Posted on 07/21/2011 9:06:30 PM PDT by topher
Finding F.O.C.U.S. on the web:
Fast Facts about Fellowship of Catholic University Students
The Story of Fellowship of Catholic University Students Home Page of Fellowship of Catholic University Students
Fast Facts about F.O.C.U.S.
FOCUS, the Fellowship of Catholic University Students, is a national campus outreach that meets college students where they are and invites them to examine the meaning and purpose of their lives. Through large group outreach, Bible studies and one-on-one mentoring, FOCUS staff are equipped to introduce college students to the Person of Jesus Christ and the Catholic faith, empowering them to share His love with the world.
Problem
o 85% of Catholic college students don’t attend Sunday Mass
o Binge drinking, sexual promiscuity, moral relativism on campus
o Students don’t know their Catholic faith
o Lack of faith-filled, virtuous young people to lead the Church into the future
Results of F.O.C.U.S.
The presence of FOCUS on college campuses since 1998
o Thousands of students in Bible studies
o Thousands of practicing Catholics active in parish life
o More students going to Mass, confession, parish/campus ministry events
o Nearly 250 vocations to the priesthood and religious life as well as countless faithful marriages
o Students dealing with real life issues and making real life changes
Additional Facts about F.O.C.U.S.
Additional Facts
o Current Missionaries: 227
o Projected Missionary Growth
o 269 by 2011o More than 4000 students involved in FOCUS nationwide
o 336 by 2012
o 430 by 2013
o 537 by 2014
The Story of F.O.C.U.S.
Recognizing the dire need for Catholic campus outreach, and inspired by Pope John Paul II’s call to a “new evangelization”, Curtis Martin and his wife, Michaelann founded FOCUS – the Fellowship of Catholic University Students – in 1998 at Benedictine College in Atchison, Kansas.
Later that year, Curtis had the rare opportunity to meet Pope John Paul II and express to him the hope and vision he had for FOCUS. The Pope listened carefully and simply told Curtis, “Be soldiers.” Since then, FOCUS has forged ahead in the battlefield of the United States, impacting the faith lives of tens of thousands of college students through on-campus outreach and large-scale national conferences.
Just over a decade since its launch, FOCUS has grown from four missionaries serving one campus to over 260 missionaries serving nearly 60 campuses in 28 states across the nation. Today, FOCUS continues to encourage young men and women to develop and invest in their relationships with Jesus and to go out and share the Good News, transforming the culture for Christ.
If this Ministry were to have locations at Notre Dame in South Bend, Indiana, as well as other Catholic Universities/Public Universities, it would be a great help.
Please pray for this ministry.
A missionary gave a talk at our KofC Meeting tonight to solicit support.
Mark is paving the way for two missionaries of this movement to come to the University of Louisiana at Lafayette.
These missionaries receive the training that is so lacking in our age.
I’ll be honest—take out the promiscuity part and that was probably me in college. I still considered myself Catholic— maybe that helped me to avoid the promiscuity part— but not till years later did I take the faith more seriously. We had a very nice Priest on campus, and I did attend Mass a couple of times. But I think this type of outreach is great, because as a student, you want to belong to a group, and this seems like a great group!
Thanks for the post. Worthy of $$ support even in hard times. Thanks.
They have 400 hours of training in the Catechism as well as other areas for the Missionaries.
Combine these missionaries with existing Newman Centers, and they will bear much fruit.
But they will need prayers just as much as $$$
” This ministry will need prayer support as well, as it will be spiritually attacked.” <<<
Thank you, topher. I can do that. :)
I have seen videos of the pro life groups in very tense circumstances on campuses. It is no longer risk free, physically or spiritually, to be a Catholic evangelizer.
May God bless the young and the brave. Saint Michael.
Please Pray for this organization!
It has had 260 vocations out of its 4000 members!
Promiscuity is so common these days that it will change.
We have a F.O.C.U.S. group at the Oratory in Pittsburgh that reaches students at Pitt, Chatham University, & Carnegie Mellon University. I wish I would have known about them when I was in grad school - would have kept me out of ALOT of trouble & brought about my reversion to the faith much sooner.
Maybe. Maybe not.
I subscribe to the CS Lewis school of evangelism. Loosely paraphrased, trying to impress someone with the benefits of virtuous living is fairly useless until they figure out their very existence means they have some very real existential problems.
It would be GREAT if goes not only to Notre Dame, but to the secular colleges and universities as well.
At any rate, I botched some of the links to this organization.
Links:
Homepage: http://www.focus.org or http://www.focusonline.org/
The "Fast Facts page":
Fast Facts page -- http://www.focusonline.org/site/PageServer?pagename=about_facts
The "Story of F.O.C.U.S. page":
Story of FOCUS -- http://www.focusonline.org/site/PageServer?pagename=about_ourstory
Hopefully, I did not make any mistakes on these links...
Also:
Archbishop Charles J. Chaput is on the Board of Directors, and Dr. Scott Hahn is a former Board of Director of this organization
For the Board of Directors webpage:
Board of Directors of FOCUS -- http://www.focusonline.org/site/PageServer?pagename=about_board
A youth minister or parent can request a packet be sent to the child’s college through the Serra Club’s program “College Connections.”
Then the Newman Club or this group is alerted to the student’s arrival and invites them things.
Cost is only $1.00 per packet.
Use it!!
invites them things.
invites them to things (activities).
I guess the pain of this broken arm still gets to me. LOL!
Though there may be Newman Centers at these places, it may be a part priest who primarily staffs the Newman Center.
These Missionaries are full time. They will teach the Catechism. They will promote the Catholic Faith to binge drinking and promiscious students.
The SERRANS is more for established Catholics who have strong roots. Nothing wrong with that.
In the case of this new location for FOCUS, it will have an office in the Newman Center at this University -- the University of Louisiana at Lafayette. This Newman Center is Our Lady of Wisdom Chapel/Parish, which is very historic as it facilitated desegregation in 1950's Louisiana at this University.
The SERRANS are good, but what you are advising people to do is check with the SERRANS IF THERE ARE ACTIVITIES at these Universities. What are the activities at the University of Florida? University of Miami? University of Alabama in the middle of the Bible Belt?
It is necessary to have Catholic Missionaries at our Catholic Universities.
Serra Club also has promote and inspire in addition to affirm.
They are always looking for ways to promote new vocations.
**The SERRANS are good, but what you are advising people to do is check with the SERRANS IF THERE ARE ACTIVITIES at these Universities. What are the activities at the University of Florida? University of Miami? University of Alabama in the middle of the Bible Belt?**
Not quite right.
Serra will send a packet of info the the Catholic presence on a campus — usually a Newman Club — so that your student has a Catholic contact there. The Newman Club will then invite the student to college activities.
Yes, they would follow students with packets to those universities. Any university, college, community college, in fact.
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