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Happening ... in the Local Church
 Ball
State students, FOCUS missionaries and Father Christopher Weldon at the
2010 conference in Florida (Photo provided) |
 FOCUS
missionaries in Muncie this year are, from left, Mark Joseph, Jill
Pitcher, Clare Kummant and Ross Hornsby. (Photo by Louisa J. Reese) |
By Louisa J. Reese
For
The
Catholic Moment
MUNCIE — The 2010 Fellowship of Catholic University Students Conference promised students five days that would change their relationship with God and others.
Jill Pitcher, FOCUS team director at Ball State University, said 41 Ball State students and 10 others who traveled with them walked away with a changed perspective of God and the Church.
The conference was held Dec. 30 to Jan. 3 in Orlando. The theme was “Made for More.”
Pitcher and three other missionaries introduced FOCUS to the Ball State campus and St. Francis of Assisi Parish in the fall of 2008.
The team’s goal is to evangelize students through small- group Bible studies and one-on-one mentoring or discipleship. Other missionaries at Ball State University this year are Mark Joseph, Ross Hornsby and Clare Kummant.
Curtis Martin founded the ministry for Catholic college students in 1998. Today, the organization is present in more than 20 states.
The 2010 FOCUS conference included the opportunity for 24-hour adoration, daily Mass, talks, prayer and fellowship, plus two concerts.
“The night of Eucharistic adoration, on Jan. 1, called the ‘Night with Our Lord,’ was one of the most pivotal nights we had during conference,” Pitcher said.
During that time, 75 priests administered the sacrament of reconciliation for nearly four hours and heard an estimated 2,500 confessions.
“It was absolutely a beautiful and grace-filled time,” Pitcher said, “and the students loved it, because it was the point in time when most of them had a conversion of heart or a very deep and powerful experience of the Eucharist. Our Lord poured out his grace during that time and the students responded.
“What struck me the most was seeing the growth of the FOCUS conference. At my first conference, six years ago, there were only about 1,300 students. (This time), there were 4,000.”
On the Ball State campus last year, 10 small-group Bible studies were attended by approximately 60 students every week, Pitcher said. This year, 20 Bible studies are attended by approximately 120 students. Fourteen of the studies are led by student disciples.
St. Francis of Assisi associate pastor Father Christopher Weldon, parish campus minister Mindy Bowman and a few other students from the diocese also attended the FOCUS conference.
A talk on improving prayer life was especially meaningful for Ball State sophomore Corri Greschaw. “I left that talk with a heart on fire for God. I wanted to grab my Bible and head straight to the adoration chapel and just pray with Scripture.
“Another really moving part, for me, was the Matt Maher concert,” she said. “One of his songs (‘You Were on the Cross’) really hit me and broke through the hardness of my heart and made me cry. It made me realize that no matter what I do, or where I think God is, he is always there, on the cross.”
Junior Sam Lopez heeded the advice to enjoy his single life. “Many students become emotionally involved with someone during college and start to (focus) on each other instead of the Lord,” he said. “After conference, my girlfriend and I felt a sense of peace when we decided to stop dating in order to be more open to the Lord’s call to vocations besides marriage. … We know that if the Lord wills it, he will bring us back together.”
“This was not the typical retreat,” freshman Patrick Guindon said. “I learned things I can apply to the rest of my life instead of being on a ‘Jesus high’ … This conference is something that I can always look back on as the retreat that got me to change unlike any retreat before.”
“When you walk into the huge ballroom for kick-off night and see 4,000 other Catholic students, who are on fire for Christ and believe everything you do, it completely takes your breath away”, junior Ambria Martin said. “… My favorite part was just having the ability to worship with others, adoration, growing with Christ and witnessing Catholicism in a new and radical way.”
“I really loved adoration,” freshman Hannah Lehmann said. “It was just so awesome to see so many people all bowing down at the feet of Jesus. There was so much faith in the room. It is hard not to believe after seeing that.”
“After coming back from the conference, I felt more inspired to go out and evangelize, basically to start talking about God to more of my friends,” Amy Cleeter said. “I had never, ever thought I could (do that) before.”