Alan Hommerding holds graduate degrees in theology, liturgy, and music from St. Mary’s Seminary and University, Baltimore, and the University of Notre Dame.

Alan began his editorial work with World Library Publications (WLP) in 1991 and is currently Liturgy Publications Editor for WLP/GIA. His collections of hymn texts Song of the Spirit and Breath of Christ, as well as two collections of prayers for musicians Blessed Are the Music-Makers and Proclaim the Gospel in Song have received excellent reviews and awards. More recent is The Pen of a Nimble Scribe, a Lectionary-based guide for those who write texts for liturgy. As a hymnwriter, he appears in the most recent edition of Panorama of Christian Hymnody, and in the New Canterbury Dictionary of Hymnology, to which he also contributed the article “Roman Catholic Hymnody and Hymnals in the United States.” Other books are Words That Work for Worship, Everyday Psalms: 150 Meditations for Learning and Living the Lord’s Song, Following Jesus Every Day, and St. Cecilia’s Orchestra (with illustrations by Br. Michael O’Neill McGrath), winner of the prestigious Moonbeam Children’s Book Award in 2010. An organ method book From the Piano Bench to the Organ Bench was released in 2012, with accompanying repertoire books in the Feet Don’t Fail Me Now! and Step It Up! series.

He has also been a featured speaker for the prestigious John XIII Liturgy Lecture series for the National Association of Pastoral Musicians, and has presented music clinics and reading sessions, choral and hymn festivals, and workshops on liturgy and liturgical music throughout the country.

Alan has served the archdiocese of Chicago as a member of its music advisory staff and is a past convener of the liturgical music seminar for the North American Academy of Liturgy, as well as the executive committee for the Catholic Academy of Liturgy. He has written articles and reviews for Living Liturgy, Liguori Magazine, Pastoral Music, Assembly, Pastoral Liturgy, The Liturgical Singer, Catechumenate, Ministry and Liturgy, The American Organist, Choral Journal, The Hymn, and Christianity and the Arts. In 2019, Alan was named Composer of
the Year by the Association of Catholic Publishers.