CHELTENHAM - 29 August 2005 - 400 words

Young Catholics flock to Greenbelt festival

Young Catholics from across the country have been flocking to this year's Greenbelt festival held at Cheltenham Racecourse over the bank holiday.

Greenbelt is a Christian arts festival which works to express love, creativity and justice in the arts and contemporary culture in the light of the Christian Gospel.

Mass was celebrated at 6.30 pm on Saturday by Father Mark Moran, Assistant Priest at Holy Rood Catholic Church in Swindon. A new venue was found for this year's celebration, because of a capacity crowd last year. CAFOD South West (Catholic Agency for Overseas Development) had a significant presence at the festival and organised the Mass.

CAFOD volunteer, Doug Lowe from Taunton said: "I am pleased that again we had a great young music group to enrich our worship. It was fantastic to see so many people and to let them know of CAFOD's work. I was also pleased with the number of people who wanted to be with us for Mass."

Fr Mark spent much of Friday and Saturday exploring the rich variety of performances and talks. He said: "This weekend has been my first visit to Greenbelt and I've really enjoyed the experience. I went to an insightful and inspirational talk by Sister Pamela Hussey about Archbishop Oscar Romero's life and death as the champion of suffering people in El Salvador. Fr Richard Rohr, a Franciscan, was also at the festival and gave a talk on spirituality and social action."

Yesterday morning saw Fr Mark take part in live broadcasts with BBC Radio Wiltshire and BBC GMR. He said: "The BBC had a strong presence at the festival which shows that are engaging in faith and ethical matters." 

Doug also took to the airwaves as a newspaper reviewer for the festival's own radio station Greenbelt FM.

Many young people, attracted by the mix of music and spirituality coupled with a relaxed atmosphere were part of the 20,000 strong crowd attending the festival.

Charlotte Emblem, a student at the University of Bristol, worked with CAFOD during the weekend to enhance its' Saturday evening liturgy. She said: "It's important for Catholics to be present at, and take part in, festivals like Greenbelt.  Sharing our rich spirituality is part of what we have done during the weekend. Greenbelt's also an opportunity for us to receive knowledge from the many other faith groups at the festival."

Source: Diocese of Clifton

© Independent Catholic News 2005

Contact Independent Catholic News tel/fax: +44 (0)20 7267 3616 or email

Back to top of page

Back to Young People

 Links to other sites •  Letters