By Jay Sorgi • Posted September 19, 2025

AbbeyFest, one of the top Catholic faith and music festivals in America, will bring thousands of people to the National Shrine of Our Lady of Czestochowa in Doylestown on Saturday, Sept. 20.

It’s the 11th edition of the festival and the first time at the national shrine.

More attendees than ever are expected to experience the power of AbbeyFest’s outdoor Mass, eucharistic adoration, and contemporary Christian music from artists who have devoted their lives to making Christ present in song, especially with young people.

Nationally renowned Christian artists Crowder and Big Daddy Weave will headline and co-headline the festival that begins at noon Saturday. They will be supported by numerous artists living their Catholic faith and moving hearts on stage with story and song.

Joe Melendrez: Emcee and performer

Hip-hop artists refer to “flow,” the ability to rhythmically deliver lyrics that strike the listener.

The flow of Joe Melendrez becomes an invitation to encounter Jesus in the present moment, one that he is offering for the second time at AbbeyFest.

“I loved how there was music throughout the day, and then there was Mass, and then music after Mass,” said the California-based Melendrez about his 2019 appearance. “It was like a rollercoaster experience, and then ending in adoration, I think was just so powerful and beautiful.”

The Catholic faith became real to Melendrez at age 15 when he made a Teen Acts retreat, which led him to make hip hop his life’s work.

“I started rapping mainly because I didn’t have a lot of confidence in my singing voice. I just started rapping as a way to express myself and journal,” he said.

“This path is not the normal path when it comes to Catholic music, but people are so in need of a revival, a spark, a stirring of faith, a wave of the Holy Spirit coming through where there’s young people who are all about this type of ministry today. It’s very freeing to just be you.”

Hannah Schaefer: Emcee and performer

The same 2019 festival gave Hannah Schaefer her “launch point” in Catholic music.

“I look back and I recollect where it all started from, and it was from AbbeyFest,” she said.

Schaefer, a wife, mother and musician from Indiana, says her deep devotion to Jesus came as she faced bullying as a 13-year-old because of her faith.

“I realized that I was in love with two things, music and Jesus. I just didn’t understand, asking God, ‘Why are you allowing this to happen? Are you even there? Are you real?’” she said.

“I literally felt the edge of my bed go down. My soul was flooded with deep peace. I just knew Jesus came to sit with me while I was praying.”

That peace fueled Schaefer’s music and helped touch audiences who have felt her struggles, from teenage years to motherhood.

“I recently had somebody reach out and message me saying they used my music as their form of prayer for weeks on end,” she said. “I’m like, ‘What? Seriously? My music?’ That rekindles the fire to just start writing more music and share how God is working in my life.”

The Scally Brothers: 1:50 p.m.

“We want the name of Jesus to be famous,” said Jacob Scally, half of the Toledo-based Scally Brothers who return to AbbeyFest after their 2021 appearance.
“We know that there’s so many voices, so many people talking about what is right and wrong, the way to live and not to live. We just try to be a positive light pointing other people to Jesus. We’re not perfect, but we know someone who is.”

Zach Scally said that they listened to artists like Crowder and Matt Maher as kids, and immediately felt the power of the music they knew they had within them.

“When you merge that with the power of the Gospel, there is just a massive power,” Zach said. “It’s the power not just to change somebody’s day, but change someone’s life forever.”

Jacob and Zach continually see from the stage how God encounters, through their music, individuals in the audience.

“Music has the power to knock down walls and barriers that I think a lot of people find themselves in,” said Jacob.

“Doing music full-time, playing over 100 shows a year, it feels like every night in a special way on tour, God is using us in a special way to reach people, to open people’s hearts up.”

Damascus Worship: 3:30 p.m., then providing music ministry for a 4 p.m. Mass with Archbishop Nelson J. Pérez

Saturday brings  Damascus Worship for the first time to AbbeyFest, but it’s not the first time Olivia Parker from the group has experienced the National Shrine of Our Lady of Czestochowa.

“I was on a team that traveled the country for a little bit, hosting retreats and events,” Parker said.

She knows the Blessed Mother is a “powerful intercessor,” and the national shrine in her name is “one of those places where you walk on and there’s just this peace. It’s just an honor to be able to be there and lead people in that kind of worship,” Parker said.

Touring to provide Catholic music is one of numerous ministries that the Ohio-based Damascus Worship offers, as they mainly focus on providing outdoor experiences for thousands of youth.

“We had these summer camps doing music ministry, and maybe six, seven years ago, we felt like the Lord was calling us to make this something a little more established than just the music ministry team,” said Parker.

“We’ve seen God work with so many people through what we’re doing and the songs that we write. We want to do what we feel like He’s calling us to do, to be able to widen that circle and to not just keep it in one place.”
Marisel Rodriguez, a featured new artist from New Jersey, and Brother Isaiah will also perform.

Read more about this year’s AbbeyFest, and learn the day’s schedule, tickets, and more information at www.theabbeyfest.com.