LITURGICAL MUSIC, THEOLOGY AND PRACTICE OF

Introduction. In all official Vatican documents, the term "sacred music" is used to name the music used at, or appropriate for the liturgy. Musicam sacram (1967) expanded the current definition of sacred music beyond gregorian chant and polyphony to include music indigenous to missionary countries. Like the categories "religious music" and "church music," "sacred music" has a broad and rather nebulous meaning which does not necessarily relate to the liturgy at all. The phrase "liturgical music" was introduced to correct the older understanding. Some liturgists have argued that the term "liturgical music" tends to subordinate liturgy to music, and have suggested an alternative term, "musical liturgy." Another term, "pastoral music," as used by the National Association of Pastoral Musicians, refers to all music used at the parish level (including music used in religious education, evangelization, social ministry, and music education), though the bishops' document Liturgical Music Today (1982) restricts the term to a liturgical context (#63–64). In order to clarify music's role in the liturgy, some writers toward the end of the twentieth century settled on the term "Christian ritual music," while others chose "Catholic liturgical music." In this entry, the term "liturgical music" encompasses all types of music used in all Christian liturgies.

This entry covers developments in the theology and practice of liturgical music in the Roman Catholic Church since the end of the Second Vatican Council. For the history and practice of Roman Catholic church music before Vatican II, see liturgical music, history of. The Second Vatican Council had paved the way for an interaction between reflection on liturgical music and the practice of liturgical music which was one of the most creative, challenging, and confusing in the history of church music. The new energy sparked by this interaction was reflected in musical composition and experiments in musical performance as well as in a fundamental shift in understanding both the liturgy itself and, subsequently, the role of liturgical music. That shift was caused not only by the introduction of the vernacular but also by the shift in primary responsibility for music from the choir to the whole assembly, and, more subtly, by the subsequent influence of culture on the music and the rite itself. Finally, this period engaged countless new musicians, trained or simply inspired, in the pastoral practice of church music.

The theoretical reflection on music took place in official documents issued by the Vatican and by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops as well as non-episcopal initiatives, both international and specifically American. The major Vatican documents, reflecting both the theology and practice of liturgical music, include Sacrosanctum Concilium (the Constitution of the Sacred Liturgy, 1962), the General Instruction of the Roman Missal (1969 and revisions), Musicam sacram (1967), and The Roman Liturgy and Inculturation: IVth Instruction for the Right Application of the Conciliar Constitution on the Liturgy (1994). The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops issued, either as a statement by the whole conference or by one of its committees, documents that also reflected both theory and practice. They include: Music in Catholic Worship (1972, rev. 1983), Liturgical Music Today (1982), and Plenty Good Room (1990). Documents issued as nonepiscopal initiatives include the Manifesto of Universa Laus (1980), the Milwaukee Symposia for Church Composers: A Ten-Year Report (1992), and the Snowbird Statement on Catholic Liturgical Music (1995).

The theology of liturgical music is embedded in the ecclesiology that is the foundation for Christian liturgy and in liturgical theology built on that foundation. While the development of ecclesiology and liturgical theology, which influenced the theology of liturgical music during this period of renewal, owed a great debt to individual theologians such as Dom Odo casel, Edward Schillebeeckx, OP, Karl rahner, SJ, and Edward kilmartin, SJ, this article examines the theology of liturgical music expressed in the literature described above. The few attempts by individual authors to craft a theology of liturgical music did not significantly influence the practice reviewed in this entry.

As important as the documentary reflection, therefore, was pastoral practice. The opportunities for new compositions, the involvement of new persons in ministry, the shift in a basic understanding of liturgy from the action of the priest, assisted by various ministers, to the action of the gathered assembly were not worked out only on paper; they were shaped and reshaped by pastoral practice. Musical practice significantly influenced both official and non-official documents, and, no doubt, the documents influenced practice. In addition to the major blocks of pastoral practice described here there are less noticed, but equally true, positions articulated in the documentation, including the Vatican documents, that advocate specific pastoral practices.

An Overview of the Theology of Music and Its Practice. Theology is the study of God and, in a Christian context, of God's involvement with humanity, including specific divine interventions on behalf of particular people in certain historical periods. The theological purpose or ultimate end of liturgical music falls within the general purpose of all liturgical action, which is to associate the church with Christ in the "great work wherein God is perfectly glorified and the recipients made holy (Sacrosanctum Concilium 7). The end of liturgical music, therefore, is "the glorification of God and the sanctification of the faithful" (SC 112, MS 4). Diverse interpretations of the way music is to accomplish this goal, using diverse approaches to music, have developed within the Catholic Church in the past 100 years. While all of these would agree that the ultimate end (finem ) of liturgical music is its twofold transcendental and incarnational purpose, the ways in which God becomes personally manifests is widely debated. One approach focuses on an incarnational ecclesiology: By becoming fully human, one achieves the completion of humanity's teleology and reaches, through divine grace, participation in the divinity of God. Another believes that by transcending normal experience through participating, e.g., in an aesthetic experience, one is lifted toward union with the divine.

