Washington D.C., Jan 3, 2025 / 14:20 pm
The Fellowship of Catholic University Students’ (FOCUS) SEEK conference is now officially underway in Salt Lake City and at its first-ever regional conference, held in Washington, D.C., where thousands have gathered for four days of fellowship and diving deeper into the Catholic faith.
“We are here, because guess what? Everything isn’t OK in the world today,” Bishop Robert Brennan told those at the opening Mass in Washington.
“My goodness, 2025 started off with unspeakable acts of violence,” the bishop from the Diocese of Brooklyn added, referencing the New Orleans attack on New Year’s Day.
Touching on this year’s theme, “Follow Me,” Brennan emphasized that in the midst of the world’s brokenness, “there is something more we need.”
“We are all here because we need Jesus Christ,” he said. “We all come seeking Christ, and we find that he’s already been reaching out to us.”
Brennan addressed the attendees, telling them to “relax” and to take the pressure off their shoulders. “I don’t promise lightning bolts or magic or anything like that,” the bishop said in his strong New York accent. “But this moment can be transformative. Let Jesus find his own way into your heart, into your life.”
SEEK26 locations announced
As the conference kicked off in Washington, D.C., Thursday evening, FOCUS announced that SEEK would continue to expand next year, taking place in three locations across the U.S.: Columbus, Ohio; Denver; and Fort Worth, Texas.
“We are pleased and excited to be able to host SEEK26!” Bishop Earl Fernandes of Columbus said in a press release following the announcement. “It will be a boost for our diocese and our city.”
The bishop said that “people will see that the Church is young and alive,” describing the conference as a “tremendous opportunity for our young people to encounter Christ” and one another.
“Together we will proclaim the joy of the Gospel!” he added.
The announcement comes as SEEK continues to grow year by year with a record total of 17,274 paid participants at the flagship location in Salt Lake City and a crowd of 3,355 attendees in the nation’s capital. At the same time, 486 attendees were registered at a SEEK conference that was also taking place in Cologne, Germany.
‘Our hearts are restless’
The Jan. 2–5 satellite event in Washington, D.C., is completely sold out. The regional event will mostly mirror its counterpart in Salt Lake City but will not include the “Making Missionary Disciples” programming track geared toward Catholic adults in any stage of their faith journey.
A total of 46 bishops are in attendance at the U.S.-based conferences in addition to hundreds of priests, with 489 in Salt Lake City and 128 in Washington, D.C.
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Over four days, speakers will address the notion that something is “missing” when Christ is not present in our lives.
Dr. Matthew Breuninger, a clinical psychologist and associate professor at Franciscan University of Steubenville, reminded D.C. conference-goers that St. Augustine repeatedly sought worldly fulfillment but was never satisfied until he encountered Christ, quoting from Augustine’s “Confessions”: “Our hearts are restless until they rest in you.”
“It’s not until Augustine meets Christ, and so he recognizes the indwelling of the Blessed Trinity deep in his heart, that he writes some of the most beautiful words ever been in the western hand,” Breuninger continued, quoting Augustine again: “He says, ‘Late have I loved you; late have I loved you, the beauty ever ancient, ever new.’”
Breuninger recounted his own journey from drug and alcohol addiction to Christ, saying: “I felt in the very heart of my being that while I had looked out for him in the world, he was inside of me.”
As a student at Georgetown University, Breuninger said, he was in his “darkest, lowest moment.” He told the crowd: “A beautiful gift that God has given me is that 20-some years later, he’s called me back to the city where my life fell apart.”
“I learned a simple but profound reality,” he said. “He has created us for himself, and our hearts are utterly restless until they rest in him.”
Father Chase Hilgenbrinck, a former professional soccer player turned Catholic priest, challenged SEEK25 conference attendees to ask themselves: “What are the questions of your heart?” and “What are the questions that will give greater meaning to your life?”
Hilgenbrinck shared that although he was grateful for his experience as a soccer player, “the lifestyle of being a professional athlete is shallow and even laughable in comparison to being a priest of Jesus Christ.”
“I found that my desires were so much deeper, they would never be fulfilled with that keychain that we often hold around our belts, those keys that don’t open the doors to greater meaning,” he continued. “If on your keychain, you have the keys to success, money, sex, and alcohol, they will not open the doors to greater meaning in your life.”
