The Ordinariate was honoured to take part in the WeBelieve Festival, an extraordinary celebration of Catholic life that gathered together every strand of our rich and diverse Church. Held at St Mary’s College, Oscott - where St John Henry Newman preached his famous Second Spring sermon - the festival was a deeply symbolic setting for this moment of unity and renewal.
At the heart of the weekend was the celebration of three monumental milestones: the Jubilee of Hope, the 175th anniversary of the restoration of the Catholic hierarchy in England and Wales, and the 1700th anniversary of the Nicene Creed. These themes resonated powerfully during the Ordinariate’s Evensong in the Oscott chapel, where the ancient liturgy found its voice again in a spirit of hope, joy, and shared faith.
The presence of the Ordinariate among such a wide array of Catholic expressions testified to the Church’s harmony in diversity-an embodied “second spring” moment for our times. As Bishop David Waller described, it was “exhausting, but in the most wonderful sense,” as there hadn’t been “a spare moment,” but everywhere you looked was “Catholics from so many different places, groups, and contexts… all together.” Despite their differences, he noted, “you realise that even though we do things differently or have different charisms, these are our brothers and sisters, fellow evangelists.”
The festival was also a significant return to Oscott for the Ordinariate. “It was here that Cardinal Newman gave his great sermon on the Second Spring,” Bishop David reflected. “Many years later, I believe we - the Ordinariate - are in some sense fruit of that moment.” He also recalled the historic visit of Pope Benedict XVI in 2010, who concluded his apostolic journey at Oscott with a personal plea to the bishops of England and Wales to support what was then only a vision. “His final words really were to commend the not-yet-established Ordinariate to the bishops and ask them to be generous. So to be here, where that was said, is very special.”
Monsignor Dr Michael Nazir-Ali, now a member of the Ordinariate and Prelate to the Holy See, brought deep insight to several of the weekend’s key discussions. Formerly the 106th Anglican Bishop of Rochester and previously Bishop of Raiwind in Pakistan, he served in the House of Lords from 1999, engaging actively in national and international affairs. He is now President of the Oxford Centre for Training, Research, Advocacy and Dialogue (OXTRAD). At the festival, he spoke on the panel Peace on Earth: Bearing Witness Amid Persecution with Bishop Habila Daboh (Zaria) and Dr Caroline Hull (ACN), delivered a talk titled From where have we come and where are we headed?, and offered reflections in What we believe and why: The Nicene Creed – past and present.
Bishop David also reflected movingly on the nature and beauty of the Ordinariate itself. He described it as “a testimony to the generosity of the Catholic Church”-a structure born not of compromise, but of conviction. For many former Anglicans, he said, “unity wasn’t just a nice idea… it was essential. Communion with the See of Peter was essential to living the Christian life.”
He recalled the moment when Rome responded with what he called “overwhelming generosity.” What emerged was not a tentative or temporary bridge, but something whole and enduring: “What Rome offered looks very much like the end goal of Christian unity… It’s very small, and it’s pathetically small on one level, but it’s whole. It’s complete.”
Bishop David explained that the Ordinariate is “very much like a diocese,” made up of those who “bring certain traditions - certain treasures, as Pope Benedict called them - but we leave the heresies behind.” In return, they receive “full communion, sacramental validity, the riches of the Church.” Reflecting on the deeper meaning of the journey, he added: “It’s taken us years to really look back and recognise the things that, even while separated, nurtured us in the Catholic faith. Those things… are treasures to share.”
When asked to describe the We Believe Festival in just three words, Bishop David answered without hesitation: “Full of hope.”
You can watch a summary of the Festival here.