The function of liturgical music or, to use a scholastic theological term, its proximate end (the way music moves toward achievement of its ultimate end) is also debated among these various approaches. Within the official documents, the function (munus ministeriale ) has been stated in diverse terms, reflecting the differing approaches to the theology of liturgical music which influenced those developing a particular document. One such approach would maintain that the three elements of holiness, beauty, and universality are key elements of any art used in the liturgy to achieve the transcendent goal of the act, so they are required as well of the musical art form used in liturgical worship. Another would maintain that "sacred music will be the more holy the more closely it is joined to the liturgical rite" (SC 112), emphasizing an incarnational approach to music. In short, there are disagreements even within the official documents regarding the function or proximate end of liturgical music.

By way of introduction, the theology of liturgical music has been profoundly influenced by "the doing" of music. For example, the use from 1907 to 1963 of the Liber Usualis, a collection of the official chants for the Eucharist and the daily offices prepared by the Benedictines of Solesmes "to ensure uniformity in the rendering of the Chant of the Church," profoundly determined an understanding by those who used this resource of the purpose (ultimate end) and function (proximate end) of liturgical music—not because of any theoretical statement or a rational reflection on experience, but because of the actual singing of the chants themselves and the experience of God which they created (or failed to create) in the participants. The theology of liturgical music, clearly, is shaped by its pastoral practice.

Second Vatican Council and Its Aftermath (1962–1972). The documentation for this period begins with Chapter VI of Sacrosanctum Concilium, the Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy, approved by the bishops on Dec. 4, 1962. This chapter reflects two positions on sacred music which existed prior to the Second Vatican Council, drawn from two papal documents—Tra le sollecitudine (1903) and Mediator Dei (1947)—and especially from pastoral practice influenced by use of the Liber Usualis. Chapter VI, as already noted, defines the purpose of sacred music to be "the glorification of God and the sanctification of the faithful" (SC 112). The two positions mentioned above dealt with the ritual function (the munus ministeriale ) of sacred music to achieve that purpose. The first position affirms that the treasury of sacred music is to be preserved and Gregorian chant is be fostered (SC 112, 114); the second states that the people's own songs are to be encouraged and due importance is to be attached to their music (SC 118, 119). So while the basic trust of the Council was to develop full, conscious, and active participation of the whole assembly as "the aim to be considered before all else" (SC 14), and despite the encouragement given to new compositions (SC 121), in accord with existing documentation the bishops gave pride of place to music from a treasury containing products of ages that, on comparison with the theology of liturgy articulated in the Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy, do not represent an ideal in theological-liturgical thinking. That tension between the liturgical theology articulated at the Council and the recommended musical practices to express that theology did not take long to reveal itself.

In fact, the tension surfaced in 1966, at two important meetings of liturgical musicians in the United States. The Fifth International Congress on Sacred Music of the Consociatio Internationalis Musicae Sacrae (Milwaukee, Wis., and Chicago, Ill., August 21–28) brought musicians from other nations into contact with liturgists and musicians in the United States for the first time since the Council. Later that year, a joint meeting of The Liturgical Conference and The Church Music Association of the United States (November 29–December 1, Kansas City, Mo.) brought together American liturgists and musicians representing two approaches to liturgical music: a recovery of the treasury of the past and the creation of a new repertoire based on the new theology of liturgy. Both meetings proved to be heated exchanges. The then Abbot Rembert Weakland, OSB, who chaired the U.S. Bishops' Advisory Board on Music, and who was present at both meetings, challenged the participants with an analysis of the Romantic influences underlying the assumptions regarding Gregorian chant and polyphony that existed in past historical documents as well as in Chapter VI of the Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy: "We cannot preserve the treasures of the past without coming to terms with the false liturgical orientations that give birth to this music, nor can we preserve them according to the false aesthetic judgments of the last century." The result of these meetings, particularly of the second, was that church music in the United States was committed to endorsing the innovative aspect of the Second Vatican Council regarding music, namely, the challenge to create a repertoire suitable for assembly participation through music in the vernacular. American musicians took up the challenge, whether they were classically trained composers such as C. Alexander Peloquin, ethnically based musicians such as Rev. Clarence Jos. Rivers, or popularly oriented writers such as Joe Wise and Carey Landry.

The growing struggle over correct application of the Council's principles did not go unnoticed by the Vatican. On March 5, 1967, the Sacred Congregation of Rites issued Musicam sacram, whose purpose was to provide clarification regarding "some problems about music and its ministerial function" (munus minsteriale, Musicam Sacram 2). Musicam sacram first reiterated the transcendent and imminent purpose of music, "for the glory of God and the sanctification of the faithful" (MS 4), then it expanded the definition of "sacred music" by including both Gregorian chant and sacred polyphony as well as the "sacred, i.e., liturgical or religious, music of the people" under one heading (MS 4). It thus united paragraphs 114–116 of the Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy with 118–119. Further, it offered a new description of sacred music: "Music is 'sacred' insofar as it is composed for the celebration of divine worship and possesses integrity of form" (MS 4). It followed this intentional definition of sacred music with a description of such music functions (or proximate ends) of sacred music (#5). Such music is used: (i) to provide a more graceful expression to prayer; (ii) to bring out more distinctly the hierarchic character of the liturgy and the specific make-up of the community; (iii) To achieve a closer union of hearts through the union of voices; (iv) to raise minds more readily to heavenly realities through the splendor of the rites; (v) to make the whole celebration a more striking symbol of the celebration to come in the heavenly Jerusalem.

