SEEK23

Students encounter Christ, thousands of young Catholics

This past January 2-6, 50 IU students, FOCUS missionaries (pictured below), and the priests at St. Paul Catholic Center headed to The Dome at America’s Center in St. Louis, Missouri to attend the annual SEEK Conference. SEEK is a gathering of young adults from around the world and this was the first time since 2019 that the conference was held in person. With over 17,000 in attendance, the part that was so impressive for many of the students was the

15-minute procession of over 450 priests each day for Mass (pictured, right).

The students were able to learn from some of the best Catholic speakers available, such as Fr. Mike Schmitz, Sr. Miriam James, and Jason Evert. The days were packed with access to the Sacraments, men’s and women’s sessions, and formational impact sessions that the students could participate in. Thousands of students received the Sacrament of Confession, were able to be prayed with, and had intimate moments with Jesus during Adoration. Overall, the students were brought to reflection on areas of growth in their own life along with gaining more conviction to share their faith openly on campus. One student said that she was really afraid to talk about her faith with her peers. After seeing 17,000 students like her trying to live out the Catholic faith, it gave her a lot of courage. Since SEEK, she has been proclaiming her faith more boldly to the people in her life.