BALTIMORE -- Although their words about sex grabbed the headlines at their meeting last week, the nation's Catholic bishops also spent some time on singing.

Acting under Vatican orders, they approved a plan to check the theological orthodoxy of all songs sung at Mass. They also agreed to compile a core repertoire of 60 to 100 songs to include in all Catholic hymnals, along with a variety of other songs approved by individual bishops.

"Music is an essential ingredient in a Mass celebration. I see it as extremely important in catechizing our people," said Bishop Donald Trautman, of Erie, chairman of the committee in charge of the project. He said the bishops would consult with music experts in choosing the core songs. The focus is on choosing doctrinally sound lyrics,

While they worked to get Catholics to sing the same songs, the bishops were not always in tune with one another. Behind their lopsided votes on hymns and other issues lay sharp exchanges, as those who wanted strict enforcement challenged those who favored a more welcoming approach to Catholics who don't follow church teaching.

In the music debate, some bishops wanted a central office to create the list of approved hymns. Instead, the endorsed plan, which has to be approved by the Vatican, leaves it to each bishop to approve songs published in his diocese.

Cardinal Sean O'Malley, of Boston, would have preferred a list of approved songs.

"The only way we are going to have real community participation in the liturgy is if we have a corpus of hymns that most of our people know by heart," he said.

The core repertoire is supposed to serve that purpose. Bishop Trautman suggested "Holy God We Praise Thy Name" and "Silent Night" as two classics that would certainly be included, but would not speculate beyond that.

There are quarrels in the church between those who prefer contemporary music and those who advocate time-honored hymns and chant. Some traditionalists complain that modern songs are theologically and musically insipid.

Catholics are divided about more than music, however. Bishop William Skylstad, president of the bishops' conference, called on all Catholics to act like Christians when they disagree with one another.

"I often find that such discourse seems to presume the worst of intentions or motivations of others, It's a good time to be reminded of the powerful witness of our late, beloved Pope John Paul II. The story is told of a meeting, in which he received significant personal criticism. His response? A simple embrace," he said.

Yet Bishop Skylstad himself responded sharply to a scathing attack during discussion of a document on receiving communion. Some bishops wanted it to threaten penalties against Catholic politicians who support legal abortion or couples who use contraceptives.

Bishop Fabian Bruskewitz, of Lincoln, Neb., one of the most conservative bishops, challenged the conference's authority to speak about the subject at all. He read several quotations from Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, now Pope Benedict XVI, saying that national bishops' conferences have no teaching authority.

"Maybe he's changed his mind now that he's changed his name," Bishop Bruskewitz said sarcastically.

Bishop Skylstad replied that the quotations were 20 years old, and that the pope recently affirmed the work of national bishops' conferences.

"I just mention that to you if you want to get into a big debate today. ... I consider the [bishops'] conference to be a very valuable part of our church here in the United States," he said, to applause.

Although only one item on their agenda dealt directly with the sexual abuse crisis that engulfed the church in 2002, references to it rippled through the meeting......

Archbishop Pietro Sambi, the pope's representative in the United States, spoke of "the loss of credibility in the church which comes from a lack of orthodoxy and a lack of orthopraxy in a small but very damaging number of its ministers and its faithful." Orthopraxy means right action.

He quoted at length from a talk Pope Benedict gave to the bishops of Ireland, who had a similar abuse crisis: "The wounds caused by such acts run deep, and it is an urgent task to rebuild confidence and trust where these have been damaged. In your continuing efforts to deal effectively with this problem, it is important to establish the truth of what happened in the past, to take whatever steps are necessary to prevent it from occurring again, to ensure that the principles of justice are fully respected and, above all, to bring healing to the victims and all those affected by these egregious crimes."

Representatives of a victim advocacy group said they believed the bishops have a long way to go to accomplish those goals. In addition to pressing the bishops to name former priests who are known offenders, they are asking for sensitivity training toward victims in parishes where there has been an accusation.

Barbara Blaine, founder of the Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests, believes bishops still let offenders slip through cracks, particularly foreign-born priests who are removed from ministry here but return to their homeland and are able to serve there. She cited the case of the Maltese priest accused of molesting former U.S. Rep. Mark Foley.

After the abuse crisis hit, the bishops began holding more of their meetings behind closed doors. At least a half day of that is spent in prayer and repentance.

According to some reports, Wednesday afternoon's prayer lasted into the evening. The bishops are committed to spending time at each meeting in deep soul searching before the blessed sacrament, said Bishop David Zubik, of Green Bay, Wis.

"We have a concentrated time of quiet prayer, and a number of confessors, priests from the area, are available to us," he said. "It's a time to remember the foundation of who we are as bishops. We are not just administrators who consider documents. That is part of what we are called to do, but if we don't come back to the source of our shepherding, Jesus himself, we will have a problem."