As we noted last week, the USCCB is sponsoring a meeting in Chicago today – a consulation on sacred music and the documents produced by the American bishops related to it.

Here’s the Church Music Association of America’s statement:

In preparation for a revision of Music in Catholic Worship (1972, 1983) and Liturgical Music Today (1982), the Music and Liturgy Subcommittee called for a consultation from groups and organizations dealing with music, scheduled to take place October 9, 2006. Both the President and the Vice President of the CMAA are scheduled to speak.

As Monsignor Richard J. Schuler recounts in his masterful history of music since the Second Vatican Council, Music in Catholic Worship was originally prepared by the Music Advisory Board of the Committee on the Liturgy as an American interpretation of the Roman instruction Musicam Sacram (1967). And though the document was never voted on by the whole body US Bishops, it has nonetheless had an enormous impact of the music in American Catholic liturgical life.

Looking back at this document today, especially in light of the progress currently being made in accomplishing what the Second Vatican Council actually intended concerning music, one is struck by the notable ways in which the American document is contradicted by the teaching of Musicam Sacram, the General Instruction on the Roman Missal, and the statements by John Paul II and Benedict XVI concerning music.

Three examples will suffice to make the point.

More.