Most folks wouldn't make much of a distinction between the two, they just enjoy singing and believe they're Praising God when they do.
The least the composers could do is write music in a tessitura that actualy compliments the voice.
One of the things you need to remember about church music is that it can be very ephemeral and only the best of any one period survives to teach the next generations what music can do in the way of adding to worship. We're witnessing that first hand with the Jesuit stuff. Most of it was (and is) plain and simply badly written and it is (thankfully) going by the wayside. Not much of it is going to survive the current generation because it's just bad, leaving us with the great classics and chant.
Education is the #2 duty of the church musician. I'm acquainted with a large number of them who think otherwise and they are simply wrong.
Nowadays, we call educating the faithful "sharing our gift." Vince Lombardi, the hero for educators, would have called it discipline for excellence.
Another loss following American affluence--the loss of the understanding of first things.