Thomas Raniszewski (left) and Father Edward Niamotka’s (right) new song “The Carpenter’s Son” sung by Drew Seigla debuts this year.
A few summers ago, Father Edward Niamotka of St. Thomas More in Cherry Hill and his childhood friend Thomas Raniszewski realized they wanted to create a new Christmas song.
But they wondered, “What angle could we possibly tell the Christmas story from that hasn’t been told?”
Raniszewski noted that they wrote the song in an unconventional way, as they were never in the same room writing together.
“He texted me back from a plane trip in the Carribean, and I set it to music,” Raniszewski recalled. “I set that as a template musically for three other verses.”
But their hard work paid off, and this year, the two celebrated the release of their new song, “The Carpenter’s Son,” which focuses on Joseph’s perspective in the nativity story. To make it sound Christmas-y, the song features pianos, chimes, and flutes.
“The song is a mesh between a hymn and a carol, meant to be a little bit joyous but it is also reverent and can also be sung in a church. It’s al little more modern and hopefully it brings across the Christmas message,” said Niamotka. ” … A lot of the music you hear at this time is more secular, not religious, but for us to concentrate on the religious mystery that is Christmas and bring out another perspective for St. Joseph.”
Though the Bible does not give a detailed account about Joseph, the two were both inspired by his character.
“What hit me was Joseph’s goodness and righteousness, his care for both his newborn child,” Niamotka said. “It’s not his, but he’s a foster child to Jesus and the care for his wife Mary.”
“To me, I really don’t need to hear any of his words because all I needed to do was look at what he did when presented in these situations and that tells me everything I need to know about the kind of man he was,” said Raniszewski.
The song was sung by Drew Seigla. Since its official release in September, the song has been covered by the vocal group The Winter Creek, and another pastor friend of theirs has sung the song at church.
“Spiritually, I hope that (listeners) can hear the message behind the song, about devotion to your family and devotion to your children,” said Raniszewski. ” … If people miss it and don’t get it, if all they fall in love with is the melody and the rhyme and the Christmas-y sound, that’s just as good too and I hope that it becomes something that people want to play.”
The two are also working on getting the song published as a liturgical piece for churches for next year.
The song was produced by Jonathan Delgado, and is now available on all major platforms. The proceeds from the download will go towards the South Jersey Catholic Ministries Appeal, and can be heard online at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GDnudB2Rq6I.
This article was updated on Jan. 3, 2025.
