Warsaw choir makes a joyful, youthful, noise unto the Lord

Their voices reach out softly and melodically, filling the rafters of historic St. Stanislaus Church. Five young ladies, ranging in age from 11 to 21, offer their talents every other Sunday to the parish, located in Warsaw, about a 40-minute drive north of Grand Forks.

They come from two musical families. Sisters Kathleen Karien, age 14, and Emily Karien, age 13, who are both home-schooled, are joined by three sisters from the Plutowski family, Emily age 21, who attends Minnesota State University Moorhead, Minn., Gina, age 15, who goes to school in Minto, and Hannah, age 11, who is home-schooled. To hear them sing, you would never guess they are so young. The music they provide is professional and inspiring.

“The music here is very traditional,” said Kathleen Karien. “I’ve been to many other churches, and modern music can be beautiful, but it doesn’t feel right to ignore the traditional hymns. It’s nice to keep the traditional music, especially in this church, because everything is changing so rapidly, and maybe it’s just because I’m a teenager, but I don’t like that.”

The group’s repertoire consists mostly of Catholic hymns from the past—including Latin and the occasional Polish hymn in honor of the Polish heritage at St. Stanislaus Church—as well as some modern choral pieces.

The group got its start about two years ago, a product of the COVID-19 pandemic that limited the music program at St. Stanislaus. Emily Plutowski and Kathleen Karien were already members of the choir, but COVID-19 put a temporary halt to the group’s Mass participation. Emily and Kathleen decided to start singing by themselves, with Kathleen playing the organ since the semi-retirement of the church’s longtime organist, Dorothy Plutowski. Yes, Dorothy is the Plutowski girls’ grandmother. Dorothy still plays once a month, and current members of the St. Stanislaus Choir will come up to the choir loft to sing as she plays.

What motivates these young ladies in their ministry is a love for tradition. That love is inspired by the church they attended growing up.

“On the weekends I don’t come home, I bounce around at different parishes in the Fargo/Moorhead area,” said Emily Plutowski, who studies art at Minnesota State University Moorhead. “I especially love the big, beautiful churches there, because I grew up here at St. Stanislaus, and our church is so beautiful, so it reminds me of home.”

“With this church, you feel like when you walk in that you stepped back, and you don’t want to lose that,” said Emily Karien. “You want to keep the traditions that really date back to Christ. It’s kind of what keeps me in my Catholic faith, that beauty of the liturgy. It’s something you just don’t find in other places.”

And you won’t find many parishes with five such dedicated, spirit-filled young ladies giving of their talents to the glory of the Lord. Their music is just one of the many attributes that makes St. Stanislaus parish stand out.