SEEK 2015: What It Means for the Church

Panorama photo from Sunday Mass

At the beginning of the month, I attended FOCUS’s SEEK 2015 conference in Nashville, TN.  Close to 10,000 young Catholics gathered together for prayer, fellowship, formation, and fun, and I personally received many graces from this blessed time.  However, in this post, I want to limit myself to this question: what does this gathering mean for the universal Church?  Why should Church members all over the world pay attention to what happened in Nashville?

 

The students who came to this conference were in many different places in their faith lives.  Some had been raised strongly in the faith and already had a deep relationship with Christ.  Others weren’t even Catholic but were invited by friends to partake in this adventure.  Many others had growing faith but had encountered specific struggles and doubts in their journey.  Every person had a unique story to share and was seeking different fruits from the conference, and God bestowed these graces abundantly, as evidenced by the variety of testimonies I have heard.

 

SEEK brought in many speakers to give talks about a variety of topics, including prayer, the sacraments, Church teaching, evangelization, life and social justice issues, discernment, Scripture, and Tradition.  I saw the excitement of many students who were encountering this knowledge for the first time, and they were evidently motivated to discover more about the faith.  I am reminded of what Archbishop George Lucas recently told us Omaha seminarians, “Every Catholic deserves a good formation in the faith,” and I was very glad to witness this formation being given. 

 

I was also blessed to serve for Adoration, which will forever remain in my memory.  Personally, it was a tremendous privilege to literally be a disciple walking with Jesus through the thousands gathered for prayer.  As I walked with Him, I saw His love reflected in those who encountered Him.  Witnessing the many emotions and postures displayed, I was awed by the miracles that Christ was working in these lives, and these effects will show many fruits as these young disciples bring grace into the world.

 

What may be the greatest sign for the Church, however, may be the relationships that were begun or strengthened throughout this time.  It’s a true statement that one can never be a saint alone; rather, saints always appear in clusters (just think about the saints in history!).  Throughout these five days in Nashville, probably tens of thousands of conversations occurred in which students grappled with their faith, sought help for secret struggles, discovered more about truth, learned more about each other, or made commitments to follow God in a deeper way.  In these moments, friendships were formed that will continue for a long time to come. As students return to their campuses, they will be united in love and friendship, leading many others to desire that same communion.

 

Curtis Martin, founder of FOCUS, often quotes St. Catherine of Siena, “If you are who you are made to be, you will set the world on fire.”  In SEEK 2015, I witnessed thousands of Catholics discover who they were made to be.  With God’s grace, may we set the world on fire!