This thread that you started rang a bell with me and I realized that the quote “Certainly, we will preserve the basic elements, the bread, the wine, but all else will be changed according to local traditions: words, gestures, colors, vestments, chants, architecture, decor. The problem of liturgical reform is immense” had once again been taken right out of context in order to further the writer's agenda. This quote without context has been used in other essays previously posted on FR by those who wish to kick and rail and cause dissention and discord among the faithful.
This is a fuller and more contextualized quote of the quote Mr. Droelsky uses somewhat dishonestly in order to create another essay of discontent. It is taken from an Una Voca website in case you want to verify it.
In 1965, when still Bishop of Cracow, John Paul II showed he was bewildered about which direction the liturgical reform would take, particularly in Africa. "Where will it end?" he asked, "Certainly we will preserve the basic elements, the bread, the wine, but all else will be changed according to local tradition: words, gestures, colours, vestments, chants, architecture, decor. The problem of liturgical reform is enormous ... " (Malinskl, Mon Ami, Karl Wojtyla, Paris, 1980, p.220.)
My reading of this fuller quote evokes the understanding that JPII, while still bishop, realized that by reforming the Latin Rite Mass in order to include some elements of local custom, the reform was not specific enough to stop the coming abuses done in the name of inculturation. He saw even in 1965, the abuses that would be forthcoming.