Message from the Festival organising team

On Saturday 29 May, our organising team had to take the decision to postpone the Family Festival.

Since last autumn, when it appeared that the Covid epidemic would last, we wondered if it was possible to maintain it. We decided to continue the preparation of the Festival in a spirit of faith and hope until it became clear that it could not take place. This is what we wrote at the beginning of March, when we opened the registrations. But today, we realise that it would not be prudent to maintain our meeting on the dates planned for this summer.

The uncertainties are indeed too great. Much of it has to do with the standards that should be applied. Our interlocutors in the government are not in a position to remove them. Some of the measures they are considering (for example, prohibiting families, brothers and sisters from mixing during meals) would risk jeopardising the very spirit of the Festival, conceived as a time of meeting and conviviality, lived in the freedom proper to family life.

This uncertain situation has also made our preparation more complex. Taking up all the challenges that could arise requires human resources that we do not have, and that we cannot hope to gather by the end of July.

Our budget is also strongly impacted by the context and the new resources it requires, with a large deficit envisaged.

Finally, experience shows that all precautions cannot totally prevent the spread of the virus, and the dialogue with the civil authorities, particularly the municipality of Pellevoisin, has made us aware of the risk of scandal that a cluster could imply, for the shrine first of all, but more widely for the Church.

We were looking forward to sharing this moment with you and we are sorry that we will not be able to do so in two months’ time, aware of the need that many people feel to get together, to share, to celebrate. We are also thinking of those who have already put a lot of effort into preparing this Festival. Thank you to them!

Of course, all this work is not lost, since it is indeed a postponement and not a cancellation that we have decided, hoping to be able to finally share this Festival with all of you during the summer of 2022. And we entrust this desire to the intercession of Our Lady of Pellevoisin.

Gilles de Barry and the members of the Festival Organizing Committee

As we promised, we will refund the full registration fee in the coming weeks.

Translated with www.DeepL.com/Translator (free version)