Joseph Edward Wise

Joseph Edward “Joe” Wise is an American composer and performer whose music helped shape a distinctive stream of Roman Catholic congregational song during the years immediately following the Second Vatican Council. Trained in philosophy, theology, counseling, and religious education rather than as a conservatory composer, he developed a direct folk-oriented musical language suited to the growing use of vernacular song and active congregational participation.

Wise recorded and published extensively and spent decades leading worship, concerts, and workshops internationally. GIA Publications credits him with nineteen albums as well as books, a film score, and other creative projects. He and his wife, Maleita, later developed retreats using journaling and visual journaling as tools for spiritual awareness, reflecting the broad artistic and pastoral interests that accompanied his musical career.

Wise composed TAKE OUR BREAD for his own text in 1966, so the familiar text and tune belong together from the beginning rather than representing a later hymnal pairing. The song appeared as the offertory in Gonna Sing My Lord: Music for Worship and was subsequently carried into Catholic and Protestant hymnals.