Previously, in Tra le sollecitudine, Pius X had described the functions of sacred music to be holiness, beauty, and universality which produce an art form. In mediator dei (1947), Pius XII stated a more emotional and eschatological view:

A congregation that is devoutly present at the sacrifice, in which our Savior together with His children redeemed with His sacred blood sings the Nuptial Hymn of His immense love, cannot keep silent, for "song befits the lover," and, as the ancient saying has it, "he who sings well prays twice." Thus the Church militant, faithful as well as clergy, joins the Hymns of the Church triumphant and with the choirs of angels, and all together, sing a wondrous and eternal Hymn of praise to the most Holy Trinity (#192).

A close reading of the functions named in Musicam sacram in comparison with these earlier statements, especially Pope Pius XII's evocation of the divine nuptial song and the heavenly liturgy, shows how the list of functions reflects an understanding of music that has shifted from Pius X's extra-liturgical measure of liturgical music as an art form to the more intra-liturgical understanding of music as "the more holy the more closely it is joined to the liturgical rite" (SC 112). In addition, Musicam sacram added a third element to the discussion, clearly influenced by pastoral practice: "The choice of the style of music for a choir or congregation should be guided by the abilities of those who must do the singing" (MS 9).

The revised Ordo Missae of Pope Paul VI and the accompanying General Instruction of the Roman Missal were first published in 1969, with a revised edition appearing in 1975. Unhesitatingly, the GIRM affirmed that "great importance should be attached to the use of singing at Mass" (General Instructions of the Roman Missal 19). Itself influenced by the experience of the previous five years, the General Instruction in turn influenced the developing theology of liturgical music by focusing its directives on a functional approach to music, as to other liturgical elements, providing specific directions regarding practice. This functional approach suggested that the theology and practice of liturgical music was to be determined by the liturgy itself and not by extra-liturgical factors. Therefore, the Instruction describes the function or purpose of each section of the liturgy and follows it with a set of practical instructions on how that function is to be expressed. For example, the general aim of the introductory rites is to help the faithful who have come together to "take on the form of a community and prepare themselves to listen to God's word and celebrate the eucharist properly" (GIRM 24). Within that general purpose, the role of the entrance song is "to open the celebration, intensify the unity of the gathered people, lead their thoughts to the mystery of the season or feast, and accompany the procession of priest and ministers" (GIRM 25). Then follows the practical instruction "The entrance song is sung alternately either by the choir and congregation or by the cantor and the congregation, or it is sung entirely by the congregation or by the choir alone… etc." (GIRM 26). By establishing a ritual function followed by the celebrative model, the General Instruction provides not only specific directives about what should be done but establishes the criteria by which the ritual act may be judged to be accomplished or not. Each element of the liturgy is similarly described in the General Instruction, providing criteria based on history and purpose whereby ritual participation can be measured against theological purpose. Slowly, but deliberately, these principles guided the creative development of the rite, freed from a false rubrical rigidity.

Liturgical music practice during this period in the United States was driven by three factors: the official generic encouragement of singing, especially congregational singing, the legal expectation of the General Instruction that at least some singing would be normative in the Roman Rite, and the need to discover or create a repertoire with vernacular texts. In the United States at this time, the focus was on English texts, though the need for musical settings of Spanish texts quickly became obvious as well. But there was little or no repertoire with English texts and certainly not settings of official liturgical texts in English. There was a significant effort to adapt Gregorian chant for use with vernacular texts, but it failed, and composers were ill-equipped to launch a massive and coordinated program of creating new music for English liturgical texts. Some settings of biblical texts, such as an English translation that used the psalmody developed by Joseph Gelineau, SJ, were used successfully, but interest soon turned in another direction. Urged on by the social and political climate of change in secular society, the primary influence on composers came from pop-folk music, either as an inspiration for "instant song" that could be readily learned (e.g. Ray Repp's "Here We Are" or "Sons of God") or as a direct borrowing from secular sources for liturgical use (e.g. "Michael, Row the Boat Ashore"). Universal and national legislation in 1969 permitted the use of "another song" for the entrance, presentation, and communion processions in place of assigned liturgical texts and the chant models that existed, e.g., in the Liber Usualis (see GIRM 26, 50, 56i; U.S. Appendix 2650, 56i). An available repertoire of such songs, and one that had already been used to a limited extent and masses before Vatican II, was the huge collection of Protestant hymnody, which became the mainstay of worship aids produced to support congregational participation. Once such resources became available, pastoral practice began to reinterpret the Council's call for full participation. While the liturgical documents envisioned participation as an engagement through ritual activity in the divine mysteries, with music as one way to assist such participation, pastoral practice often focused on participation as a call to get the people "more involved" in singing—mistakenly making singing the final end of the liturgy.

