As thousands of teenagers gathered for the UK’s largest Catholic youth event, AJ Gomez was there to report on the hopeful message being given to the next generation
The noise that came from Wembley’s OVO Arena on Saturday could have been mistaken for the cup final set to take place the following day, in the neighbouring Stadium.
But this wasn’t the roar of a match-day crowd, it was the roar of Flame, the UK’s largest Catholic youth event, where 10,000 young Catholic gathered from across the nation for a day of inspiration, celebration and adoration.
An unstoppable lineup
The loudest of the roars welcomed Bear Grylls to the stage. The adventurer was the first - and arguably most notable - speaker of the night, sharing his journey with God, and the upcoming release of his book,The Greatest Story Ever Told, an account of the life of Jesus. Grylls spoke candidly about abandoning his faith at age 10, feeling as though he had “got God wrong”. His school and chapel’s rigid and structured depictions of religion had distorted Bear’s perception of the loving, caring God he once knew, making God, and ultimately his faith feel scary and distant.
That changed sometime after his Godfather’s passing, a man he described as his second dad. He found himself alone, sat atop the branch of a tree, where he simply called out: “If you are there, will you be with me?”
Faith, he told the young congregation, became a journey of continuous learning. “Nothing drastic happened, it is an ember, not a raging fire,” he said. “I have many doubts, many struggles, I don’t have it together in any way…but I know I’m loved and held.” And with that, the roars renewed.
A recurring focus of Flame was the power each individual in attendance has to make a difference — once they embrace their unstoppable nature and the inexhaustible hope found in Jesus Christ.
Among the other speakers was Isaac Harvey MBE, a disability awareness advocate, who spoke about overcoming obstacles of disability to be present and represent in spaces that aren’t necceasarily welcoming to the disbaled, including marathons and fashion week runways. A fitting message considering the event’s theme of being Unstoppable.
Brian Maeba, a young Kenyan activist, shared the work he and his colleagues do from the Jesuit Hakimani Centre, providing young Kenyans with sustainable means of living through agriculture. He highlighted their partnership with CAFOD in calling for governments to cancel debt for poorer nations, Kenya among them, where they are forced to spend more repaying lenders and richer nations extortionate interest rates than they do on health, education and other pressing priorities.
The Flame effect
Bryan Enriquez, founding member of Hallow, the Christian prayer app that recently ranked the number 2 app on the App Store also took the stage. When I asked him about his perceived neccesity for events like Flame, he said, “It lets these young people see that they’re not alone, there’s community, that’s part of what helps you grow your faith.” Bryan spoke of how attending Notre Dame, a prominent Catholic university in the US, had made the faith “cool” to him, and the catalyst that was in his commitment to walking with God.
Flame serves a similar function for the many that gathered in the OVO Arena. Sporadically, the atmosphere would resemble that of a party more than it would a congress -the kind you go back to school or college eager to brag about. Acts such as Guvna B, Adenike Adewale, The World Youth Dance Crew, Lily Jo and a myriad more, invoked an energy that made the experience a celebration. Perhaps, Flame could do for the 10,000 that gathered, what Notre Dame did for Bryan: make faith accessible.
The congress concluded with adoration and prayer led by Archbishop of Westminster, Cardinal Vincent Nichols. After eight hours of high energy performances, upbeat interviews and messages from speakers, the arena fell into stillness. In closing, the young Catholics were left with the sentiment “God believes in you.”
An inordinary but seemingly necessary twist on the way we frame faith. We believe in God - that’s the expected order of things but in a event dedicated to energising a crowd of young, raw Christians to go out and do whatever God has called them to, that felt like the right final note.
Turn on your light
Many times throughout the event, the crowd were asked to turn on their flashlights. A simple act but one rich in symbolism. A recurring focus of Flame was the power each individual in attendance has to make a difference - once they embrace their unstoppable nature and the inexhaustible hope found in Jesus Christ.
The good we do and are capable of often feels insignificant, much like a single phone light held up in the scale of a 10,000-capacity arena appears miniscule. But when the 9,999 others follow and raise their lights, what was one dotted glow somewhere across the room becomes an unignorable colony of fireflies. The same is true of the good we do, that small donation, or post raising awareness, that kind word - isolated, they seem minor. Yet joined with the efforts of many becomes something powerful, something that makes a difference.
And even if in the worst case scenario the 9,999 others lights don’t follow, even if your light stands alone - in a darkened arena, it’s the only thing you can see, no matter where you are.
But it begins with you…turning on your light.
