Brighton: 11,000 gather for A&B anniversary celebration

Cardinal Cormac, Bishop Richard Moth, Fr Timothy Radcliffe and Archbishop Peter Smith

Around 11,000 Catholics from Surrey and Sussex converged in the Amex Stadium in Brighton on Sunday to celebrate the Golden Jubilee of the foundation of the diocese of Arundel and Brighton.. Sunday Masses were cancelled throughout the diocese to enable as many priests and people as possible to come together with their new Bishop, Richard Moth, for a day culminating in a jubilee Mass. The Mass setting was written for the occasion by Paul Inwood, This was the largest Catholic event in England & Wales since the visit of Pope Benedict XVI.

Alongside the key speakers: Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O'Connor, former Bishop of the Diocese, Dr Rowan Williams, former Archbishop of Canterbury and Fr Timothy Radcliffe OP, former Master General of the Dominican Order we were also graced to hear Claire Dixon from CAFOD and Bishop Dan Turley from the sister Diocese of Chulucanas in Peru.

Throughout the day the stadium complex was used as a huge display area, with diocesan organisations running stalls. In different areas of the stadium were other aspects of our Catholic faith. There was spiritual direction available from the diocesan spiritual direction network, many priests hearing confession, and Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament. There was a fairground, children's activities, choirs expressing their faith in song, and others proclaiming their faith in movement or in word.

The day was an opportunity to come together with people throughout the diocese in one celebration. It was an active day, and it was impossible to see even a fraction of what was on offer. While sitting in the stands different speakers moved us forward in our faith expression. Rowan Williams spoke of a passion for our faith. Cardinal Cormac remembered his time as our bishop. A highlight being the visit of Pope John Paul II, whom he greeted at Gatwick, and was afterwards spoken of as the Bishop of Gatwick. And he spoke about Pope Francis, and how he constantly surprises us. He calls each one of us to conversion in a visual dynamic way. Simple acts can witness to Jesus Christ. We must each ask ourselves 'what must I do to live a deeper Christian life. Cardinal Cormac spoke of how he has no time for prophets of doom, and the diocese of Arundel and Brighton was never a gloomy diocese. He said there is no harm in standing up for what we believe. It is a good time to be Catholic we have no need to be fearful of the future of the Church.

In his talk Fr Timothy Radcliffe spoke of how we are all one. We are all brothers and sisters in Christ. He has a family he is close to, but so too are we close to each other as brothers and sisters. He illustrated this with story of a bishop who visited a prison and met a man about to be tried. And he said, 'but that man is my brother.' The officials' response was 'in that case, your eminence, we must set him free.' But strangely he did not have the same surname as the bishop. Timothy Radcliffe further spoke of creation, all things belong to us, and in a link with Si Laudatio, he quoted from St Francis Canticle of Creation, praise be to you my lord. The world wide club is not an exclusive club, it is a sign of God love and care for everything.

The highlight of the day in Brighton was the Jubilee Mass celebrated by Bishop Richard Moth, Cardinal Cormac Murphy O'Connor, Archbishop Peter Smith, Archbishop Bernard Longley, described as our own home grown bishop, Bishop Dan Turley from our link diocese in Peru, and most of the priests of the diocese. The procession of altar servers, deacons and priests, priests, bishops, archbishop and cardinal was dramatic as the incense rose and the music sounded from massed choirs and musicians and the congregation in the seats. After a day of showers and overcast skies the sun came out at the beginning of Mass.

A choir of 800 singers including BBC's 'The Voice' contestant, Stephen Bloy plus musicians led the celebration in song and music. The choir included not only pupils of local schools, but adult choir members from across the Diocese making it one of the biggest choirs to gather in the South East this year.

Bishop Richard was installed as Bishop of Arundel and Brighton just a month ago. He spoke in his homily of the diversity of the diocese from coast to city from wealth to extreme poverty, a diverse population with differing experience of faith and life. He spoke of seeming to be in a society that have lost its Christian foundations and where the challenges are great. In the midst of those challenges are opportunities, we see an emptiness to be filled with the love of Christ. Where Christ sent his disciples out into the world. Christ prepared his disciples for their task. Today we must be the disciples sent out into the world.

Christ formed his disciples, they responded to his call, and they spent time with the risen Christ. They had all failed, and had deserted Christ in his hour of need, and had subsequently experienced his love and mercy at the very deepest level. And they were then ready for mission.

This challenge comes to us, we should allow ourselves to accept the call of Christ, be formed by the Holy Spirit through prayer through scripture and the sacraments, and go out in mission. We must now heed the challenge to measure everything we do against the demands of mission. We should go forth with hope.

The music, the involvement of people from all areas of the diocese. The 1500 people who had taken part in the planning and execution of the day, the recognition that we were a people drawn together for one celebration was challenging in itself. The Bishop's homily put it all into words and moved up to look towards the future.

And at the end of Mass waiting for us at the top of the steps to the coaches was our Bishop waving us on our way. It was a suitably encouraging end to the day's celebration.

Source: Jo Jacques/Diocese of Arundel and Brighton