The Influence of Music in Catholic Worship. In 1972, the U.S. Bishops' Committee on the Liturgy issued the statement Music in Catholic Worship (MCW), confirmed by the full Conference of Bishops (and subsequently revised in 1983). This document established a theology of music based on a theology of celebration: "We are Christians because through the Christian community we have met Jesus Christ, heard his word in invitation, and responded to him in faith. We gather at Mass that we may hear and express our faith again in this assembly and, by expressing it, renew and deepen it" (MCW 1). Interior and exterior participation are understood as aspects of one act: "We are celebrating when we involve ourselves meaningfully in the thoughts, words, songs, and gestures of the worshipping community—when everything we do is wholehearted and authentic for us—when we mean the words and want to do what is done" (MCW 2). And, boldly, echoing Pope Pius XII and subsequent documents: "People in love make signs of love, not only to express their love but also to deepen it. Love must be expressed in the signs and symbols of celebration or [it] will die" (MCW 4). Perhaps the most challenging statement for practicing musicians as for other liturgical ministers appeared in MCW 6: "Good celebrations foster and nourish faith. Poor celebrations may weaken or destroy it."

This document had the most significant influence on the American theology of music and its practice in the decades immediately after the Council, because it was profound and practical, and it engaged the American religious imagination. It also offered a threefold practical judgment as a way to "determine the value of a given musical element in a liturgical celebration" (#25): The judgement has three aspects—musical, liturgical, and pastoral: Is it good music? Does it relate to the liturgical function? Does my community sing it? This was, for the Catholic Church in the United States, the first document on inculturation.

As a result of the widespread influence of Music in Catholic Worship, pastoral practice began to shift. Whereas some communities had been invited to sing anything at the key processional moments of entrance, preparation, and communion (plus a closing song), now music was more often chosen to accord with the threefold judgment. There was additional attention paid to music with texts rooted in the Bible, especially to new responsorial settings of the psalms. In many parishes, communities began to sing the texts of the liturgy—especially the psalm and gospel acclamation in the liturgy of the word and the acclamations of the eucharistic prayer—and not simply sing at the liturgy.

Compositional practice also changed after 1972. In 1974, for example, the music of the group that came to known as the St. Louis Jesuits—John B. Foley, Dan Schutte, Roc O'Connor, Tim Mannion, and Robert Dufford—began to reshape an understanding of the kind of compositions that used contemporary popular musical idioms. Their texts grew from the Scriptures, poetically adapted but written specifically for use in the liturgy. Their musical craft was used to develop congregational song rather than choral or solo repertoire, and their melodic resonance with many assemblies was often instantaneous.

Through the selection of repertoire they print and distribute it, music publishers contribute significantly to pastoral practice and, therefore, to a developing practical theology of liturgy. In the decades after Vatican II, World Library Publications, later joined to the J. S. Paluch Co.; the Gregorian Institute of America (later GIA Publications); and The Liturgical Press served as the major sources of repertoire for hymnals and for choirs. They were soon joined by North American Liturgy Resources (NALR), the leading publisher of pop-contemporary music, which subsequently merged with Oregon Catholic Press (OCP). The publication of monthly or seasonal worship aids, including the Paluch Missalette and similar resources, provided a vehicle for the rapid turnover of repertoire as new approaches developed, but it also firmly established an experience of "disposable" music in many parish communities. Liturgical texts and practices as well as the sacred music repertoire developed a transient character as a result of the multiple ritual changes during these times, which encouraged a kind of congregational approach to the liturgical books: If Rome is changing things so rapidly, then there is little to which we must hold ourselves accountable in ritual practice, and we are free to craft our own approach. This attitude was only reinforced by the changing repertoire which, in turn, reflected a rapidly changing society. The identification of liturgical music with these necessary transitions from Latin and chant to vernacular texts and music, and from a priest-centered to an assembly-centered liturgy, united to the developing performance style of liturgical leadership in which the leaders, aided by sound enhancement technology, sang new materials with which the rest of the assembly was unfamiliar, created an experience of music in the liturgy closely identified with the role of music in secular society.

Eventually, about twenty years after Vatican II, progress toward a more stable repertoire, a better incorporation of the sense of assembly participation, and a focus on singing the liturgy, not just singing at the liturgy, combined with the increasing interest in a more stable parochial liturgical experience, began to shape parish communities in a commitment to ritual unity without uniformity, a stronger and richer understanding of the nature of ritual, and a better appreciation for the unique role that music plays in ritual celebration.

