Over 500 young adults from all over Ireland attended the annual Knock Summer Youth Festival last weekend.Billed as the “Catholic alternative to Oxygen”, the festival was a great success, according to Ann Lee, one of the organisers of the event.
According to Ms Lee, the event was the first of its kind, in that it drew young people from all over Ireland to a youth event not closely associated with a particular movement.
Instead, she said that the aim of the event was to draw people from all walks of life to the Church.
The genesis of the event had been a weekend retreat organised by Youth 2000, but the event was now being run by those connected to the Shrine at Knock.
The theme this year was "Living life to the full?".
The Festival commenced with a testimony on Thursday night from popular RTÉ musician and composer, Ronan Johnston, who visited Mount Saint Joseph earlier this year.
On Friday Jesuit theologian, Fr Michael Paul Gallagher SJ, spoke about trends in modern society which pose challenges to faith.
On Saturday morning, Dr Andrew O'Connell, Communications Director for the Presentation Brothers spoke about faith in Ireland today.
"I was very struck by the large numbers of young adults who had come to Knock on their own. They saw the poster or leaflet in their own parishes and decided that they wanted to hear more about "living life to the full". It takes tremendous bravery and courage to attend an event like this on your own. They should be congratulated for that."
In planning the event, Ann Lee said the organisers paid a lot of attention to ensuring that lighting, music and presentation were in keeping with youth culture.
But, she said, the event managed to combine this with the faith.
For example, there was a healing and reconciliation ceremony, where many young people went to the Sacrament of Reconciliation for the first time in years.
“The event was both traditional and modern,” Ms Lee said.
Describing the weekend as “a powerful experience”, Ms Lee said that the idea behind the festival was to encourage those attending to have a personal experience. “It wasn't just about religious practice, it was about having an experience of the love of God,” she said.
Organisers now hoped that the weekend would spark those who came to the event into becoming more involved with their local Church.
To that end, each diocese attached a contact person to the event, with a view to staying in touch with young people from their area.
“The plan is to repeat the event next year. The idea this year was to see if we could host a feasible national project bringing young people together.”
Ms Lee hopes that the young people themselves will bring their own creativity to bear in their own dioceses.
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