Contemporary Catholic music takes many forms, from modern hymnody to inculturated sacred works.
In a liturgical context, music is performed in a manner intended to heighten the spiritual atmosphere of a liturgical service, such as during Sunday Mass, Eucharistic adoration or Stations of the Cross, and is mandated to follow the musical tradition and decrees of the Church, such as those found in Musicae Sacrae and Tra le Sollecitudini for the Latin rite.
The non-liturgical context, though very much worshipful, usually takes the form of a concert or gathering without the presence of a liturgical service and outside of the Mass.
Non-liturgical artists find the opportunity to uniquely share their faith through their personal lyrics, and directly to audiences between songs, and these gatherings, since they are not a rite of the Church, but a form of personal and popular devotion, are free from the liturgical requirements that accompany a solemn act of worship in a liturgy.
Many composers have contributed to the distinct pop-inspired sound of contemporary Catholic liturgical music, including Marty Haugen, (a non-Catholic,) Dan Schutte, David Haas, Fr.