Founded July 1, 1976, in response to the need for training and supporting the growing number of parish musicians needed to serve a liturgy in which "great importance should be attached to the use of singing" (GIRM 19), the national association of pastoral musicians has emerged as the major U.S. association of liturgical musicians and parish liturgists, providing a national resource for the formation of a wide and diverse range of pastoral musicians at the parish level. Annual meetings provide a forum in which current teaching regarding musical liturgy is presented and new repertoire and resources are reviewed. Pastoral Music magazine provides ongoing formation in the development of the theology of liturgical music and the clarification of pastoral practice, as well as providing a venue for identifying and developing leaders in the field of pastoral music.

It cannot be emphasized too strongly that this postconciliar period was faced with several very practical tasks: (1) develop a repertoire in the vernaculars used in the nation; (2) teach the whole assembly—the congregation as well as its ministers—to participate; (3) revise the average parishioners' notion of God, the church, sacraments, and their own baptism. These tasks made use of and reshaped the theology of liturgical music. MCW's musical-liturgical-pastoral judgment provided a guideline for each parish community. Internationally, though it was not expressed by other hierarchies as it had been by the U.S. bishops, this threefold judgment in effect became the standard by which development of liturgical music was measured, though its application was influenced in various nations by tendencies in the national culture. So, for example, in the German community, with its history of great composers, from Bach through Beethoven and into the modern era, and its familiarity with great musical literature, instinctively approached the task of congregational singing through the use of quality music organically related to its tradition as uppermost in its musical consciousness. The French, on the other hand, with a strong background in contemporary scriptural and liturgical scholarship, enthusiastically took on the task of relating the music to the liturgy and began to emphasize music's ritual function. The Americans, characteristically, took a pragmatic approach, asking: Does the assembly sing it? These different approaches reflect an emphasis on one or another aspect of the threefold judgment as well as an understanding of music for the liturgy as "sacred," "liturgical," or "pastoral."

The International Attempt at a Theology of Liturgical Music (1980 to 1990). In 1980, universa laus (UL), an international group for the study of singing and instrumental music in the liturgy, published a report of its work since its formal organization in 1966. The first part of the document, "Music in Christian Celebration," contains "points of reference" by which to view the relationships between music and Christian liturgy. The second part of the document—"Beliefs Held in Common"—establishes 45 one-line statements reflecting the international community's view of such music. This document provides a wealth of information regarding the developing theology of Christian ritual music in the 25 years after Vatican II.

First, the document names the "ultimate goal" of this music:

The demands made by Christian ritual music spring from the ultimate goal of this music, which is to make manifest and make real a new humanity in the risen Jesus Christ. Its truth, worth, and grace are not only measured by its capacity to arouse active participation, nor by its aesthetic cultural value, nor its long history of acceptance in the church, nor by its popular success, but because it allows believers to cry out the Kyrie eleisons of the oppressed, to sing the Alleluias of those restored to life, and to uphold the Maranatha of the faithful in the hope for the coming of the Kingdom" (UL 10.1).

It also draws a conclusion about how one is to judge the appropriateness of music for incorporation into the liturgy. The UL Document and its official commentary explain that "common expressions such as 'sacred music,' 'religious music,' or 'church music' have broad and rather nebulous meanings which do not necessarily relate to liturgy at all." It concludes: "No type of music is itself profane, or sacred, or liturgical, or Christian: but there do exist types of ritual music in Christian worship. Christians do not possess a kind of music separate from other people, but they make use of each type of music in their own particular way."

The overall theological premise of Universa Laus regarding ritual music is stated in the following terms. (1) Christian worship consists of : (a) the proclamation of salvation in Jesus Christ; (b) the response by the assembly of believers; and (c) the making real, by action, of the Covenant between God and humankind. (2) Music is integrated into these different components of worship: (a) to support and reinforce the proclamation of the Gospel in all its forms; (b) to give fuller expression to professing one's faith, to prayer (intercession) and to the giving of thanks; (c) to enhance the sacramental rite in its dual aspect of action and word (UL, "Points of Reference" 1.2).

Further, the document affirms:

Music is not indispensable to Christian liturgy, but its contribution is irreplaceable. A celebration is a whole; and all of its elements—musical and nonmusical—are interdependent. When music takes place within a rite, it always affects the form and the signifying power of the rite …. As a symbolic sign, singing and music play a role above and beyond determined ritual functions (UL, "Beliefs Held in Common," 21–26).

As the new vernacular versions of Roman Catholic worship began to take hold and reshape our understanding and practice of worship, a new era has been opening up in the continuing encounter between worship and culture. This new era has directed the main thrust of UL's work toward the study of "ritual function" within the Roman Rite. But the recognition of the continuing impact of culture has shifted that focus to a deeper study of the effective "functioning" of these same musical moments within particular cultures. Thus, the fields of human behavior, social customs, and cultural differences became a focus for studies of ritual music. This meant that the fields of semiology, cultural anthropology, and sociopsychology had to be incorporated, as well, into a study of music under the sign of faith.

