It was promoted across social media as the “Catholic Coachella,” a unique Southern California Catholic live music and arts festival, and on Sept. 19 more than 500 young adults experienced all that it promised and more.
The event was Galilee, the third-annual festival hosted by the Diocesan Vocations Office. This year Galilee featured live music for the first time and brought together Catholics from across Southern California for an unforgettable night of worship, creativity, and community at St. Junipero Serra House of Formation in Grand Terrace.
“The reason why we created it was because it was God inspired,” said Father Hau Vu, Vocations Director. “He wanted young people to gather together to build a community but not only young people, all people. Galilee really is a festival of Jesus Christ.”
In true music festival fashion, Galilee began at 5 p.m. and let guests dance the night away until midnight. The 18+ festival immersed attendees in a vibrant blend of live music, great food, and spiritual encounter.
This year’s theme, “Peace Is Calling,” drew inspiration from Mark 4:39: “He rebuked the wind and said to the sea, ‘Peace! Be still!’ And it was completely calm.” The festival invited participants to reflect on the storms within their own hearts and experience Christ’s calming presence through worship, art, and fellowship.
The theme was beautifully demonstrated toward the end of the night, when the music volume lowered, voices of guests grew silent, candles were lit, and Fr. Vu processed into the festival with a three-foot monstrance, borrowed from Saint John XXIII parish in Fontana, that carried Jesus Christ in the Holy Eucharist for Adoration.
Eucharistic Adoration was a time to quiet the noise and center hearts on Christ. During Adoration, the band sang this year’s theme song, “Be Still,” an original song written especially for the event by members of the Galilee team, Diego Renderos and Abigail Monteon. As Fr. Vu processed holding the massive monstrance around the kneeling Galilee crowd, the band repeated the words, “Quiet. Peace be still.”
Galilee 2026 featured live worship from local Catholic bands like, FRSHMLK, a Catholic DJ who brought high energy electronic and dance music, Seen & Heard, a Redlands worship band, Silentsium, the band who wrote and debuted Galilee’s theme song, and the Scotty Van Horn Band, who performed everything from classic favorites to dance hits to originals. Also bringing high energy were two dance groups, SoCal Catholic Dance group and Studio 31 Dance Studio. The SoCal Catholic Dance group, who originated in the Diocese of San Bernardino, uses dance as a way to build Catholic community and provide an environment where young Catholics can meet and socialize. They took over the dance floor with an engaging line dance. Studio 31 Dance studio of Murrieta brought a captivating and beautiful slow ballet and lyrical dance routine.
Galilee also featured interactive experiences designed to engage attendees spiritually and artistically, including pottery stations, where guests shaped clay as a symbol of God’s craftsmanship, a storm mural/mirror, and handmade Catholic jewelry and Catholic art for purchase.
Read more about Galilee from Vocations Director Fr. Hau Vu here: No Algorithm for a Miracle: What AI Can't Produce at Galilee 2026