More than 2,000 Catholics gathered in the grounds of Oscott College at the end of July for the first-ever WeBelieve festival celebrating Catholic life and faith.
Supported by the Guild of Our Lady of Ransom, the festival took place from Friday, 25 July to Monday, 28 July and drew inspiration from the philosophical principles of truth, goodness and beauty. Each of these ‘transcendentals’ was given a venue with content and performances that explored the theme further.
Unity was a key feature of the festival, which among other things featured charismatic worship, the Latin Mass, Syro-Malabar vespers and traditional dance, and the Ukrainian Divine Liturgy.
Hope too, in this Jubilee year, figured strongly during the four-day celebration. It was apposite that the festival took place during a time of so-called ‘quiet revival’ – significant numbers were received into the Church this year and many are returning to the Church in their search for meaning.
Contributors included Dr Gianna Emanuela Molla, the daughter of Saint Gianna Beretta Molla, Dominican preacher and poet Fr Paul Murray OP, renowned composer Sir James MacMillan, ex-gangster John Pridmore, The Southwell Consort and many more.
Many of our bishops were in attendance, with daily Masses celebrated by Bishop David Oakley, Archbishop John Wilson, Archbishop Bernard Longley, and Archbishop Mark O’Toole.
Archbishop John Wilson, Archbishop of Southwark, expressed his desire that the festival would kickstart a time of renewal and rediscovery of the Catholic faith in these lands:
“My hope is that people will leave renewed in our beautiful Catholic faith and passionate about mission for our country. That we rediscover this enthusiasm that Pope St 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… 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.”
Archbishop Mark O’Toole of Cardiff-Menevia was also struck by the diversity of the Catholic festival-goers and their evident strength of faith:
“It was wonderful to see so many Catholics from different walks of life, different communities. It was 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.”
The ‘local’ bishop, Archbishop Bernard Longley of Birmingham, praised the festival venue:
“God has 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 of Birmingham.”
Master of The Guild of Our Lady of Ransom, Monsignor John Armitage, explained why it was important to hold a festival, the Guild’s first, to celebrate Catholic identity:
“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 1,700th 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… The beauty of our faith is that it’s 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 that it gives life and hope to this generation and future generations.”
Oscott College, the venue for the festival, is a Catholic seminary on the outskirts of Birmingham that trains men for the priesthood. It was from Oscott that a second spring of the Catholic faith was preached by the soon-to-be 38th Doctor of the Church, Saint John Henry Newman.
A gallery of images from the WeBelieve festival.
