Catholics by the thousands rock to Christian tunes at 'The Fest'
Monday, August 07, 2006
David Briggs
Plain Dealer Religion Reporter

Wickliffe - Play that funky music, church boys.

Play it with Christian artists like the rockers Sanctus Real and five-time Grammy winner Steven Curtis Chapman, and Catholic youth - not always accustomed to hearing their generation's music in parishes - will come by the multitudes. An estimated 20,000 people - many of them in the words ofthe Wild Cherry song "dancin' and singin' and movin' to the groovin' " - lifted their hands and feet over the grounds of St. Mary Seminary on Sunday for a daylong youth festival sponsored by the Catholic Diocese of Cleveland.

"This is incredible," Chapman said as he looked out over a sea of humanity in sunglasses, Tshirtsand jeans shorts, with braces and nose rings and baseball caps set backward and forward. "As far as the eye can see, there are people."

As masses of young people huddled near the stage, there was even some moshing and crowd surfing on the warm sunny day. the rest