Utah students attend national Catholic conference

Courtesy photo/ Fr. Lukasz Misko, OP

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University students from Utah recently joined 17,000 other young Catholics in a celebration of their faith at SEEK2019 in Indianapolis.

Twenty-eight university students had what some are calling a life-changing experience recently as they attended SEEK2019, a FOCUS conference in Indianapolis, Ind.

FOCUS is a Catholic evangelical campus outreach program new to Utah. Fr. Lukasz Misko, OP, of the St. Catherine of Siena Newman Center said they began collaborating with FOCUS to reach students on the University of Utah campus just last fall. Since then, FOCUS has reached out to Catholic students on several Utah college campuses. The delegation from Utah included students from other local universities and colleges in addition to the University of Utah.

More than 17,000 young Catholics from across the nation attended the Jan. 3-7 conference. During the four-day event, the students had a chance to enjoy keynote speakers, breakout sessions, panels, entertainment and worship all focused on their faith.

It was a chance to show the students from Utah “that Catholic culture is a real thing, that there is a universal language of the Catholic faith,” said Fr. Misko, who accompanied the group.

“My goal for them was to be immersed in the Catholic culture; unless you have a critical mass of people and resources, it’s hard to experience,” he said. “I think every single young Catholic in this country should experience something like that. It was a beautiful mix of liturgy, celebration and worship conducted in a joyful way.”

For Wesley Watson, 18, a University of Utah student who had been struggling in his faith, SEEK2019 was “really life-changing,” he said. “Once I went to SEEK and saw thousands of others with the same beliefs I have – you don’t get that in Utah – I understood how big the Church is and how everyone loves God.”

A convert of two years, Watson said he was initially hesitant to attend the conference.

“I truly felt, coming from my struggles, I wasn’t really worthy of God because of my past, but during Adoration, I felt like his love was overwhelming and I broke down and wept,” he said. “He healed me and brought me closer to him and brought me closer to my faith and the Church.”

Others felt the power of being among their peers at the conference.

“It was so empowering  being in a community area for five days where we were just with other Catholics going through similar life experiences, struggling as students and  trying to find  our identity in Christ,” said Willow-Haven Walaszek, 21, a student at Utah College of Dental Hygiene.

Walaszek is from Soldotna, Alaska and intends to return there when she completes college. Her family has lived in Alaska off and on for the past several years. They moved back there permanently five years ago knowing they were being called to be missionaries there, she said.

“FOCUS and SEEK2019 really taught me that not only is our faith and our growth within it important, it’s so important to share that with everyone in my life, with people that are important to me or not important,” Walaszek said.

Walaszek said the positive energy of the conference spilled over into the city of Indianapolis while they were there.

“One of the amazing things I saw near the end was how it impacted Indianapolis,” she said. “The energy of our hearts affected the people working there; they were feeding off this joyous feeling. I felt like in this short occurrence of time we were there we impacted others’ lives and were filled with Christ.”

As they have returned to Utah, many of the students have tried to keep the spirit of SEEK2019 alive.

“It was truly a blessing; I really felt the presence of God there,” Watson said. “I learned a lot and I’m trying to take back everything I learned. I’m trying to show everyone who God is and to evangelize to people who don’t know the true face of God.”