College Apostolate to be Dedicated to the BVM

Consecration to Mary

The Fellowship of Catholic University Students (FOCUS) has decided to consecrate its apostolate to the Blessed Virgin Mary perpetually.

Curtis Martin, founder and chief executive officer of FOCUS, told Catholic News Agency that “it was the natural thing to do” during the centennial year of the apparitions of Our Lady of Fatima. “Since its founding, FOCUS has attracted staff, missionaries and students who have a devotion to the Blessed Mother, which has been cultivated during their time with FOCUS. Marian devotion is simply part and parcel of being Catholic.”

Since its founding in 1998, membership in FOCUS has grown to include almost 600 missionaries on 125 campuses. The perpetual consecration will take place on June 13 as part of a Mass at the Oratory of Ave Maria University in Florida, during a training session for new staff. That day will be the centennial of the second Marian apparition in Fatima. FOCUS will renew its consecration each year on June 13 and on December 12, the Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe, patroness of the America.

Martin explained that the prayers will consecrate FOCUS “to Jesus through Mary, petitioning especially the graces offered at Fatima and Guadalupe.” He regards devotion to Our Lady of Fatima as an aid to a missionary’s interior life of prayer, while devotion to Our Lady of Guadalupe helps and supports the exterior life and apostolate. “Both are directed toward the same end: the salvation of souls through the fulfillment of the Great Commission to know Jesus Christ and to make disciples of all nations.”

History of FOCUS

The Fellowship of Catholic University Students (FOCUS) is a Catholic outreach program for American college students founded in 1997 by Curtis Martin and Dr. Edward Sri at Benedictine College.

At the invitation of Archbishop Charles J. Chaput, former Archbishop of Denver, a FOCUS program was established in 1998 at the University of Northern Colorado, Greeley. FOCUS’s goal is as follows:

 

Inviting college students into a growing relationship with Jesus Christ and His Church. Inspiring and equipping them for a lifetime of Christ-centered evangelization, discipleship, and friendship in which they lead others to do the same.”

FOCUS takes recent college graduates, trains them in the teachings of the Catholic Church, Scripture, and practical aspects of ministry, and sends them out typically in teams of four to serve on college campuses. FOCUS staff members make an initial two-year commitment to this full-time work on campus. FOCUS works with the approval of the local bishop and the support of the local pastor, as well as existing campus ministries. FOCUS now extends to 113 campuses in 36 states and the District of Columbia.

An Editorial Note 

While it is laudable that FOCUS is taking the important step of consecrating itself to Our Lady, that does not obviate the fact that FOCUS is not an apostolate rooted in Tradition. Moreover, Archbishop Chaput's 2013 remarks critical of the so-called "right wing of the Church" has been interpreted by many as a critique of the SSPX and other traditional Catholics. Let us pray that through the guidance of the Blessed Virgin Mary, FOCUS and Archbishop Chaput draw closer to Tradition in order to preach the authentic Catholic Faith in its fullness.