FOCUS Conference Coverage

FOCUS Is a Blessing! 11

Rev. Jason Kern Director of Vocations jkern@dowr.org

his last month I was blessed to travel with both of our campuses who have missionaries from the Fellowship of Catholic University Students (FOCUS) and attend their conference in Phoenix, AZ.

The five-day conference spread over New Year's Day and was attended by around 8,000 college students who are seeking to become better leaders on their campus so that they might more effectively share with their peers the love of Jesus they have come to know. This was a conference for student leaders to gain skills, insights, and passion for sharing the Gospel of Jesus Christ with others. It was a powerful and renewing week for all who attended. We are so blessed to have FOCUS at both Winona State University and Minnesota State University, Mankato. Both campus ministries are strong because of the work of four to six post-college-aged missionaries on their campuses. The Newman Centers pay to have these missionaries on their campuses, and the missionaries themselves fundraise their own salary so they can serve full-time on our campuses. My priesthood has been enriched through FOCUS’ mission and witness to discipleship by calling each person to a life of divine intimacy, authentic friendship with other disciples, and a clarity and conviction about forming others to become disciple makers. As the vocations director for the diocese, I am grateful for the commitment of these missionaries who work so closely with our college students and help them to grow as disciples of Jesus Christ and encourage them to a committed way of life. FOCUS makes my job easier by connecting students who are discerning and asking God to show them where He is leading. At this time in their 20-year history, FOCUS boasts that more than 900 young people have gone on to pursue a religious or priestly vocation after being involved in their ministry. That alone is some incredible fruit! Thanks be to God for their work on college campuses throughout our country.

These last few weeks have seen an uptick in interest from young men who are discerning God’s call to the priesthood. Please continue to pray for those who are discerning God’s call to have the courage to keep taking steps toward living out His will. If you know of young people who are discerning, please encourage them with your prayerful support. Encourage your priest to have a conversation with them or send them my way and I would be glad to speak with them.

Vocations Youth & Young Adults

Annual FOCUS Conference Draws Thousands to Phoenix

Aaron Lofy Director of Youth & Young Adults, alofy@dowr.org

By CHRIS TIBBETTS

t the turn of a decade, the city of Phoenix, AZ, witnessed one of the country’s largest and most vibrant Catholic conferences, the Student Leadership Summit 2020 (SLS20), put on by the Fellowship of Catholic University Students (FOCUS). Students enrolled in universities around the country - including several from our own Diocese of Winona-Rochester - as well as adults of all ages seeking to grow in knowledge of their faith and how to better share it, collided for this thrilling, fiveday, faith-bolstering convention! Featuring talks by some of the most well-known and dynamic speak ers in the Catholic sphere, countless booths giving witness to Catholic organizations, charities, and non-profits around the globe, and, of course, the celebration of the sacraments daily with all 9,000 in attendance, this experience was utterly unlike what many of these students had ever encountered before!

Jacquelyn Hoeft, a sophomore at WSU, reflecting on her “amazing experience” in Phoenix, recounted how incredible it was "to talk to the people [work ing the booths] and explore all the different opportunities to live out your faith!” She also placed the

various keynotes and beautiful liturgies as two key highlights of her experience!

In short, what these students and other individ uals received from this conference was not only the encouragement necessary for sharing one’s faith with others, but, more importantly, the tools that can equip any disciple of Christ to be a faith-filled and joyful evangelizer at all times!

This conference, and others like it, are signs of real renewal and hope in the Church today. Recognizing the universal call to be on mission for Christ by virtue of our baptism, those who attended are now supplied with the confidence and resourc es to live out their lives of discipleship in a new and contagious way on their respective campuses and in their workplaces, thus allowing the Good News of the Gospel to resound in even the most remote corners of the world!

For more information on FOCUS, SLS20, etc., including recorded talks and liturgies, please visit www.sls20.org Chris Tibbetts is a FOCUS missionary at Winona State University.