Patrick Dehm
Born in Freigericht, Dehm studied Catholic theology at the University of Würzburg, and was trained to be a "" (Human resource manager) and Gestalt therapist. He worked for the Diocese of Fulda as "Jugendreferent für kirchliche kommunale Jugendarbeit" in Freigericht. He moved to the Diocese of Limburg in 1989, where he worked for 11 years as a member of the leading team for the ministry to young people. From 1996, he was president of the Arbeitskreis Kirchenmusik und Jugendseelsorge im Bistum Limburg. He published several song books with modern sacred songs (Neues Geistliches Lied), such as in 2011 a collection of 720 songs titled "Ein Segen sein – Junges Gotteslob", and supported bands and youth choirs. From 2001, Dehm was director of the Haus der Begegnung (House of Meeting) in Frankfurt where he encouraged hospitality and openness, and a meeting of therapy, education and culture. He was suspended on 29 June 2012, allegedly because of a hostile remark about Bishop Franz-Peter Tebartz-van Elst, which caused protests from within the Church. Dehm and Eugen Eckert, who expressed his solidarity with Dehm by stepping back from his posts in the diocese, responded by announcing the founding of an ecumenical association inTAKT for the support of Neues Geistliches Lied. On 8 April 2013 it was founded, with Dehm as president, Eckert as vice president, and Annette Kreuzer and Thomas Gabriel on the board, among others. Together with his mother and his brother, Dehm founded the Eugen-Dehm-Stiftung (Eugen Dehm foundation) in 2008, after the death of his father Eugen Dehm, supporting a holistic health concept. The Eugen-Dehm-Stiftung was acknowledged on 11 November 2008 as a "Stiftung des bürgerlichen Rechts". Dehm has been the director of the Dehm Verlag from 2008, publishing mostly compositions, songbooks, choral books and oratorios of the genre Neues Geistliches Lied.
Dehm Verlag
Dehm is director of the Dehm Verlag publishing music of the genre Neues Geistliches Lied (NGL), and president of the ecumenical association inTAKT for the support of NGL, which he initiated.