Paul Rex notes an article of which I want to record a few sentences.
(See his blog http://xprex.stblogs.org/archives/014847.html for more.)

"The pure echoes of the chant can touch the hearts and minds of all who are fortunate enough to sing or listen to it. Conceived in humility and expertly and lovingly crafted over centuries, chant is our heritage, and should be allowed to live and breathe as it was intended, in liturgy. It ought not to be relegated to the concert hall where its beauty can be only half realized, as there it can point to no mystery beyond itself."

-- Arlene Oost-Zinner and Jeffrey Tucker, from the February 2004 issue of the Homiletic & Pastoral Review