It’s a point of encouter for people exploring faith
June was another busy month for the MSC Vocations team. Henry and I just finished the Camino when we hopped on a plane for St. Albans. We had one day to wash our clothes and clean our boots before our first summer festival.
Spirit in the City is a three day celebration of Christian faith in the heart of London, hosted by the Catholic churches in the West End. This is the second year the MSCs have been involved and it’s one of the highlights of our calendar. It’s about sharing the Good News of Christianity, while welcoming people of all faiths, ages and walks of life in the middle of the entertainment district. It gives an opportunity to raise deeper questions about life and to show that Catholicism can’t be pigeonholed around a few issues. The festival was set up with the understanding that we are all searching for new ways to connect with God and others around us.
It’s a day for everyone to celebrate God’s love
Spirit in the City does this through live music, workshops, talks, opportunities for prayer, reflection and reconciliation. We began on Thursday evening with a Mass in Warwick St. Church with Bishop Nicholas Hudson, followed by an open air party in Golden Square. People who stopped to find out what was going were invited to join the festivities and more than a few were really surprised that it was a Catholic festival. Apparently it’s not the sort of thing normally associated with us! We finished the evening with a simple night prayer.
It’s not proper Catholic withouth plenty of Rosaries!
Friday began with workshops in St. Patrick’s Church in Soho and street evangelisation. We led a workshop with a group of about forty people exploring what it means to be missionaries of God’s love and mercy. Justice is always at the centre of Spirit in the City and this year we invited a speaker from Aid to the Church in Need to share with a packed congregation some of the challenges faced by Christians around the world. Then we headed out on the streets of inner city London with a Eucharistic Procession starting in Soho, going through the theatre district and finishing with Benediction and night prayer in Corpus Christi Catholic Church, Covent Garden.
Our Eucharist Procession through the heart of London
Incredible music, great atmosphere and brilliant people
As wonderful as this all was Saturday was the big day. The stage was set up in the corner of Leicester Square. We had teams of young ( and not so young ) people in distinctive red t-shirts ready to go. Finally the bands turned up and then everything kicked off. It was fantastic! We had an eight hour continuous presence in the centre of one of the biggest cities in the world, celebrating the Catholic faith through music, drama, testimony, and laughter. There were also opportunities for people passing by to avail of Reconciliation or simply spend time in the prayer tent.
Sharing the Good News
All in all it’s what we’re meant to be about. Too often we mourn our faith, we don’t celebrate it. We forget the desire people have for good news. This festival was about going out into the market place and reminding ourselves as much as everyone else that we have something extraordinary in our faith that we can both rejoice in and share with others.