Maredsous Abbey will host the first Maredsous Sound Festival on Friday 28 and Saturday 29 August, combining electronic music with Christian spirituality in a bid to reach younger generations.
The new event is intended to offer a different way of living and expressing faith, while creating a space for music, encounters and shared experience.
“It is a completely new adventure for the abbey,” said Abbot François. “We must meet young people where they are: in their music, in their culture, in their enthusiasm, but also and above all in their questions and in their search for faith.”
Through the festival, the organisers say they want to present “a living Church” and highlight the different ways faith can be expressed.
For this first edition, around 7,500 people are expected on the site on Friday alone. Much of the interest is linked to the presence of Padre Guilherme, a Portuguese priest and DJ who is followed by more than six million people on social media.
Speaking to Belga News Agency, the artiste said the electronic music scene was “a safe place where everyone can express what they feel” and was particularly suited to a spiritual approach.
Profits from the festival will be used to restore the abbey’s basilica. “It is the heart of the abbey. It is where we pray,” Abbot François said.
The restoration is intended to preserve a place that is central to the monks’ daily life, while ensuring that it can continue to welcome pilgrims and host celebrations.
No second edition has yet been scheduled, although Abbot François said he is open to repeating the experience.
