*Environment and Art in Catholic Worship * (EACW) does not have canonical authority. Jimmy Akin in his book *Mass Confusion * (pp. 31-32) states:
“EACW is the publication of a single committee and is not law any more than a bill that had only been passed by a lone committee in the U.S. Congress would be a U.S. law.”
"This document is part of a class of documents issued by the U.S. Bishops’ Committee on the Litrugy that does not have binding authority, for one reason, because they have not been approved by the National Council of Catholic Bishops or the Holy See.
"This caution concerning the non-binding status of this document is echoed by its critcs, such as Msgr. Peter J. Elliott, a noted author on the liturgy, who states:
Published by the U.S. Bishops’ Committee on the Liturgy in 1978, this influential document seems dated–insofar as it reflects an era of austere taste. moreover, together with useful practical advice, it includes unsound opinions regarding the altar (nos. 72-73), the tabernacle (nos. 78-80) and Eucharistic vessels (no. 96) [CMRR 342]."
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The Jurist, the canon law journal of the Catholic University of America, published an article in 1996 by the “dean” of liturgical lawyers, Monsignor Frederick R. McManus, titled “Enviornment and Art in Catholic Worship,” which stated:
[T]he [EACW] statement is not, nor does it purport in any way to be, a law or general decree of the conference of bishops, emanating from the NCCB’s legislative power; neither is it a general executory decree of the body. Thus it lacks, and there is no suggestion that it has,juridically binding or obligatory force, for which both two-thirds affirmative vote of the conference’s *de jure * membership and the
recognitio of the Apostolic See are required *The Jurist * 55:350]."
*Mass Confusion * is available at
shop.catholic.com/cgi-local/SoftCart.exe/online-store/scstore/p-R1919.html?E+scstore