FOCUS missionaries bring the Word of God to students on the Kingsville campus

FOCUS missionaries, from left, Daniel Rosa, Maria Diaz, Samantha Ayers and Juan Archila share their love of the Catholic faith with students at Texas A&M University-Kingsville
(see more photos below.)

Mary Cottingham | STC

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During her senior year in college, Samantha Ayers encountered the poor on a FOCUS (Fellowship of Catholic University Students) mission trip to Mexico City. One of the FOCUS missionaries told her that college campuses are a battlefield. The missionary explained that in the eyes of the world, the people in Mexico had nothing–physically or materially, but what they did have was “joy.” 

However, on college campuses –in the eyes of the world– students have everything but what they lack is joy. It was at that moment; Samantha knew she wanted to become a FOCUS missionary.

“We can either sit on the sidelines and watch our brothers and sisters bleed out, or we can go on the field and fight,” Ayers said. Ayers is serving as team director for the FOCUS group at Texas A&M University-Kingsville. She has been a FOCUS missionary for four years, and for two of those years she has been assigned to the Kingsville campus. 

“We have the materials; we have Scripture; we have the sacraments. We have our baptism,” she said. This “lack of joy” is what she decided to fight for – like the love that she received through adoration, through the sacrament of confession, through Mass. “I can actually lead them, and they don’t have to be alone in their journey of life.”
 

Newman Center interns Anthony Skrobarczyk, left, and Ivan Parson finish up making chicken salad sandwiches in the Newman Center on Thursday, March 25. The Catholic Student Organization and FOCUS missionaries work together to provide drive through sack meals for students on campus. Mary Cottingham | STC

Ayers, along with co-missionaries Juan Archila, Maria Diaz and Daniel Rosa have a mission to share the joy and hope of the gospel with students through accompaniment, fellowship, Bible study, holy hour, and Mass. All four are college graduates who were once inspired by FOCUS missionaries when they were students.

All FOCUS missionaries receive ongoing training in Church teaching, prayer, sacred Scripture, evangelization and discipleship. The FOCUS mission statement is clear: “to encounter students in friendship where they are, inviting them into a personal relationship with Jesus Christ and accompanying them as they pursue lives of virtue and excellence.”

“Freedom is found in virtue. We preach chastity, sobriety, and excellence,” Rosa said. “College students are often told, ‘don’t do this, don’t do that.’ They, in turn, say, ‘what can we do?’ We have the answer – we follow the model of the Master. Jesus taught us in friendship and by having a deep spiritual life – a sacramental life.

“As we see our friendships grow, we build them up as a man or a woman of God and walk them to places of healing. Walk them to the chaplain on campus. Lead them to a spiritual director, discipleship, sacred Scripture, and Bible studies. Send them out to do this process for their friends and their family and repeat the cycle, and nothing ever stops.”
 

FOCUS missionary, Daniel Rosa, left, discusses faith formation with Dennis Berry III in the St. Thomas Aquinas Newman Center at Texas A&M University-Kingsville. Mary Cottingham | STC

Young Daniel Rosa was homeschooled, and he attended both private and public schools. “My parents taught me the faith at home,” he said. “I went to CCD, and we prayed at the abortion clinics. We just stayed active. But my faith was very headstrong, and I didn’t know how to make it part of my heart – my love, till I got to college.”

While working with Catholic Campus Ministry and FOCUS missionaries as an intern, Rosa fell in love with his faith. “It’s happening [to students] right now, especially after SEEK,” he said. The SEEK conference he refers to is this year’s SEEK21 at St. Gertrude Parish in Kingsville where the parish hosted 80 people in February. The youth group and some 1,900 parishes participated in SEEK21– virtually or in person. SEEK is FOCUS’ national conference for thousands of college students everywhere to explore what they truly seek, learn about the faith, share in friendship, and experience the love, hope, and very real presence of Jesus Christ through His Church. 

Missionary Juan Archila attended a Catholic college in Kansas to grow his faith. He wanted to find a school where he could find “a deeper brotherhood, a deeper meaning and just overall growth and friendship. Instead, he found it through FOCUS. While working as a resident assistant in a dorm, Archila witnessed a hidden culture and cycle of drunkenness followed by confession the next day. It was especially relevant to men in his freshmen dorm. “It’s like they wanted to live a virtuous life, but at the same time, they wanted to be noticed,” he said.

While looking for a way to help them, Archila encountered one of the 13 FOCUS missionaries, who helped guide him on his new mission.

Maria Diaz said she was raised “culturally Catholic.” Which meant she went through the motions of being Catholic but never really understood what that meant. She became a missionary because she had an encounter with Christ at one of the SEEK conferences in college. One of the FOCUS missionaries walked her through the faith, which gave her “profound peace and motivation to go to confession. In confession, I experienced His mercy,” she said. 

A desire to walk with others through the faith was born. Diaz said that being an effective missionary requires following the Book of Acts, chapter 2, verse 42: “They devoted themselves to the teaching of the apostles and to the communal life, to the breaking of the bread and to the prayers.”

“This is what we teach the students as well,” said Diaz. She compared being disciples to burning coals. “If you put one of the coals aside – its fire goes out.”

“We have to be together in fellowship with each other to keep the fire going – the fire of our faith,” Ayers explained. And then there’s the breaking of the bread, so we encourage students to go to Mass – that’s where they’re going to be transformed through Jesus offering himself as a sacrifice. And then the last thing,” she said, “is prayer, our lifeline to the Lord.”

Father Joseph Lopez, the pastor of St. Gertrude Parish and head chaplain at the Kingsville Newman Center, said having the FOCUS team on campus has been a blessing. “They are very well trained and work well with the Catholic Student Organization. “It has been refreshing to see young adults unafraid. They don’t hesitate to engage their peers while introducing them to our Lord,” he said.

FOCUS missionaries and students involved in the Catholic Student Organizations on-campus work together. They often serve as the hands and feet of the Newman Center, meeting college students where they study, hang out and live on campus. To learn more about FOCUS visit focus.org.

To learn more about the St. Thomas Aquinas Newman Center and Chapel visit newmankingsville.org.