Karen Schneider Kirner of South Bend, IN serves the Sisters of the Holy Cross at the Church of Our Lady of Loretto in Notre Dame, IN as a Music & Liturgy Assistant Director.  Ms. Schneider Kirner served on the staff of Campus Ministry at the University of Notre Dame from 1997-2020 as a Choral Program Director and Organist, working with the Notre Dame Folk, Celebration & Handbell Choirs. She has served as a full-time music minister at the Congregational Church of Manhasset, NY and at St. Albert the Great Catholic Church in Kettering, OH.  Fostering future musicians for the Church has been a treasured part of her career and she has an active studio of private piano and organ students.

Touring with ensembles at Notre Dame and as an organ recitalist has taken Ms. Schneider Kirner across the U.S. and globally, including China, Australia, East Africa, Canada, Mexico, Western Europe and the U.K. In late October, 2022, she played a solo organ recital at Westminster Abbey, London. In Oct. 2024 she completed an organ tour of southern Poland. In September she accompanied the choir of St. Paul the Apostle on a Jubilee Pilgrimage trip to Florence, Assisi, and Rome, including playing for a solemn mass at St. Peter’s Basilica.

Ms. Schneider Kirner has many published choral and handbell works through World Library Publications/GIA. In the Summer of 2021, a thirty-psalm collection was released by The Liturgical Press: Let the Peoples Praise You: Psalms for the Liturgical Year.  The collection won 3rd place, liturgy category of the 2022 Catholic Media Association book awards. She was nominated for the Distinguished Catholic Composer of the Year (2022) by the Association of Catholic Publishers. She especially enjoys opportunities to serve as a music minister with husband Scott, a tenor and liturgical guitarist (and top-notch page turner!), twin daughters and violinists Emma and Claire and son Joe, a cellist.