The Fellowship of Catholic University Students (FOCUS) this week converged for the SEEK23 Catholic conference.

The gathering marks the Fellowship of Catholic University Students’ first fully in-person national conference since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Fellowship of Catholic University Students held a national conference in Indianapolis in 2019 and a smaller student leadership summit in Phoenix in the earliest days of 2020. Conferences for 2021 and 2022 were held online due to the pandemic.

The keynote speakers at SEEK23 all said that the conference felt like a return to how the Catholic faith ought to be lived in community, rather than individually.

“We’re made to be together in person, not on screens. I’m grateful we had the screens in the height of the pandemic and all, but you see the joy on all these young people’s faces, and you can’t quite capture that on a screen,” Edward Sri, a co-founder of FOCUS and a renowned speaker and author said.

He added, “When you see young people responding to the Gospel, young people so joyful, young people wanting to go and stop in the adoration chapel and pray, it’s just very moving.”

Beginning Jan. 2, Catholics of all ages and backgrounds filled America’s Center Convention Complex in downtown St. Louis, a city with a historically vibrant Catholic presence that earned it the informal moniker “The Rome of the West.” St. John Paul II visited the city in 1999, leaving a lasting impression — especially on the young — despite his age and fragile health at the time.

Whether roaming the halls or cheering in the arenas, the young people at SEEK23 radiated a palpable joy — one that had been lacking from the virtual gatherings of yesteryear. The conference featured talks, workshops, entertainment, prayer, and worship.

Twenty-five years ago, when Sri helped facilitate the first FOCUS conference, only two dozen or so people were present, he said. Official attendance numbers for SEEK23 haven’t yet been released, but they are in the tens of thousands.

“But to me, it’s not primarily about the numbers… it’s what’s happening in people’s souls, and to see the response. I’m hearing stories of conversions. People who weren’t Catholic that are saying, ‘I want to become Catholic now,’” Sri said.

Sri, who along with FOCUS co-founder Curtis Martin is leading an online Lenten Bible study this year, stressed that for the young people in attendance, the experience of a major Catholic conference is not the end of their faith journey but rather an invitation to have deeper conversations with their peers about the faith.

ALSO READ Pastor Kumuyi Launches ‘The Kings Circle’, ‘Youth Aflame’ Series