The statement Liturgical Music Today (LMT), published by the U.S. Bishops' Committee on the Liturgy in 1982, was an attempt to articulate principles governing the function of music in the liturgy and function and form of various musical elements (LMT 6–11). In fact, Liturgical Music Today provided practical directives for new situations which had arisen since the publication of Music in Catholic Worship.

This statement appeared at a time when the successes as well as the failures of pastoral practice with the revised rites were causing a re-examination of the experience as well as the theory that was operative before the Council. "On the eve of the Council," LMT summarized the pastoral practice since 1903, "few parishes were performing the authentic repertoire recommended by Saint Pius X in his famous motu proprio on music" (LMT 51). Conceding that most parishes used only a limited amount of the chant and polyphony repertoire that had been encouraged by every pope from Pius X to the Second Vatican Council, and many parishes since the Council have failed to embrace this commended repertoire, LMT notes that many parishes are employing diverse styles of liturgical music within the same celebration. Affirming this eclectic approach to repertoire which had grown up in practice, LMT proposed a new understanding of the traditional repertoire and its use. Rather than commending it as high art, and therefore the most appropriate music for Roman Rite liturgy, LMT placed this repertoire in the context of historic faith and worship: "Singing and playing the music of the past is a way for Catholics to stay in touch with and preserve their rich heritage. A place can be found for this music, a place which does not conflict with the assembly's role and the other demands of the rite" (LMT 52). A blend of music from the past and new music composed for congregational participation was proposed as both a pastoral ideal and a practical application of liturgical music's function (munus ministeriale ).

This was also a time when the Church in the United States and throughout the world was becoming aware of the impact of various cultures on the way liturgy is celebrated. So Liturgical Music Today also affirmed the value and significant impact of diverse languages and cultural differences on liturgy in the United States (LMT 54–55).

On the matter of music ministry, LMT begins with a theological statement that would have been highly controverted just twenty years before: "The entire worshiping assembly exercises a ministry of music" (LMT 63). The document then turns its attention to pastoral practice by addressing the musicians in terms of a theology of their ministry:

Some members of the community, however, are recognized for the special gifts they exhibit in leading the musical praise and thanksgiving of Christian assemblies. These are the pastoral musicians, whose ministry is especially cherished by the Church. What motivates the pastoral musician? Why does he or she give so much time and effort to the service of the church at prayer? The only answer can be that the church musician is first a disciple and then a minister. The musician belongs first of all to the assembly; he or she is a worshiper above all. Like any member of the assembly, the pastoral musician needs to be a believer, needs to experience conversion, needs to hear the Gospel and so proclaim the praise of God. Thus, the pastoral musician is not merely an employee or volunteer. He or she is a minister, someone who shares faith, serves the community, and expresses the love of God and neighbor through music" (#63–64).

In these years, pastoral practice in the United States was influenced by more sophisticated composition and by a wide range of styles in musical repertoire. The British St. Thomas More Group, with Christopher Walker and Paul Inwood, brought to the U.S. a new level of craft in popular pastoral music. Together with U.S. composers J. Michael Joncas, Marty Haugen, and David Haas, they introduced into the liturgy music techniques from secular culture, especially from Broadway-style musical forms. More classical forms were also being reshaped based on the renewed liturgical theology and pastoral practice. These included attempts at a new style of chant for use with English texts. Richard Proulx's Community Mass and Marty Haugen's Mass of Creation began to create an "American standard" for common eucharistic acclamations. A wide range of styles setting responsorial psalms was being published, though most compositions followed the pattern of providing an antiphon for the congregation with verses for the cantor or choir. Liturgical music practice was beginning to stabilize in many parishes.

American Attempts at a Theology of Liturgical Music in the 1990s. Following the nation's experience with the civil rights movement, the immigration of Vietnamese and Hmong people following the Vietnam War, Cuban immigration, the arrival of Mexican and other Spanish-speaking immigrants, and a new wave of immigrants from Asian Pacific nations, existing American liturgical practice was severely challenged to develop an appropriate way to deal with multi-lingual and multicultural/multi-ethnic expectations for pastoral liturgy. The Vatican Council had directed openness in these matters: "Even in the liturgy the Church has no wish to impose a rigid uniformity in matters that do not affect the faith or the good of the whole community; rather, the Church respects and fosters the genius and talents of the various races and peoples" (SC 37).

Though Music in Catholic Worship (1972) may be considered the first document to address liturgical inculturation for the Catholic Church in the United States, the first document to address the multi-cultural challenge to worship in U.S. Catholicism appeared in 1990. Plenty Good Room: The Spirit and Truth of African American Catholic Worship (PGR, Aug. 28, 1990), produced by the Black Catholic Secretariat of the United States Conference of Bishops, contained reflections on music in the Black Church. It notes, especially, that people of African-American heritage "do not sing only to make music" (PGR 3).

