More than 2,000 Catholics attend WeBelieve Festival

One of the open mike sessions

More than 2000 Catholics gathered at Oscott College for the first-ever WeBelieve Festival of Catholic life, music and culture, from 25 - 28 July.

The festival presented many of the different movements, ministries and creative expressions of the Catholic faith in the UK, across many venues set up around the historic college - from Charismatic worship to the Latin Mass, Syro-Malabar vespers and traditional dance and the Ukrainian Divine Liturgy, talks, workshops and films.

There were good facilities for people camping in the leafy college grounds, and plenty of activities for families with children - including a dedicated crèche for children aged 2-5 years.

WeBelieve was made possible through the generosity of the Guild of Our Lady of Ransom and Oscott College. Key partners included Christian Art, Radio Maria, the Catholic Truth Society, CAFOD, Aid to the Church in Need, Mary's Meals, Unbound UK, TenTen Resources, the Caritas Social Action Network, Divine Renovation UK, The Mark 10 Mission, March for Life UK and Come & See Catholic Formation Ministries.

Among the contributers was Dr Gianna Emanuela Molla (daughter of Saint Gianna Beretta Molla), preacher and poet Fr Paul Murray OP, leading composer Sir James MacMillan, ex-gangster John Pridmore, singer Adeniké Adewale , Poet Sarah de Nordwall, Fr Patrick van der Vorst of Christian Art, Radio Maria, Fr Toby Lees OP, director of Radio Maria, The Southwell Consort (the Latin Mass Society's consort) and many more.

Many bishops attended, among them Bishop Nicholas Hudson of Westminster, Bishop David Oakley of Northampton, Bishop Kenneth Nowakowski of the Ukrainian Catholic Eparchy, Bishop Timothy Menezes, from Birmingham, and Bishop David Waller, from the Personal Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham. Daily Masses were celebrated by Bishop David Oakley, Archbishop John Wilson, Archbishop Bernard Longley and Archbishop Mark O'Toole.

Mgr John Armitage said: "We have 2000 people registered to come and it feels like a lot more are here. This is the first big event organised by The Guild of Our Lady of Ransom. The Guild has a long history of working for evangelisation in our country and so we felt at this time when we have this particular combination of historic moments of the holy year, the 1700th anniversary of the Nicene Creed and also the 175th anniversary of the Restoration of the Hierarchy of England and Wales, that it would be wonderful to bring people together to celebrate our Catholic identity.... I think the average age must be between about 35 to 40. The beauty of our faith is it is ever ancient and ever new. Bring those things together and we see the greatness of our Catholic faith, not great in the powerful sense of the word, but great in so far as it can give us life and hope to this generation and to the future generation."

"And so the question we're asking at the moment is 'are we on the edge of a Third Spring?' The then Fr John Henry Newman, who went on to become St John Henry Newman preached what was called the Second Spring Sermon. The First Spring being the faith coming to our country with St Augustine. the Second Spring at that moment was the Restoration of the Hierarchy after the long years of persecution and martyrdom after the Reformation. In this holy year of hope, we truly can see a real hope for so many people that have brought them to the Church. At this moment in time, we are seeing a real change in the makeup of people coming to Mass, an increase, a remarkable increase of people coming to Mass and that is identified particularly by the number of young men who are coming to Mass. The hymn 'Abide With Me' says, "change and decay in all around I see' and that's what many people, many young people see, the change and the decay in society today. But it then goes on to say, 'Oh thou who changes not, abide with me.' Well, that's what we know is the message of Jesus, nothing changes, everything changes around it, but the truth of the Gospel never changes."

Archbishop Bernard Longley said: "I think it's been fantastic. First of all, God's blessed us with this wonderful setting at St Mary's College, Oscott and it's something which we shouldn't keep to ourselves and we try and use it as much as possible. Secondly, I can't get over the blessings that people have brought here. WeBelieve has been a real blessing for us, for the seminary here and for our city in Birmingham."

Archbishop John Wilson commented: "My hope most of all is that people go away from here renewed in our beautiful Catholic faith and passionate about mission for our country. That we rediscover this enthusiasm that Pope John Paul II spoke about and that we have a confidence to announce our faith, to draw people to Jesus by attraction, not least through the Eucharist and through his Blessed Mother. There's just real joy and enthusiasm and a powerful sense of unity. I mean there's lots of diverse people here, from all kinds of different facets of the Church but we are one. We're one in faith and we're one in belief and that's the most powerful thing that we have - our unity in Christ.

"It's such a joy to be here to celebrate our faith and to try to rediscover what it means to be missionary in our country, to reveal the beauty and the wonder of Catholic faith and relationship with the Lord Jesus."

Archbishop Mark O'Toole added: "I'm delighted to be here at the WeBelieve Catholic Festival. It's been a wonderful few days. It's wonderful to see so many Catholic from different walks of life, different communities. It's especially good to see many families with young children here all seeking to deepen their discipleship of Jesus Christ. We've been very much reflecting on the themes of truth, goodness and beauty and I think many of us have been struck and touched very deeply by the experiences of how beauty especially unfolds for us. The holiness of God and the path of following Jesus Christ, so this way of beauty, the Via Pulchritudinis, is very much evident this weekend at the WeBelieve Catholic festival and for this we give thanks to God."

Professor Stephen Bullivant said: "It's not that there aren't or haven't been other gatherings of British Catholics but probably none that are drawing on all or most sectors of the Church and I think to see, not just the diversity in terms of ethnicity and nationality but liturgical diversity, diversity of charism, diversity of state of life - it's been really inspiring I think for everyone here."

Sarah de Nordwall said: "Here you see behind us Hogwarts for holiness! The whole festival was like an ocean of goodness and a harvest of joy and what I found for myself was that it was a wonderful gift of being able to have a glimpse of being in the antechamber of heaven and to see some of the fruits of the work you've been putting in for years and years and years. And to see people grow and blossom and to see the gorgeous things they've been doing and it was just so encouraging and joyful! You could cut the joy with a knife. It was like everybody was coming into their own. It was just too gorgeous for words."

One mother of young children said: "The sense of community is really strong. The children are safe and relaxed. The activities for them are fantastic. The kindness of people is everywhere. We're appreciating the mutual respect for families with young children in Mass. It's a real testimony to a thriving Catholic community in England that so many people have come.

Sancta Familia Media reported on X: "WeBelieve wasn't all prayer and praise. The cafe provided a great location for music, coffee, chat and even Catholic Standup by a Priest, Fr Frankie Mulgrew. His sessions went down so well! "

Beside filming many of the major events, they investigated: "What is the Secret ingredient for Buckfast wine from the monks who make it!? And many more questions on Catholic Quickfire at the WeBelieveFest!"

LINKS

The Quiet Revival: www.biblesociety.org.uk/research/quiet-revival

Sancta Familia Media: www.sancta.tv/