“Hark, the Herald Angels Sing.”
“The First Noel.”
“Silent Night.”
Add another song to the Christmas music canon: “The Carpenter’s Son,” a tune about Saint Joseph co-written by Father Edward Namiotka, pastor of Saint Thomas More Parish in Cherry Hill.
Father Namiotka worked on the music with his longtime childhood friend, Thomas Raniszewski, after the two shared a desire to collaborate on a Christmas song. There are no spoken words attributed to Saint Joseph in Scripture. The little that is known about the husband of Mary comes in the retelling of Jesus’ early life, including Joseph’s obedience to God, and his willingness to be a protector and provider for Mary and Jesus.
“We don’t often hear of Joseph’s role in the Christmas narrative, but he was right there,” Father Namiotka said.
The friends brought their writing and musical backgrounds to the song, which is currently available on major streaming platforms, with all revenue going to the Diocese of Camden’s South Jersey Catholic Ministries Appeal.
Father Namiotka, a diocesan priest since 1987, writes a weekly blog and previously wrote another song on Jesus’ earthly father titled, “Hymn to Saint Joseph.” Raniszewski, a parishioner at Saint John Neumann in North Cape May, has a bachelor of arts degree in music from Rowan University (formerly Glassboro State College). He has collaborated on compositions with several notable musicians, including Grammy-nominated jazz pianist/producer George Mesterhazy and vocalist Kathy Fowler.
This current project picked up steam last summer, when Father Namiotka was returning home from vacation. Inspiration struck 30,000 feet above the earth. “I was on a plane writing the lyrics, and I would text him some verses,” the pastor recalled.
Over the next month, the two went back and forth on their phones, developing the powerful, 3-minute, 39-second carol/hymn hybrid.
“It was like a game of ping-pong,” Raniszewski said, adding that he gradually created music to the words and asked Father Namiotka, “What do you think of this? Where do we take it now?”
“We wrote this in a wonderfully unconventional way,” he said, laughing.
Father Namiotka elaborated, saying, “It was a long-distance relationship. We didn’t sit in the same room at any time working on this.”
Once the words, melody and chord progressions were ready, Raniszewski leaned on his theater ties to get Drew Seigla, a Broadway performer most recently seen in “Fiddler on the Roof,” to lend vocals to the song.
Last February, at S.S.R. Recording in Galloway, Raniszewski laid down the track, adding piano and chimes. Seigla was on vocals. Jonathan Delgado, music minister at Notre Dame de la Mer Parish in Wildwood, was present as a producer, as were engineers Bob and Kathy Fowler.
In-between the lyrics that tell the story – “To Joseph, entrusted the King of Kings, a child so small, Lord God of All” and “the child his arms embrace, devoted life to son and wife, he vows in this humble place” – the soaring chorus breaks through: “’Glory!’ sung on high, heralds the Holy One. The Prince of Peace, the Savior of All, is born as the carpenter’s son.”
“Everything in the song is accurate Biblically,” Father Namiotka said, adding that he was happy to write an ode to a figure he has been connected to his whole life. “I went to a school staffed by the Sisters of Saint Joseph, and I was pastor at Saint Joseph Parish in Somers Point. Every day, I pray through him.”
Raniszewski, who has a son, said creating the song brought him to a new level of relationship with Joseph and the Holy Family. “I feel that this song is very important now. There are a lot of fathers and families today that could benefit from knowing Saint Joseph and his guidance and applying that in their own lives.”
“I hope people love this song, whistle the tune and are awakened to Saint Joseph and his love of family, like I was,” Raniszewski continued.
The two friends have already begun discussing ideas for another collaboration, Raniszewski said, possibly about another revered member of the Holy Family. “I’d like to do something that honors the Blessed Mother.”
For now, Father Namiotka is pleased with this current work, and hopes that the song will become an annual tradition for the Advent and Christmas seasons in churches and homes.
“We’re not looking to make money from it; we just want to glorify God,” Father Namiotka said. “Our goal is to get the song out there. If it’s God’s will, it will take off.”
“The Carpenter’s Son” is available now for purchase and play on all major streaming platforms, including iTunes, Amazon, Spotify, YouTube, Apple Music, Pandora and more. All sale proceeds will go to the Diocese of Camden’s South Jersey Catholic Ministries Appeal, camdendiocese.org/sjcma.
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