The Fellowship of Catholic University Students (FOCUS) SEEK26 conference is coming to Columbus.
The annual conference organized by FOCUS will be held in Columbus early next year, the organization announced Jan. 2.
The announcement came during the SEEK25 conference, held Jan. 1-5 this year in Salt Lake City.
“We are pleased and excited to be able to host SEEK26,” Bishop Earl Fernandes said in a statement. “It will be a boost for our diocese and our city. People will see that the Church is young and alive.
“It will be a tremendous opportunity for our young people to encounter Christ and other young people from around the country. It is another sign of the commitment of the Diocese of Columbus to college students, young adults and their families. Together we will proclaim the joy of the Gospel.”
FOCUS announced that next year’s conference locations will also include Denver and Fort Worth, Texas.
FOCUS is an apostolate that forms Catholic missionaries rooted in Church teaching, prayer, Scripture and evangelization. Missionaries primarily serve on college campuses.
The apostolate’s annual SEEK conference, which is geared toward college students, gathers thousands from around the world to encounter Christ and celebrate the beauty of the Catholic faith. The multi-day event features keynote talks, breakout sessions, worship and opportunities for confession, Eucharistic Adoration and Mass. Sessions include talks from top Catholic speakers.
A record number of young adults attended SEEK25 earlier this month. More than 17,000 participants gathered for the conference in Salt Lake City with a few thousand others attending at additional locations in Washington and Cologne, Germany.
The conference is intended to energize Catholic youth to go into the world and preach the Gospel. In recent years, events and talks were added for Catholics of all ages.
Participants are given practical tools for evangelization and a deeper embrace of the Church’s sacraments. The conference inspires attendees to live out the Catholic faith and contribute to the ongoing renewal of the Church.
Additional information about the SEEK26 conferences in Columbus and elsewhere is forthcoming.
