Franciscan Sisters of Christian Charity share reflections on Seek 2024 in St. Louis, Missouri. Postulant Jenn Bourque is first to share on this experience.
All I can say is WOW, what an amazing and exhilarating experience, to be with over 20,000 young adults. It was incredible to have 100’s of priests, religious communities and many Bishops take part in the conference as well. Each day we had a Mass in which a Bishop from one of the various dioceses presided over. Their homilies and positive spirit enhanced the spirituality of the conference. The presenters like Dr. Edward Sri, Father Mike Schmidt and others truly did a marvelous job in challenging the participants to not only grow deeper in their faith, but how to share it with others.
It was also beautiful see how in the conferences Mission Way section, give the participants at the conference an opportunity to connect with the different aspects of their Catholic faith. Here there was a variety of ministry organizations working with Social Justice Issues, Religious communities highlighting their charisms, as well as small businesses that focused on Catholic teaching and resources for evangelizing the faith. This area also contained a place for participants to play games like pickle ball or just to chat and get to know each other better. It was in this area that I had the opportunity to connect with a friend from college who joined the Franciscan Sisters of the Martyrs of St. George, as well as with the Nashville Dominicans that another friend from college joined.
The Focus organization also made sure that along with the presentations and Mission Way, they had an area setup as a chapel for private prayer and priests available to hear confession. In the chapel they also had time for communal prayer, like the Liturgy of the Hours (Morning and Evening Prayer)
In all, the conference was a humbling and powerful experience, it was a true honor to take part in such an amazing event.
