquinas River Forest, IL
1944- June 8ordained a priest on feast of Corpus Christi (two days after D-Day)
1945 earned M.A. from College of St. Thomas Aquinas River Forest, IL
1945 – 1948served as parish priest in Sioux Falls, South Dakota
1949 – 1954taught high school religion in River Forest, IL
1954 – 1962lectured in Sacred Scripture and Dogmatic Theology at St. Mary's Dominican College, New Orleans, LA
1962 – 1968lectured at the Dominican Sisters Novitiate, Ponchatoula, LA
1968 lectured on contemporary spirituality at Notre Dame University, and at UD
1871-1972 Priests House of Prayer at St Joseph priory, Bishop Lynch High School, Dallas, TX
1973-2000 served as spiritual director for Christian Community of God’s Delight, Dallas, 1974- 1990 served as the
bishop’s liaison to the Charismatic renewal in the Dallas Diocese
1977 lectured at the University of Dallas
1979 lectured at St. Louis University
1982 – 2001 assigned to St. Albert priory, Dallas, TX; served at UD Chapel
1987 – 1995as Chaplain, gave weekly conferences on the spiritual life to Mother Teresa's Sisters of Charity, south Dallas
1994 awarded Master of Sacred Theology
1994-June 8 celebrated Golden Jubilee of ordination to the priesthood
2001-Nov assigned to St Dominic Priory, New Orleans, LA with residence at
Our Lady of Wisdom Health Care Center
2002- Aug 20 died at Our Lady of Wisdom Health Care Center, New Orleans, LA
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