Sing to the Lord: Music in Divine Worship

by United States Conference of Catholic Bishops

Sing to the Lord provides basic guidelines for understanding the role and ministry of music in the liturgy. It echoes the call to full, active, and conscious participation in the Liturgy through its sung elements.

Genres: Music, Catholic

96 pages, Paperback

First published July 1, 2008

About the author

The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) is the episcopal conference of the Catholic Church in the United States. Founded in 1966 as the joint National Conference of Catholic Bishops (NCCB) and United States Catholic Conference (USCC), it is composed of all active and retired members of the Catholic hierarchy (i.e., diocesan, coadjutor, and auxiliary bishops and the ordinary of the Personal Ordinariate of the Chair of Saint Peter) in the United States and the Territory of the U.S. Virgin Islands. In the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, the bishops in the six dioceses form their own episcopal conference, the Puerto Rican Episcopal Conference (Spanish, Conferencia Episcopal Puertorriqueña). The bishops in U.S. insular areas in the Pacific Ocean – the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, the Territory of American Samoa, and the Territory of Guam – are members of the Episcopal Conference of the Pacific (Latin, Conferentia Episcopalis Pacifici).

The USCCB adopted its current name in July 2001. The organization is a registered corporation based in Washington, D.C. As with all bishops' conferences, certain decisions and acts of the USCCB must receive the recognitio, or approval of the Roman dicasteries, which are subject to the immediate and absolute authority of the Pope.

Reviews

[Edward Irons]

Why We Sing is a systematic explanation of the role of music in Catholic worship. It does not argue for the importance of music, nor does it seek to persuade the reader of any perspective. The importance of music in the liturgy is clear. The format of this short text, in numbered paragraphs, reinforces that importance. Most of these paragraphs are excerpts from key documents as Sacrosanctum Concilium (1963) or Musicam Sacream (1967). The book is intended for believers, and especially those who participate in the mass. It seeks, then, to deepen understanding, for through the Sacred Liturgy “the faithful join their mind to what they pronounce or hear.” (4)

Of special interest is the connection drawn between sacred music and ritual, the spiritual, and the cultural. (21-22) Ritual refers to liturgical action, with which music is interspersed and perfectly incorporated. The spiritual refers to music’s inner qualities, qualities that deepen prayer and purpose. And the cultural is the setting, including ethnic and social considerations. This multiple focus makes this text a very modern and practical compendium. There is no sense in which music is lifeless or mechanical. It is a sacred thing of intrinsic value in the Catholic tradition.