Tom in Galway, Ireland.
Tom Kendzia is a liturgical musician, composer, speaker, performer, author, and clinician who has been active in this ministry for over 30 years. In 2005, he celebrated the 25th anniversary of the release of his first collection,”Light of the World.”
Tom is regularly featured at national conferences, diocesan workshops, and parish events throughout the United States, Canada, Europe, Asia, and the Caribbean. He has performed regularly in Ireland since 2002, and has been the guest conductor of the Irish Church Music Association Summer School, as well as an instructor at this annual event for the past 12 years.
Currently the national liturgy and music consultant for William H. Sadlier, Inc., Tom also has been a consultant for several U.S. curriculum companies including Harcourt Religion, Our Sunday Visitor, and RCL-Benziger. National events at which he has presented include the Los Angeles Religious Education Congress, National Pastoral Musicians conference, National Catholic Educators Association, National Conference of Catechetical Leaders, Mid-Atlantic Congress, Federation of Diocesan Liturgy Committees, East Coast Conference for Religious Education, and New England Catechetical Conference. His articles have appeared in NPM magazine, Today’s Parish, and Modern Liturgy.
Tom has over 30 recordings of liturgical and instrumental music, much of it published by OCP, including: Like a River, Endless Is Your Love, Lead Us to the Water, Clothed in Love, The Ships That Sailed, Make Us One, Get On Board, with ValLimar Jansen, and Christ Within Me. A new collection of liturgical music, “By Our Love” will be released by OCP this fall.
He has been a director of liturgical music in parishes throughout the US since 1977. and the director at of music at Christ the King, Kingston, RI since 1986.
His song, “By Our Love,” was chosen as Liturgical Song of the Year in 2020 by the American Catholic Publishers.
Having been in parish ministry since 1977, working in parishes in Connecticut, Arizona, and now Rhode Island, Tom has been the music director at Christ the King Parish in Kingston, RI since 1986. His published liturgical songs and hymns include: I, the Lord, Pieta, The Eyes and Hands of Christ, Stand By Me, Now Is The Time, Create In Me, Lead Us To The Water, Out of Darkness, Endless Is Your Love, Taste and See, Like A River, Faithful Cross, May The Road Rise Up, Christ Within Me.