Hundreds expected at Catholic festival that will celebrate faith in modern-day life

More than 1,700 people are expected to attend a festival of Catholic life celebrating the Jubilee Year of Hope this weekend at St Mary’s College, Oscott

The inaugural WeBelieve Festival runs from the 25-28 July and hopes to connect various groups within the Church by examining the importance of faith in modern-day life. It comes as the Church celebrates not only the Jubilee Year, but also the 175th anniversary of the Restoration of the Catholic Hierarchy in England and Wales and the 1,700th anniversary of the Nicene Creed.

The Guild of Our Lady of Ransom funds the WeBelieve project and initiated the plans for the festival. Speaking to The Tablet, Mgr John Armitage, Master of the Guild, said that the confluence of these anniversaries enabled a “particular moment in time” for the Church to examine its past in England and Wales.

“The unique contribution of the Catholic Church in this country begins with its history,” he said.

The programme draws on the traditions and transcendentals of the Church, with respective marquees focusing on truth, goodness and beauty hosting discussions on an assortment of topics relating to Catholic culture, social thought and art.

Armitage emphasised that the weekend was a “festival, not a conference”, representing the “complete cross-section of the people who are the life of the Catholic Church”.

There are a range of lay and public figures featuring at the event, such as Labour peer Lord Glasman of Stoke Newington and of Stamford Hill, March for Life co-chief executive Isabel Vaughan-Spruce, composer Sir James MacMillan and Dr Gianna Emmanuela Molla, the daughter of St Gianna Beretta Molla.

Speakers include Archbishop of Southwark John Wilson, Archbishop of Birmingham Bernard Longley, Bishop of the Ukrainian Catholic Eparchy Kenneth Nowakowski, Westminster auxiliary Bishop Nicholas Hudson, former Anglican bishop Mgr Michael Nazier-Ali, Fr Patrick van der Vorst of Christian Art and priest director of Radio Maria, Fr Toby Lees OP.

A replica of the Shroud of Turin will feature as an exhibition with life-sized photographic negatives of the Shroud to tell the story about the execution of Jesus and examine the mystery of the cloth. The festival will also display Blessed Carlo Acutis’s Exhibition of Eucharistic Miracles as well as an exhibition on Walsingham’s Dowry.  

There will be live music and interviews over the course of the weekend, while different musical styles ranging from modern worship to the Renaissance polyphony and Gregorian chant of the Latin Mass Society’s mixed-voice choir, the Southwell Consort, will enhance liturgies. The Traditional Latin Mass, Ukrainian and Syro-Malabar Roman rites will all be represented. 

Following BibleSociety’s report that church attendance has grown especially among Catholics, Armitage sees the festival as part of a “spiritual moment” that has been guided by leadership from the top of the Church and has reached out to those who “have lived in darkness”.  

Looking at the broader place of the Church in the country, he noted St John Henry Newman’s “Second Spring” sermon, preached at St Mary’s College in 1852, referring to the contemporary revival of the Catholic faith in England, and questioned: “Are we on the cusp of a ‘Third Spring’?”

The festival has been designed with families in mind and a youth programme is included with a range of activities for those under sixteen and as young as three. There is capacity for up to 3,000 attendees as well as overnight camping spots for those with a full festival pass.

More than 100 Catholic organisations are supporting the festival, including partners such as Cafod, Caritas Social Action Network, Mary’s Meals and the Catholic Truth Society. It is hoped that the WeBelieve Festival will become an annual gathering that will move to different regions across the country.

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