Life After FOCUS
Interested in starting a young adult outreach
after college?
Regardless of one’s vocation in life, Catholics
are called to discover, develop and exercise their God-given spiritual
gifts and talents in strengthening the Church. For those of you who
have graduated from college recently or have recently
retired as a FOCUS missionary, we wanted to offer you this free manual
for starting a young adult ministry at your local parish. More often
than not, Catholic parishes lack the resources to effectively engage
this often overlooked generation and parish priests
are almost always welcome to the enthusiasm and passion of young people
willing to initiate faith communities like this.
This resource is provided courtesy of the Dominican Friars of the Eastern US Province
Hundreds of missionaries and thousands of students have been involved with FOCUS over the last 12 years. We’d like to highlight a few of these individuals to show how their time with FOCUS affected their lives and how they are living out their faith after FOCUS.
Ben Akers (FOCUS Missionary 2001-2004)
- Graduate School: the Pontifical University of St. Thomas Aquinas (Pontificia Università San Tommaso D’Aquino) [Angelicum]; Rome, Italy
- Graduate Degree: Pursuing a S.T.L. (Sacred Theology Licentiate) in Dogmatic Theology; I hope to be a doctoral candidate (S.T.D. Sacred Theology Doctorate) beginning in June 2009
- Company: Christendom College
- Job Title: Director of Rome Program, Christendom College
- Job Description: This job involves overseeing all aspects of Christendom College's Rome Program, which is a three-month long program of about 40 students who come to Rome to study and live in the heart of the Church. My job includes hiring teachers, arranging housing for students, booking classrooms for lectures, and reserving restaurants for meals. The director also arranges for priests to serve the students and to celebrate Mass at our Chapel four times a week. I also teach a class entitled “Roman Perspectives” which is a mix of early Roman history, Roman mythology, Scripture, and early Christian writings. In addition to that, I lead the students on tours 3 times a week to churches, museums, and monuments around Rome. I also lead them on a trip to Florence, Assisi, and Siena as well as to other important towns and shrines in Italy.
How did your time with FOCUS influence your decision to pursue this work?
My time with FOCUS helped me to realize how essential and formative the college years are for young people. I also came to see the importance of faithful Catholic teaching to this age group. Working with FOCUS helped me realize the importance of establishing and fostering Catholic culture where you live. It is for these reasons I first came to Rome, Italy five years ago to study Theology at the Angelicum, the Pontifical University of St. Thomas Aquinas (Pontificia Università San Tommaso D’Aquino). In the midst of our first year in Rome, my wife and I were offered the positions of Director of Student Life and Director of the Rome Program, respectively, for Christendom College’s Rome Program. Now I divide my time between studying and teaching and leading the students. We are able to serve the students and help form them intellectually, spiritually, and culturally. It is a great responsibility but I know that my time with FOCUS helped prepare me for this role.
How did your time with FOCUS prepare you for the challenges of your present work?
During my first year in Rome I was asked to teach a college course in Apologetics. I was able to draw on my experiences as a missionary for examples to share with the students. These stories helped make the material more interesting and helped make the students aware of the pressing need to know the answers to questions they will be asked by their family, friends, and colleagues regarding the Catholic faith.
It has been challenging to balance the twin role of student and teacher but I feel FOCUS equipped me to learn how to organize my time better. I am also indebted to FOCUS for its professional training. My job entails meeting with priest, bishops, cardinals, diplomats and other professionals in Rome and the Vatican. My time with FOCUS gave me exposure and confidence in engaging with bishops and priests along with successful businessmen who were interested in participating in its mission.
More importantly, though, my three years with FOCUS gave me a deeper desire to see the conversion to Christ in the hearts of young people. It helped me to recognize the issues with which they are struggling and to see the importance of challenging them to grow in their relationship with Christ. Because of the closeness that naturally exists between us and the students through this intense three-month program, there are many opportunities to help the students in their personal and human development, as well as many ways that we can encourage them in their spiritual life.
The President of Christendom College remarked when he offered me the job to work as the Director of the Rome Program, that he was impressed with the work that FOCUS does. The fact that I was previously a missionary with FOCUS gave him added confidence in hiring me for this position.
