St. Ignatius parishioners, Catherine Roveda and Conrad Collins, answer call as FOCUS Missionaries

We are so proud of two of our own St. Ignatius parishioners for answering the call to be missionaries. Catherine Roveda and Conrad Collins have recently completed the intensive FOCUS training and will be leaving for their assignments soon.

Answering the Church’s call for a New Evangelization, FOCUS, the Fellowship of Catholic University Students, is a national outreach that meets college students where they are and invites them into a growing relationship with Jesus Christ and the Catholic faith. FOCUS was founded in 1998 at Benedictine College by Curtis Martin, and since then the organization has grown from two missionaries on one campus to nearly 600 missionaries on 125 campuses. FOCUS sends teams of missionaries (four on average) to college campuses and universities around the country to reach out and meet college students, inviting them to examine the meaning and purpose of their lives. FOCUS missionaries are recent college graduates who make a two-year commitment to return to campus and evangelize their peers. They raise their own salaries and rely on support from generous benefactors.

Catherine will be serving on the campus of Georgia Southern University in Statesboro and can’t wait to get started in her ministry. “As a missionary, my greatest desire is to lead all students to Christ. My life has been transformed by Jesus and I want nothing more than to bring this joy to others and introduce them to the life-changing message of the Gospel. “

Conrad will be headed west to the University of North Texas in Denton. “As a student athlete and a fraternity brother, I felt the tug of some of the most powerful forces facing college students in my generation. Having found Jesus Christ in the midst of that, I feel uniquely called to touch the lives of some of the most leveraged, but also most influential students on campus.”

Please keep Caroline and Conrad in your prayers as they begin this challenging call to serve our Lord and His Church.