I’ve just spent five days in a field a mile outside Walsingham, where the annual Youth 2000 summer festival took place last weekend. This little village, as one of the speakers said, is not just in the middle of nowhere; it’s on the very outer fringes of nowhere, and it’s a miracle that anyone gets there at all. (Apologies for this very London-centric view of North Norfolk…)
One of the young people arriving said they had got into a conversation in a shop on the way, and when they said they were going to a youth festival, the other person asked, ‘So who is headlining then?’ No-one could agree on the best answer: Jesus, the Bishop, or the Youth 2000 Music Ministry.
It’s a time of grace, of witnessing the beauty of the Christian faith, and of real conversion. It’s also a very ordinary experience of the Church, and by that I mean there is nothing extraordinary about the content of the weekend. It’s just Catholicism pure and simple. That’s probably why it ‘works’, and why it makes such a profound impression on people. The Eucharist at the very centre; dignified and joyful worship; devotion to Our Lady; the teaching of the Catholic Church presented in a straightforward, unapologetic, inspiring and practical way; the power of conversion through the sacrament of confession; the challenge of connecting faith with everyday life, study, work, relationships; the call to vocation, witness and service; prayer, music, food, fellowship, fun.
You see young people serving other young people, and witnessing to their own personal faith. It was striking, as well, how many people were here for the first time – brought by someone who had come before and wanted to share the experience. You see a wonderful integration of the different vocations of lay people, priests, and religious and consecrated people. One of the lovely small innovations this year was creating a cafe-style atmosphere in the dining tent, so that people could relax together in the evening when the services had finished. Another innovation was the hot showers!
It’s easy to make a list of all the events and activities that take place; it’s harder to describe the almost tangible sense of faith and spiritual joy that permeates the main tent when nearly a thousand people are there worshipping the Lord in silence or in song, or listening to the Word of God opened up for them, or hearing a teenager describe the moment when they really began to believe and to see their life changing through the touch of Christ.
There are many wonderful initiatives for renewal and evangelisation taking place within the Catholic Church in our country – this is just one of them. They all point to a genuine renewal in the Church, a sense that something important is happening, that lives are really being changed. The catechetical blog “Transformed in Christ” catches something of this in these reflections on the festival:
One of the beautiful things about Youth 2000 is that it brings you right back again to the fresh experience of conversion. It brings you back to basics – being simple and humble, open and intimate with Christ. It is so beautiful to see this journey beginning in young souls. I don’t have dramatic experiences of God’s love anymore like I did when I was going to retreats at 17 and 18. God needed to get my attention back then, and now my faith has deepened and strengthened, so now it is more a daily experience of his love in my life.
But on Sunday night, we heard testimony after testimony from young people, all aged between 16 and 21, of the powerful experiences of God’s love they had received through Confession and the Eucharist. They often articulated them nervously, but an authentic, unmediated experience of joy, peace and freedom from having just been touched by Christ, radiated from each one.
I am sure that, this hidden work of the Holy Spirit and the open response of each individual, young soul is the most precious thing in the whole Church, the whole world!
When I was 17 I didn’t quite realise how precious it was, and perhaps those young people who with such courage and faith got up to give their testimony, don’t either. No one gets to see these miracles within souls. The humility of the Lord in working in such a hidden way is exquisite. But this is exactly what is beautiful about being a Catholic – the joy of being touched by Christ. If we ever lose sight of that, we are lost!
Beautiful. I hope Youth 2000 or something similar exists when James reaches his teens! I love Walsingham and it has been a place of deep conversion and healing for me over the years. Thank you for this post – it really is about keeping things simple isn’t it? Then the profundity is all the more clear – you really know it’s God working. God bless, Lizzie
Thank you for this post Father Stephen. It makes me recall a wonderful song which was sung before the Papal Visit in 1982. The words, if I remember them correctly began “We’re the Church of today, the Hope of tomorrow, called to live in Gods world”. These young people are the hope of tomorrow!
I took our 10 year old son to two events a couple of weeks ago, the first was the ordination of 8 priests at the Cathedral in Sydney, the second was a Christian rock concert where we switched our thumb and forefinger from “thumbs up” to an “L” shape as we sang “Yes Lord, yes Lord, yes yes Lord” (it’s tricky!)
Even at 10, it was the ordination (the reverence, the procession of 150 priests and bishops, the beauty) that left him feeling like he’d been to something really special.
Our 11 year old didn’t want to attend either event. I’m hoping when he’s older some pretty devout Catholic girl will invite him to something like Youth 2000, then he’ll want to go!
Do they have Youth 2000 in Australia? I think they had one of two small retreats or prayer groups in the past. You will have to start it up!
We had a truly wonderful weekend in Walsingham- daily Mass, Rosary and Adoration. Wonderful priests and brothers and sisters. Inspiring talks and workshops. Time to catch up with old friends and make new ones. It was a truly blessed time. Two of my six children are now married- both met their partners through Youth 2000. Now my grandchildren come too !!!!
Youth 2000 has been a very great blessing in all our lives and I thank God for that and pray it may long continue ……..
This sounds really good and one of the things I like about the Catholic Church is how the sacraments bring people of the faith together.
I went to the Greenbelt festival, a Christian/social justice-based arts festival in Cheltenham last week, which was excellent and probably had a similar kind of feel, although it wasn’t quite as worship-based.
The idea of a renewal of the Church in Britain is an interesting one. To me, Britain doesn’t seem to be becoming more Christian, but maybe Christianity is still influencing the country. At the very least, I don’t think the brief spurt of new atheist books made a big difference to what people think about Christianity (or religion in general) in this country.
I’ve been a Christian for about half a year and I’m considering becoming a Catholic. I’ve thought about it for quite a while and I still have reservations about the Catholic faith, mostly intellectual ones, but I really feel that God is telling me that this is the direction I should take now in my life. And although I have already felt God’s love without the sacraments, the stories talked about here seem to be pretty real.
Anyway, I thank God for the stories of these young people whose lives have been changed by him and for the wonderful sense of community that obviously happened at this festival, and I pray that the brotherhood and togetherness of the Church (of all Christians) will continue!
Congratulations on becoming a Christian Jonathan. I wish you all the best as you continue the search.
What a wonderful description of what was obviously a wonderful time at Walsingham. Youth 2000 is a great blessing – a New Movement born and raised in Britain! I went to Walsingham this summer with the John Paul II Walking Pilgrimage, and several of those taking part were involved with Youth 2000. If anyone would like to join us: on Sunday August 28th, we are having a Reunion and doing a John Paul II Pilgrimage walking along the Thames., Starts with Mass at 10.30am at Westminster Cathedral – our chaplain for the day, Fr Simon Heans, will concelebrate the Mass and then we’ll depart in style from the Cathedral steps, with our Walsingham banner. We plan to walk along the river (about 20 miles – so come well prepared!) and finish with Tea and Benediction. Contact me for more details: auntiejoanna@yahoo.co.uk
Great article.
“young soul is the most precious thing in the whole Church, the whole world!” – instead of “young soul” though, i prefer “young person” (as we’re both, equally, and wonderfully, body + soul .. And i think this is sometimes / often forgotten).
Also, i’d love (as part of the spirit of Christian renewal) if Christians said, more often, the simple “God bless” – it’s a public statement of belief, that stiches us all together that tiny bit more every time we say it, and it is a mini prayer rich / pregnant with meaning (although to be careful of saying this to people who don’t share our faith).
God bless!