Incisive Comment on the Decline of Church Music

Found in a combox, well worth the time:

The changes of Vatican II arrived at the very moment that post-modern thought was approaching its apogee. Post-modernism rejects the idea of "masterpieces" or the preeminence of art music over popular music. All aesthetics are culturally relative and learned phenomenon. Intellectually, these claims have merit, but theologically they simply cannot apply. Once we say that all church music should arise from the local culture, it becomes quite difficult to convince that local culture of the absolutes embodied in the faith. My Protestant friends wonder why Catholics are so hide-bound (if they only knew). I see the adherence to tradition and practices as a reflection of our belief in certain theological absolutes. The two work in hand in hand in the best of situations.  --M. O'Connor

Fits right in with what we've seen:  radical deconstructionism (Derrida, et al.)  I'm not certain that 'these claims have merit' in any venue, whether music, poetry, graphic, or literature, either.

Good synthesis.  One can talk all day about the effects (lack of sense of sacred, etc.) but the cause?

Well, there it is.