Sacred Music and Liturgy Reform
Rt. Reverend Johannes Overath President of CIMS INTRODUCTION In Cologne, in 1961, at the Fourth International Church Music Congress, it was suggested that the next international meeting be held in London. Meanwhile, on November 22, 1963, with the chirograph, Nobile subsidium liturgiae, His Holiness, Pope Paul VI, established the Consociatio Interna- tionalis Musicae Sacrae. One of the tasks entrusted to the newly organized society was that of arranging for international meetings of church musicians, continuing the series of congresses begun in Rome in the Holy Year, 1950, with subsequent assemblies in Vienna in 1954, Paris in 1957, and Cologne in 1961. The Holy Father named the first officers of CIMS on March 7, 1964, and they immediately made contact with a committee of the English hierarchy ac- cording to the proposal made at Cologne to hold the next congress in Lon don. After many conferences the conclusion was reached that "the time foi an international church music congress in London is not yet ripe," as His Excellency, Bishop Charles Grant, chairman of the committee appointed b} the hierarchy of England and Wales, wrote on November 5,1964. Since the first four congresses had taken place in Europe, and since the proposal had been expressed that an English-speaking country be the location of the next meeting, this course of action now suggested itself to the officers of CIMSr viz., to discuss the possibility of holding an international meeting in the United States. Therefore, in the spring of 1965, many discussions and conferences took place between the officers of CIMS and leading church mu- sicians in the United States, especially with the Rt.
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