HOMEPAGE for this issue: December 1, 2010

FOCUS [Fellowship of Catholic University Students] Conference to come to Denver in January

By Julie Filby

To help as many young people as possible nationwide realize how their gifts can “set the world on fire,” the Fellowship of Catholic University Students (FOCUS) will offer their largest conference event ever in January.

The 2011 Answering the Call series of conferences will be a four-city national tour, hosted in Denver Jan. 14-16.

“In the conference we’re going to focus on God’s call for each of us,” said Curtis Martin, FOCUS founder and president. “Our life boils down to three fundamental things: we’ve got to come to know God, to know his purpose for our lives, and to pursue that purpose with passion and zeal.

“When we do,” he added, “we come alive!”

In the past thousands of college students have attended the biannual conference held in a single location. This year’s tour hopes to draw about 5,000 people to the four cities.

“Our aim is make it easier for young adults everywhere to experience, firsthand, what have been life-changing events for so many people over the years,” said Jeremy Rivera, FOCUS director of communications. “If we want to change the culture in America, we have to reach the future leaders of the culture—and the launch pad for that is the college campus.”

Other conferences in the Answering the Call series will be Jan. 7-9 in Minneapolis, Jan. 21-23 in Baltimore and Jan. 28-30 in Nashville. Each city will feature dynamic keynote speakers, Impact Sessions, Masses, confession and eucharistic adoration.

Four Masses will be offered at the Denver event, including one celebrated by Auxiliary Bishop James D. Conley. Denver keynote speakers will be Martin, who will speak in all four cities; John Leyendecker, FOCUS team director at Colorado State University; Jonathan Reyes, president of Catholic Charities for the Denver Archdiocese; and Christopher Stefanick, director of Denver’s Office of Youth, Young Adult and Campus Ministry.

In his talk, “Beyond Boredom,” Stefanick will share how “the most amazing things cease to amaze us when we get used to them.”

“We’re going to take a look at the most basic core truths of Christianity—but with a new sense of whooooahhhh!” he said.

Impact Sessions will be topical hands-on workshops geared toward young adults looking for ways to use their gifts in practical ways.

“(Impact Sessions) will help people see where they are being called to serve and strengthen the Church,” Rivera said. “It will offer ways to get involved, and even start ministries.”

These sessions will be lead by Jesuit Father Robert J. Spitzer, former president of Gonzaga University; Father Francis “Rocky” Hoffman, executive director of Relevant Radio; Tim Gray, president of the Augustine Institute; and Edward Sri, a founding leader of FOCUS and provost and professor at the Augustine Institute.
Since its founding in 1998 at Benedictine College in Atchison, Kan., FOCUS has grown to 50 campuses in 27 states.

“We have a great Catholic truth, it’s the whole reason we’re called to a new evangelization,” Rivera said. “Through FOCUS, we speak the language of a young person without compromising the message: we make the beauty of Catholic teaching and the sacraments more accessible to all people.”

Conferences have been essential to the mission of the FOCUS ministry.

“FOCUS began with a conference. It has always been integral to what we are and what we stand for,” Martin said. “With these events, we invite students to gather, away from the day-to-day bustle of campus, to think about God’s call in their lives.”

The events have proven to be a defining moment for many attendees.

“(The conferences are) a powerful time of conversion,” said Rivera. “A time of transformation, to see friends and peers make a commitment to Christ.”

In addition to impacting the laity, FOCUS has contributed to nearly 250 vocations to the priesthood and religious life. The ministry currently has more than 4,000 students involved nationwide.

“FOCUS is hands-down one of the most effective apostolates for reaching college students today,” Stefanick said. “FOCUS missionaries don’t wait around for college students to come to Church, they ‘go!’ they find students and point them to Jesus Christ.”

Young adults from all walks of life and religious backgrounds—in addition to parents or other adults interested in “seeing the passion and zeal they don’t see week-to-week”—are invited to attend. The Denver conference will be held at the Sheraton Denver Hotel at 1550 Court Place. To register, visit www.focusconference.org.