Like most of the American Catholic documents, PGR affirms the symbolic nature of liturgy: "First, one cannot arbitrarily make symbols—they are not merely things. They become symbolic because of their resonating with the members of a given historical, cultural, ethnic, and racial community. They can assume levels of meaning that make sense of birth, life and death—by means of tradition, community and grace" (PGR 5). The statement applies this symbolic understanding to liturgical music:

A person may be particularly moved by the singing of a certain hymn … Were they asked, "what do these symbols mean?" they respond "I don't know. I didn't even know they were symbols." This would not imply that they have not experienced meaning in their symbolic activity. They have, for symbols are truly multidimensional phenomena (#9).

In other words, the measure of successful repertoire is not whether a particular piece is a "hit" but whether it succeeds in the order of religious symbolism.

As described in PGR, the theology of African American music (PGR #101–104) centers on the active presence of the Spirit and on improvisation. Singing becomes the effective sign of the Spirit's presence and also the ritual act that evokes the Spirit: "This congregational response becomes a part of the ritualized order of the celebration. The deadly silence of an unresponding assembly gives the impression that the Spirit is absent from the community's act of praise" (PGR 102).

The function (munus ministeriale ) of African American sacred song, as Sister Thea Bowman noted, is holistic, participatory, real, spirit-filled, and life giving. She describes those characteristics this way: (i) Holistic : Challenging the full engagement of mind, imagination, memory, feeling, emotion, voice and body; (ii) Participatory : inviting the worshiping community to join in contemplation, in celebration, and in prayer; (iii) Real : celebrating the immediate concrete reality of the worshiping community—grief or separation, struggle or oppression, determination or joy—bringing that reality to prayer within the community of believers; (iv) Spiritfilled : energetic, engrossing, intense; and (v) Life giving : refreshing, encouraging, consoling invigorating, sustaining.

In part as an attempt to analyze the experience of multi-cultural and multi-repertorial musical liturgy, a group of composers met for ten years in Milwaukee (1982–1992) at the suggestion of Sister Theophane Hytrek, SSSF, and under the sponsorship of Archbishop Rembert Weakland, OSB. On July 9, 1992, they issued The Milwaukee Symposia for Church Composers: A Ten-Year Report (MS). This document brought the elements connected with Christian ritual music contained in the Universa Laus Document to the attention of musicians in the United States and set out to describe a theology of ritual music, since it affirmed that "a theology of Christian ritual music is necessary." While such a theology "may be implicit in some of the official documents," MS states, "there has been little explicit attempt in these documents to fashion such a theology" (MS 10).

MS attempts to establish the major elements of such a theology in articles 11–17. The paschal mystery, of course, is central, though it is to be seen as the climax of the "'liturgy of the world … which God celebrates' through the length and breadth of human history" (MS 11). This mystery is expressed and shaped in symbols: "While our words and art forms cannot contain or confine God, they can, like the world itself, be icons, avenues of approach, numinous presences, ways of touching without totally grasping or seizing." Christian liturgy is a symbolic event, and music takes part in that symbolic activity, particularly in four ways: (i) music as sound, the raw material of music, reveals God in a non-localized, symbolic way; (ii) music is rhythmic and, therefore, time-bound; it "underscore[s] the temporality of human existence into which God has intervened." In this temporal aspect, music becomes one with the very nature of the liturgy; (iii) music heightens words. Because word reveals God in the liturgy, music has a heightened role in the liturgy; and (iv) music uniquely unites singer to song, singer to those who listen, and singers with each other: "Christian ritual song joins the assembly with Christ, who is the source and content of the song. The song of the assembly is an event of the presence of Christ. What fuller expression of the sacramental nature of Christian ritual music, especially the song of the assembly?"

In its theology of liturgical music, the Milwaukee Statement abandons the scholastic language of purpose and function. In addressing a wide range of issues connected with pastoral practice, MS reflects the concerns of the composers about liturgical formation, liturgical preparation, liturgical structures and forms, textual considerations, cross-cultural music making, models of music making, and technology. It describes accurately how pastoral practice and the theology of music interacted in the years after the Council:

First we experienced an effort to translate Latin chants into English. We then moved from vernacular chant to attempts at contemporary composition in popular idioms. Other developments included emphasis on scripturally based texts, the adoption of repertoire from the broader Christian community, and a growing awareness of the need for improved standards in musical and textual composition. In each of these developments, a primary concern has been music's ministerial role. Increasingly, we are coming to understand how a rite and its sound, its music, are inseparable: serving, enabling and revealing aspects of our belief that would otherwise remain unexpressed" (MS 4).

The statement also offers a way to treat the musicalliturgical-pastoral judgment of MCW as one integrated judgment rather than as three separate judgments (MS 81–86), finally uniting efforts that had previously been divided by a concentration on one aspect of this judgment as primary, leaving the other two as secondary: "An integrated approach to the musical-liturgical-pastoral judgment demonstrates that no single musical element can be evaluated apart from the whole of the liturgical-musical contour" (MS 84).