Brian McAdam (FOCUS Missionary 2002-2004)
 Graduate School: The Catholic University of America- Degree pursuing: Doctorate
- Field of study: Philosophy
How did your time with FOCUS influence your decision to pursue this work?
Before joining FOCUS I intended to return to school one day to pursue a doctorate in philosophy in order to teach. My time with FOCUS confirmed that decision in two ways. First, through the many teaching opportunities I had as a FOCUS missionary, I saw once again that I wanted to make teaching my profession. Through my instruction of college students I knew that I wanted to become as good a teacher for my future students as some of my instructors in FOCUS had been for me. Second, while always encouraging and helping active missionaries to continue to develop intellectually, FOCUS supported my decision to go on to doctoral studies, and that despite the fact that FOCUS is always eager to retain missionaries and to build them up with ongoing “in house” intellectual formation. Recognizing my desire to serve the Church one-day as a professor of philosophy, FOCUS encouraged me to heed God’s call to doctoral studies, just as FOCUS encourages those who are called to be FOCUS missionaries to heed that call.
How did your time with FOCUS prepare you for the challenges of your present work?
My time with FOCUS prepared me for the challenges of pursuing a doctorate in philosophy in several somewhat unexpected ways. During graduate studies one is often not surrounded by as active and supportive a faith community as may have been the case during undergraduate years. Consequently, one must, on the one hand, actively seek ways to get involved with a community of faith and, on the other hand, be able oftentimes to pray, attend Mass, and in general maintain a spiritual life without as much support as would be ideal. FOCUS prepared me for the former challenge by giving me plenty of practice at forming Christian community with others in a natural way, a way in which life is shared with others both inside and outside the church. Spiritually, FOCUS provided me with a structure for devotional life and a discipline to prayer that helped me stay the course during the more solitary times of graduate study. Finally, and along similar lines, doctoral studies require a certain indomitability in order to complete the degree despite many obstacles and slow stretches. The principles of spiritual indomitability that FOCUS teaches and models through the examples of many leaders and missionaries translate naturally into the sort of determination that a graduate student needs in order to succeed.
Grace Mulcahy (FOCUS Missionary 2002-2004)
- Company: Spokane Public School District
- Job Title: Mental Health Therapist Job
- Description: I provide individual and family therapy for youth with severe mental health needs in our school district.
How did your time with FOCUS influence your decision to pursue this work?
It was through the experiences I had in FOCUS, such as leading small groups and participating in discipleship, that I came to realize I had an interest in the counseling field.
How did your time with FOCUS prepare you for the challenges of your present work?
My time with FOCUS prepared me in multiple ways. The graduate school I applied to was impressed with the experience I had gained through FOCUS, particularly the experience I had in leading small groups, special event planning, mentoring, advocacy, and social justice work. The skill set that I had acquired through FOCUS was an influential factor in the scholarship I received, which covered a majority of my tuition. The graduate program I attended also considered my time with FOCUS to be "field experience" so I was accepted to the fast track program, meaning that I was able to bypass some required classes due to my field experience and graduate a year early. The formation that I received in FOCUS is an intrinsic part of who I am as a therapist and how I approach therapy with my clients. Because I attended a public university for graduate school and work in a public institution, my experience with FOCUS was very important for me. I have been able to take the skill set I learned in school and integrate and adapt it with Catholic doctrine, including Catholic social justice teachings. I still feel the missionary spirit day to day as I work with youth, many of whom have lived in traumatic environments and do not know the name of Jesus Christ.
Ed Foresman, PT, DPT (FOCUS Missionary 2003-2005)
- Company: Therapies of Colorado, LLC
- Job Title: Doctor of Physical Therapy
- Description: Alleviating pain and improving function by ameliorating impairments associated with musculoskeletal abnormalities. Also, conducting research concerning current methods of treatment for low back pain.
How did your time with FOCUS influence your decision to pursue this work?
Although I was already motivated to pursue this field of study prior to entering FOCUS, my time as a missionary inspired me to carry out the Great Commission by caring for those who are in pain and living as a Catholic witness in the midst of the world.
How did your time with FOCUS prepare you for the challenges of your present work?
FOCUS has prepared me for this work by furnishing me with the tools necessary to maintain a well-ordered life: a life of prayer, as well as commitment to my family, my profession and to the New Evangelization!
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