Anglo Catholic blogger Jeffrey Steel writes about the need for beautiful music in the liturgy. He quotes Pope Benedict XVI who criticizes music that is chosen merely for its ‘usefulness’:

A Church which only makes use of ‘utility’ music has fallen for what is, in fact, useless. She too becomes ineffectual. For her mission is a fair higher one…The Church must not settle down with what is merely comfortable and serviceable at the parish level; she must arouse the voice of the cosmos and, by glorifying the Creator, elicit the glory of the cosmos itself, making it also glorious, beautiful, habitable and beloved. Next to the saints, the art which the Church has produced is the only real ‘apologia’ for her history…The Church is to transform, improve, ‘humanize’ the world–but how can she do that if at the same time she turns her back on beauty, which is so closely allied to love?

Read the whole blog post here.