In 1994, issues raised by inculturation received a formal response from the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments in the Instruction The Roman Liturgy and Inculturation (RLI). This document affirmed the importance of music and singing and reiterated the liturgical importance of music native to "mission lands"(RLI 40). The statement also noted the importance of paying attention to the text that is to be sung: "It is important to note that a text which is sung is more deeply engraved in the memory than when it is read, which means that it is necessary to be demanding about the biblical and liturgical inspiration and the literary quality of texts which are meant to be sung (RLI 40). Recognizing the growth of the church in areas less influenced by European Catholicism and Western music, such as Asia and Africa, RLI commented not only on the use of indigenous "musical forms, melodies, and musical instruments" but also on the incorporation of "gestures and postures" appropriate to the culture, including "hand-clapping, rhythmic swaying, and dance movements on the part of the participants. Such forms of external expression can have a place in the liturgical actions of these peoples on condition that they are always the expression of true communal prayer of adoration, praise, offering and supplication, and not simply a performance" (RLI 42). This document also expressed a growing concern on the part of Vatican officials that an approach to music as "entertainment" was replacing a legitimate respect for religious "delight."

The American dialogue on the purpose and function of music in the liturgy continued with the publication, on Nov. 1, 1995, of a statement by a small group of liturgists and musicians meeting in Utah. Titled The Snowbird Statement, this document entered into dialogue with the Milwaukee Symposia report and current pastoral practice. Snowbird affirmed the category of ritual music as an appropriate way to describe music in the liturgy, but it warned against reducing that category to a kind of practical functionalism.

As a corrective to perceived problems with current practice, the Snowbird Statement offers a series of principles that serve to articulate an underlying theology of music in the liturgy. (1) Beauty is essential in the liturgical life and mission of the Church. (2) Standards of excellence in composition and performance must be affirmed. (3) Of the three judgments described in MCW, the musical judgment has not been advanced with sufficient development, indicating a belief by the signatories that an objective judgment may be made about musical quality.(4) While endorsing cultural adaptation, the statement rejects any approach that would inject an entertainment attitude or a therapeutic ethos into the liturgy. The Snowbird signatories encourage singing music from the Church's treasury, and they emphasize the need to develop or re-develop choirs for Catholic liturgy.

Many of the points made in Snowbird are based on the premise that there is a Catholic liturgical "ethos":

We believe there exists a characteristic ethos of Catholic liturgical music, although we acknowledge that such is difficult to define. To identify the ethos narrowly with any specific period or genre in liturgical-musical history would be a mistake. The church is not intrinsically limited to any particular "sacred" style of music for the celebration of the liturgy. Still, we believe that a Catholic ethos is discernible, for instance, in music that elaborates the sacramental mysteries in a manner attentive to the public, cosmic and transcendent character of religion, rather than in styles of music that are overly personalized, introverted or privatized. Music employed by countless generations of Catholic Christians is the starting point for discerning the characteristics of a Catholic ethos in liturgical music. In response to the church's developing needs and the many new cultural contexts within which the church worships, the ethos of Catholic liturgical music will continue to find new expressions. This process of development, however, should consult pre-existing forms to a greater extent than has generally been the case in recent decades. We advocate that new forms and styles grow organically from extant forms which display a Catholic ethos (#8).

Conclusion. The theology of church music and its practice have profoundly influenced the period immediately following the Second Vatican Council. More Christian believers have participated in the practice of church music in these years, as ministers and as members of the singing assembly, than in almost any other era of Church life. A perfect solution to linking the treasury of sacred music to the requirement for assembly music has not been found, but there is a great awareness that an organic link to the treasury is beginning to develop. An agreed upon theology of ritual music does not exist, but efforts have been made to begin the process of developing such a theology. A new repertoire for assembly participation is not complete, but it is well on its way. Pastoral practice is by no means stable, but considerable effort has been made toward a workable model, and a large core of competent musicians, skilled at the craft of assembly song, are serving the Church. The theology of liturgical music and the pastoral practice associated with it will continue to develop as we strive to make music for the glory of God and the sanctification of the faithful.

Bibliography: w. m. abbott, sj, ed. The Documents of Vatican II (New York 1966). c. duchesneau and m. veuthey, Music and Liturgy: The Universa Laus Document and Commentary, tr. p. inwood (Washington 1992). r. f. hayburn, Papal Legislation on Sacred Music: 95 A.D. to 1977 A.D. (Collegeville, Minn. 1979). e. hoffman, ed. The Liturgy Documents: A Parish Resource. Vol. 1. (Chicago 1991). International Commission on English in the Liturgy. Documents on the Liturgy, 1963–1979: Conciliar, Papal, and Curial Texts (Collegeville, Minn. 1982). c. jones, g. wainwright, and e. yarnold, sj, eds. The Study of Liturgy (London 1978). The Liturgical Conference and the Church Music Association of America, Crisis in Church Music? (Washington 1967). d. a. lysik, The Liturgy Documents: A Parish Resource, Vol. 2. (Chicago 1999). The Milwaukee Symposia for Church Composers: A Ten-Year Report (Washington 1992). "The Snowbird Statement on Catholic Liturgical Music." Pastoral Music 20:3 (Feb.–Mar. 1996): 13–19.

[v.c. funk]