Commentators say that World Youth Day in Sydney has an approach that is harking back to the olden days and I also thought along those lines when I saw the agenda. Is anyone in favour of a return to the church of the fifties? I look towards a lot of change.
However, this situation need not be confused, for instance, as a minor example, with a liking for timeless liturgy and timeless old music on certain occasions. Excellent modern hymns are composed nowdays but simple melodies and the experiential have taken on a big role. One can accept the approach that experience is 'where it is all at' but church members are diverse people and what they seek is charting unknown territory set somewhere in past experience or in the here and now even at the cutting edge.
Some critics describe religion as a construct. This goes with Pop culture with it's influential regressions and progressions and maybe the church can run with it. Pop culture appropriates the old religious icons and they become 'cool' again so is a retro theme a good idea?
By and large a discontinunity exists between Australian Catholic youth (and other youths) and with the formal traditional church community. The future is an unfolding baffling mystery.